The Washington Post wrote: "Not surprisingly, Isley's guitar playing is def and deft; surprisingly, it's Isley's songwriting and emotionally direct singing that makes the album more than a showcase of knife-sharp riffs and roiling grooves."[6] The Chicago Tribune thought that Isley's "keening intro on 'Rising From the Ashes', the snakelike soloing on 'Song for the Muses', the brief glimpse of country blues on 'In Deep' all demonstrate he belongs with the guitar giants."[9] The New York Times called High Wire "the surprise pop album of the year," writing that "if it doesn't make it on radio ... it is because its synthesis of black pop styles and rock-and-roll defies the rigidity of labels."[12] Entertainment Weekly considered it the ninth best album of 1990, praising its "six-string pyrotechnics and solid songs that both Luther Vandross and Living Colour would kill for."[13]
AllMusic called the album "an astonishingly diverse solo debut."[8] The Rolling Stone Album Guide cautioned that "when the opportunity to play a solo presents itself, Ernie Isley usually winds up playing two or three."[11]
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