Upon its release, Johnny Dee of NME gave a mixed review of Bad Vibes. He commented that, like Cole's previous two solo albums, there was "plenty to recommend" and praised the "majestic" "Morning Is Broken", the "lyrical wisecracks" of "So You'd Like to Save the World" and the "druggy Beatles drawl" of "Love You So What". He felt the album then "very quickly get[s] bogged down in arty sleaze", picking "Wild Mushrooms" as the "nadir" and adding that "there's more lyrical embarrassments" on "Can't Get Arrested". He concluded, "If only he'd stop trying to impress us. 'Identity Crisis – The Musical' would have been a better title."[4]Sarra Manning of Melody Maker noted the album's "definite Sixties timbre, as in little acoustic refrains, gently thumping piano and windy chords like raindrops on windowpanes" and described Cole as "a slightly worn voice that breaks into throaty emphasis on a caustic word". She was critical of "Fall Together" and "Can't Get Arrested" for being "truly horrendous Beatles' pastiches", but concluded, "Forget all your ill-conceived notions of what's credible and what's not and make room for 11 songs that put some aesthetic equilibrium back in your life."[5]
^Peter Buckley The Rough Guide to Rock 2003 p.1771 "The end result, LLOYD COLE (1990), met with mixed reviews and poor sales. Follow-ups DON'T GET WEIRD ON ME, BABE (1991) and BAD VIBES (1993) were greeted with similar indifference. Indeed, it was not until his fourth album, LOVE (1995), that Cole was to receive anything approaching a positive critical response (the single "Like Lovers Do" was as charming as anything released that year). Looking back at these albums, you can see that Cole was really rather hard done by, as the first two solo sets in particular had things going for them."
^Stereo Review - Volume 59 1994 -- Page 500 LLOYD COLE Bad Vibes RYKO 10306 (56 min) Performance: Dour Recording: Very good Lloyd Cole remains one of the sharpest songwriters around, but this album documents a curdled sensibility from its title on down. Mostly, Cole sounds like he's slipping under the volcano (to borrow the title of Malcolm Lowry's novel about a day in the life of an alcoholic), and "Bad Vibes" abounds in references to excessive consumption. Just look at the cover photo..."
^Billboard - 12 August 1995 - Page 10 "Ryko picked up "Bad Vibes" for U.S. distribution after the album had already been released in the UK and had been available in the U.S. on import. Ryko was both surprised and encouraged by the fact that Cole's fan base in the industry does not seem to have been eroded by the two-year wait for "Love Stories" and by his four-year absence from the stage."
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