Love & Peace (Ray Charles album)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[10]
Robert Christgau	B−[11]
Journal Herald	D[9]
Omaha World-Herald	[12]
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette	C[13]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[14]
The Virgin Encyclopedia of R&B and Soul	[15]

The Bay State Banner wrote that "the album works because Ray knows how to fit a tune or a lyric into his own unique method, and his strong singing remains impressive."^[16] Robert Christgau noted that, "with a filler from his publishing subsidiary at a redundant nadir, the same old horn charts and obligatory big productions really begin to grate."^[11] The Boston Globe called the album "a hard-hitting affair where he tackles contemporary R&B trends and proves conclusively that he is no bygone relic."^[17]

The Kansas City Star determined that "it occasionally sounds a little heavy-handed and overpowering, but most of the time that pounding sound fits right in with the overall effect Charles seems to want."^[18] The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette panned Charles's selection of "mediocre" material.^[13] The Richmond Times-Dispatch concluded that Love & Peace "is what happens when an exceptional blues and jazz interpreter attempts to sing down to the common denominator."^[19]

AllMusic wrote: "His powers of expression as a vocalist and keyboardist are undiminished on the second album of his return to the Atlantic fold; he could still squeeze some soul out of anything... But his ability to choose great, good, or even merely appropriate material had deserted him."^[10] The Rolling Stone Album Guide labeled "You 20th Century Fox" "a genuine hoot."^[14]