In "The Great Rock Discography", writer Martin C. Strong described "Obey the Time" as "[h]ypnotic and holiday-esque (as if basking on a beach in ear-shot of an acid-house disco)". He felt that the album's "cold, synthetic New Order-styled rpm's" lacked "any cohesion or formula", and rated it 6 out of 10. Colin Larkin rated the album three stars out of five in "The Encyclopedia of Popular Music". After some time, Reilly was reported to have forgotten the album, although Robert Jarrell speculated that Reilly, who has a noted dislike for his band's material, was instead choosing to overlook "the disappointment" of the album. In October 1998, as part of the "Factory Once" series of Durutti Column remasters, London Records released a remastered version of "Obey the Time". As bonus tracks, it features "The Together Mix" and the "Up-Person Remix" of "Fridays", as well as, in an unusual "discography switcheroo", "Kis of Def," a moody jungle remix of "My Last Kiss" from Reilly's 1998 album "Time Was...Gigantic", named for a line from New Order's "The Perfect Kiss". Wilson explained in the liner notes that the anachronistic inclusion of "Kiss of Def" as a bonus track was because he and London Records "submit it as a most recent example of Vini 'obeying' the time and as such connecting to the music of [the "Obey the Time" period] and taking us up to where the ripples of '88 still make interesting patterns on the shore". The remix was created by Kier, the producer of the "Time Was...Gigantic", and Wilson described it as "sorta post-trance, sub-jungle, retro-ambient or something". All songs written by Vini Reilly