Smoking in the Fields

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[12]
Robert Christgau	C+[13]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[9]
MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide	[10]

Trouser Press wrote: "Secret weapon harp demon Magic Dick ... sends out waves of soulful moaning on some of the songs as horns and tasteful strings gussy up others; the lively variety show of smoking R&B, Stonesy guitar rock, rugged pop and whiskey-scarred soul ... scores on all four fronts."^[14] Robert Christgau deemed the album "clubland nostalgia."^[13] The Los Angeles Times determined that "the raw rock attack of the band's early days is back," and labeled the album "their richest and most varied."^[15]

The Washington Post called "I'm Inside You" a "dire carnal-love ballad."^[16] The Boston Globe considered Smoking in the Fields to be "a hard-rock triumph."^[17] The Toronto Star concluded that, "at their worst ('Down in Allen's Mills'), Del Fuegos sound like earnest Mellencamp imitators."^[18] The Times lamented that "Dan Zanes has forsaken the slobbish, neo-Tom Waits drawl that used to make his singing so wondrously heroic."^[19]

AllMusic wrote that "Zanes is in fine form with ragged voice throughout, yet this album remains a blueprint for how these generally well-written tunes probably sounded live in a smoky club, the band's natural habitat."^[12]