"If anything, Babelsberg's weaknesses lie in its lyrics, where the mood of anxiety and despair is vague and inchoate, and too diffuse to actually have an impact - it's a record of impressions, rather than specifics. Where Rhys does get specific, suddenly the words hit home, as on Same Old Song, on which Rhys recounts how "coughing blood on an American tour / Left me bewildered / concerned for my future". And like Forever Changes again, one keeps wondering whether an album so dismally inclined should be such a pleasure to listen to".