Instead of the studio version released as a single, "The Last Beat of My Heart" is presented as a live recording, from their performance at Lollapalooza in Seattle.

J. D. Considine of The Baltimore Sun wrote that the album "follows a more twisted path" than Once Upon a Time, chronicling "the band from cult-level acclaim to something resembling pop accessibility."

"[3] A review of the album in The Advocate notes that the compilation demonstrates that the band that had made "consistently compelling music", and highlights "the group's knack for creating smart arrangements of non-Banshees music" such as on "Dear Prudence", "This Wheel's on Fire", and "The Passenger".

[4] In a 4 out of 5 review for Select, Dave Morrison noted that after 1982, the band "produced some of their best work in this period: superbly crafted vignettes of dark-hued psychedelic melodrama.

He said that Twice Upon a Time "at least displays a clarity of vision and conviction that runs through the group's groovy gothic-art-punk rock".