[7] Aside from the leader and trombonist Joseph Bowie, the guitar player Kelvyn Bell was the only other member who had played on the debut.

[10] The Washington Post wrote: "As a dance band, Defunkt is best at break-neck rhythms—'Illusion', the tongue-in- cheek, feet-firmly-in-the-groove 'Avoid the Funk', and the boppish escapade and tribute to Charlie Parker, 'Big Bird (Au Private)' on which the band's jazz roots are well displayed.

"[1] Trouser Press called the album "sweeter-sounding and jazzier" than the group's debut.

[13] Robert Christgau lamented that the group's cover of "For the Love of Money" "sounds like slumming, especially from a guy who couldn't outsing Kenny Gamble in the shower.

"[8] Reviewing the reissue that paired Thermonuclear Sweat with the debut, The Independent called the albums "groundbreaking" and among the 1980s' "alternative essentials.