Spin - Ranked #18 in Spin's list of the `20 Best Albums Of '94' - "...Metapop of an austere lushness...with a slightly robotic singer, road-themed titles...and pop-encyclopedic electronic backings that swell when they hit your memory..."
NME - 7 (out of 10) - "...Merritt sings lonesome country songs in his lugubrious baritone over charming, tinkly keyboards....a collection of road songs for people whose lives are too fastidiously ordered for them ever to leave their apartments..."
Option - "...this fairly focused concept album is like an aural Wim Wenders movie..."
Q - 4 Stars - Excellent - "...both lovely and tackily artificial, dream-like and faintly repellent and as fascinating as anything coming out of America right now..."
Village Voice - Ranked #29 in the Village Voice's 1994 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll.
Rovi
Stephin Merritt took more of a narrative approach than usual on The Charm of the Highway Strip, which was in part inspired (as the title indicates) by on-the-road experiences and exhibited a (very slight) country influence. Not as good as Holiday, although it has characteristically agile songwriting and production. ~ Richie Unterberger|
Rovi