Put Sunshine in It

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[11]
Los Angeles Times	[7]
Oakland Tribune	[12]
Omaha World-Herald	[6]
The Philadelphia Inquirer	[13]
Valley Advocate	[14]

The Philadelphia Inquirer opined that the "estimable alto saxophonist's desperate attempt to woo the Grover Washington Jr. crowd is a dismal failure even on its own lenient terms".^[13] The Omaha World-Herald concluded that "Blythe's slightly off-center sound and fiery, upper-register cries remain, but are somewhat diminished and diluted by elemental funk and ballads."^[6] The Globe and Mail said that "Blythe waves lightly at the six nondescript tunes, and his Tweety-Bird tone and high-flying ideas—thin though they are compared to previous efforts—are just enough to carry the music."^[15]

The Washington Post called Put Sunshine in It Blythe's worst album, stating that he "gets lost amid bland tunes and fuzak backing".^[5] The Buffalo News opined, "So human and urgent is his sound and so tactile his sculpting of melody, that it is profoundly musical, for all its obvious commerciality."^[16] The Sun panned the "unimaginative tunes encased in synthetic syrup."^[17]

AllMusic labeled the album a "dud" and noted that it was dominated by Cochran.^[11]