jason ankeny of allmusic gave the album a positive review, describing it as "one of the group's most personal and dark records." "the chicago tribune" critic david levinsky wrote that "the lp suffers from overly lush production, supplying one too many monolithic synth chords." levinsky also stated: "we get a record suffering from the shotgun approach: a couple of exceptional singles and a lot of also-rans." in contrast, ira robbins of "trouser press" stated: ""privilege" dresses treacy's characteristically direct songs with just the right amount of keyboards, and his voice is as boyishly engaging as ever."