The Old New Me

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[11]
MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide	[12]

Trouser Press wrote: "Singing Exile-era Stones melodies in a pleasantly artless voice that could pass for Keith Richards on a good night, Dunlap chugs back raunch-a-roll energy with earnest effort and an invigorating dose of retro flair."^[13] The Los Angeles Times thought that Dunlap "takes the stance of a weathered but wry observer who has seen hard knocks but has kept his compassion and his sense of humor through circumstances that might have left others bitter and jaded."^[6] The Star Tribune opined that "it's a refreshing, unpretentious roots-rock excursion with inventive guitar work that grows on you with each listening."^[14]

The Philadelphia Inquirer called the album the best of the initial Replacements solo projects, writing that, "when everyone has finished deconstructing Westerberg's lyrics and analyzing his tortured observations, it's The New Old Me they'll come back to for a shot of good old, gut-level rock and roll."^[15] USA Today concluded that the album "strips down to rowdy, gut-bucket basics."^[16] The Houston Chronicle determined that "Westerberg and his grainy vocals save some of the songs, but otherwise they flash by unobtrusively, with few lyrical or emotional stop signs."^[17]

AllMusic called the album "a rootsy, engaging ride," writing that it "ends on a gracefully elegiac note with a guitar instrumental, 'Love Lost'."^[11]