[2] The opportunity to record and tour with the material spurred Scott McCaughey to finish off songs that Peter Buck had started writing two years prior.

[3] The revolving door of performers supported all their releases (including Tuatara's Breaking the Ethers)[4] with The Magnificent Seven Vs. the United States tour in 1997.

[8] The editorial staff of AllMusic Guide gave the album four out of five stars, with reviewer Stephen Thomas Erlewine writing that it was an improvement over their first full-length, Old Liquidator, with catchy songwriting and "charmingly ragged pop-rock".

[1] The review in No Depression concurred with the charming nature of the songwriting, tying it stylistically to 1960s pop music and concluding that McCaughey's first major label album is deserved.

[9] In Entertainment Weekly, Steven Mirkin compared the sound to Merseybeat acts and gave the album an A for "casually perfect crystalline pop".