[10] Trouser Press concluded that "the album completes Thee Hypnotics’ transition from self-conscious fetishists aping a vintage sound to dedicated retroids ready to join the real things in the road-goes-ever-on trenches.

"[8] The Washington Post thought that "Ray Hanson's guitar still has an appealing swagger that gives its familiar blue-rock riffs a contemporary edge, and tracks like 'Ray's Baudelaire' and 'Peasant Song', if minor, are distinctively eccentric.

"[12] The New York Times determined that "making good, original rock-and-roll usually means executing an effective synthesis of styles, but Thee Hypnotics kept its influences separate.

"[13] The Province opined that the band "are the closest they've come to getting the balance right between citing their sources (in the early days it was The Stooges and MC5) and finding their own voice.

"[14] The Arizona Daily Star called The Very Crystal Speed Machine "one of the finest mainstream rock albums of the year so far.