Picture of a Thousand Faces

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
The Indianapolis Star	[12]
Philadelphia Daily News	[14]
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette	[15]
Tampa Bay Times	[16]

The Philadelphia Daily News noted that "since Jimi's sad demise, there's been a horde of guys trying to kiss the Hendrix flame and make a blazing soul-rock connection... Eric Gales, represented here with his bristling second album, is one of the cockier challengers".^[14] The Las Vegas Review-Journal said that Gales, with Picture of a Thousand Faces, is "a rare example of a new artist with a sound that rocks hard enough for 'mainstream' radio formats, but with a sophistication more common to the alternative or 'adult eclectic' side of the dial."^[3] The Tampa Bay Times concluded that, "with his blazing blues-rock excursions a given, the only big obstacle for Gales is finding material".^[16]

The Los Angeles Times opined that "while the new second album ... is an improvement over the debut collection, neither one features any grabbers."^[17] The Hamilton Spectator concluded that "the right combination of rock and soul, killer tunes ... and wailing solos make Picture of a Thousand Faces one of the guitar rock albums of the year."^[18] The Indianapolis Star stated that "the band's distinctive sound—punctuated with smooth lead vocals from Gales and his brother Eugene layered over frenzied guitar work—is easily discernible from the mishmash of a lot of rock on the radio".^[12] The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette concluded: "Not content to ape archaic gutbucket blues like many white-bread contemporaries, heavy blues rock, in Gales' hands, hasn't sounded this good since the unfortunate demise of Badlands. Ten years ago, they would've called this a metal album."^[15]