Originally released in the United States by the independent label Slash Records, its strong sales performance required a deal for wider distribution with Warner Bros.

The British album featured different artwork from the American version, which depicts lead singer Phil Alvin in what was later described as "the way he contorts his face between almost every verse in his trademark grinning-skull grimace.

Reviewing the album in 1982 for The Village Voice, Robert Christgau said that Phil Alvin has "easily the most expressive vocal style in all of nouveau rockabilly", while "Dave Alvin's originals introduce a major songwriter, one with John Fogerty's bead on the wound-tight good times of America's tough white underbelly, though his focus is shallower, sexual rather than spiritual.

"[10] Rolling Stone critic Debra Rae Cohen praised the "bright, raw playing, terrific taste and... full-bodied vocals", while drawing special attention to the band's drummer, Bill Bateman, whose playing she indicated was "[t]he real key to the Blasters' exuberant authenticity".

[2] According to a 2002 PopMatters article, the national distribution of The Blasters was an eye-opener for listeners of "rockabilly, country, blues, and New Orleans roadhouse R&B," who found a band capable of producing new material that "stood up well to the influences from whence they sprang".