Garage Orchestra

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[11]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[5]
MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide	[8]

Trouser Press wrote that "an army of instrumentalists—playing everything from clarinet and cello to banjo, vibraphone and tympani—helps Berryhill deliver inventive, thoughtful, entertaining songs that fully deserve the diverse junior Phil Spector productions."^[12] Rolling Stone noted that, "to songs whose raw, free ecstasies recall Patti Smith, Berryhill adds strings-and-timpani flourishes that echo Brian Wilson."^[13]

The Philadelphia Inquirer stated that the music is "filled with Kurt Weill-meets-Brian Wilson forays."^[14] The San Diego Union-Tribune called the album "a delightful collection of pithy songs that are simultaneously earthy and evocative, lyrical and lilting."^[15] The Herald & Review listed Garage Orchestra as the seventh best album of 1994.^[16]

AllMusic wrote: "The massed backing vocals, buzzing string sections, woodwinds, and [Randy] Hoffman's tympani, vibraphone, marimba, and other noisemakers give the songs a sound that's big and rich with nuance, but the music still has a playful quality, just ramshackle enough to be loose but still painting the big picture she requires with the layers of sound at her disposal."^[11]