[12] Trouser Press wrote that "a lot of main writer Burns' originals have the jivey cool of an Angelo Badalamenti score, but the group's most potent and useful ability is to conjure up romantic visions of the desert at twilight.

"[11] The Chicago Reader thought that "Elm's exquisite steel-guitar melodies and the unusual colors and textures of Convertino's vibraphone formed the core of their countrified instrumental pop, but with the punchy rhythm team of Christian on drums and Larkins on percussive detail they added up to something with considerably more magnitude than kitsch.

"[4] The Vancouver Sun labeled the album "fuzzy wafts of lounge music, maracas, vibraphones and flamenco guitars in full reverberating, stereophonic sound with a '60s flare.

"[15] Rolling Stone determined that "the Friends sound like the house band in a ghost-town saloon, lacing their slow jams with the parched twang of landlocked surf music and the creamy scream of Bill Elm's slightly fuzzed pedal steel.

"[17] AllMusic called the album "a post-modern fusion of Santo & Johnny, Dick Dale and the Ventures, with a heaping side order of Tex-Mex border music.