" ... a bracing meld of old-school blues fervor and forward-looking blues elan. Smith, known mostly as a dedicated roots man, stretches out here; the set includes everything from the expected straightforward shuffles through mystery-tinged, acoustic Delta evocations (the opening Head Pounder) to rock-flavored crunch blues (the title tune) and torrid funk-rock-blues fusion (Puppet on a String, on which Smith jubilantly gets his Ginger Baker on). He also reveals himself to be an expressive singer, with a grainy timbre and an emotional range that extends deeper and wider, and can plumb depths much darker and more ominous, than some might have expected ... he's a forward-looking artist, abrim with ideas and girded with the courage to explore new and challenging directions".