Hal Horowitz, reviewing the album for AllMusic, stated that "to his credit, Lofgren doesn't modernize his style to endear himself for a younger audience, but has written 11 out of these dozen selections in the same melodic rock format that he's adhered to since his days in Grin".[1]Classic Rock's Terry Staunton found "Lofgren is sprightly enough to play most of the instruments himself" and noted he "show[s] the whippersnapers how it's done".[2] Allison Stewart of The Washington Post summarized the album as "alternately rueful and upbeat" with "midlife crisis anthems ('60 Is the New 18'), get-off-my-lawn rockers (the title track) and graceful, just short of gloomy ballads ('Miss You Ray')".[4]
Brice Ezell of PopMatters wrote that the album is "likely to appeal to die-hard fans of Lofgren and maybe some fans of bluesy guitar solos, but to those unfamiliar with Lofgren's career the album will sound aged in both sonic and lyric".[3] Rob Tannenbaum of Rolling Stone described it as a "weird, funny, crabby LP about seemingly everything that annoys [Lofgren]: Congress, yoga, lattes, sexting, any teen 'dressed like a whore.' Lofgren switches from acoustic ballads to Stones–ish rock, where his voice turns craggy and stubbly".[5] Shawn Donohue of Glide Magazine stated, "Grumpy-Old-Pissed-Off-Man might have been a more apt title" for the album and concluded, "sure Nils may be decidedly Old School, but if you are looking for a new school way of hearing him in 2012, wait for the next E-Street tour as his sideman guitar work is still his best asset".[6]
