Released a year after departing previous band The Time, the album is similar in style to The Time's material, even going so far as to copy The Time's formula of six songs per album. The album's highlight is "The Oak Tree", a funky-pop number about a dance, akin to "The Bird" by The Time. The album was produced, arranged and composed by Day, who also played drums and keyboards throughout the album. Also on keyboards was Rickey "Freeze" Smith, who would later join Day in the revamped version of The Time in the mid-1990s.
James Henke of Rolling Stone, in a 3 out of 5 stars review, remarked "On his first solo album, former The Time singer Morris Day continues to play the role he perfected in
Purple Rain that of the coolest, baddest dude around. Musically, this is uptempo R&B, not quite heavy on the synths as the Time's material was."[4]
Rob Theakston of AllMusic wrote "The Color of Success offers to fans what Day does best, funky but accessible dance-pop music in the vein of many of his Minneapolis contemporaries. While the album runs a little bit on the short side, there is no filler and it is surprisingly consistent from start to finish."[3]
