In a favorable review of Brainwasher, Mike Warren wrote that the album "...offers plenty of genuine rock and roll moments, and [Bobby] Bare [Jr.]'s an honors graduate from the "walking wounded but still willing to take a pratfall" school of songwriting."[9] In the January 2001 issue of CMJ New Music Monthly, Meredith Ochs wrote that the album's "...string-and-piano overture is so goofy that it does justice to the shenanigans to come." She also praised Tracy Hackney's electric dulcimer parts on the album.[6]
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