[4] The album received mixed reviews in the press, with American critics being generally more positive than their British counterparts.

New Musical Express put down the record as "hollow pop, quaking under a plethora of poorly integrated rip-offs", while Sounds called it "self-indulgent" and lacking in depth or emotion.

[6] Rolling Stone, however, praised it as "an intoxicating mixture of pop and punk", and Trouser Press called it "an enormously enjoyable LP, with hardly a dry patch on it".

The Canadian cassette release added "Whitehall 1212" as a bonus track at the end of Side 1, after "Under Their Thumb."

This reissue caused some controversy amongst fans for not only mixing up the track order from the original LP, but for cutting out the short period of silence in the middle of "Cheerio" that was placed there to allow the listener to say something, as per the lyrics.