Cigars, Acappella, Candy

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[8]
Robert Christgau	B+[9]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[10]

The New York Times labeled Cigars, Acappella, Candy "more interesting" than the Dion and the Belmonts reunion album, and deemed "Street Corner Symphony" "a miracle of compression."^[11] Robert Christgau praised the album but expressed his preference for the Persuasions.^[9] Richard Price, in a Rolling Stone interview with Dion, similarly considered the album second only to the work of the Persuasions.^[12] The Chicago Tribune wrote that the Belmonts "handle the a cappella format well, producing a hefty sound with swooping falsetto, vibrant bass, and tight harmonies."^[5] The Commercial Appeal noted the "superb three-part harmonizing."^[7] The Buffalo Evening News determined that the Belmonts sing the songs "with style, a little flash and not too much pandering."^[13]

In December 1979, the music critics Ed Ward and Greil Marcus included the album on their Village Voice ballots for the 10 best albums of the 1970s.^[14] In 1992, The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll called Cigars, Acappella, Candy "some of the most heartbreakingly beautiful doo-wop singing ever recorded."^[15] In 2010, Spin listed the album as one of eight "essential" doo-wop albums, writing that the Belmonts "sing music that still feels transmitted from space."^[16]