Them Update Blues

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[10]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[11]
MusicHound Blues: The Essential Album Guide	[12]
The Penguin Guide to Blues Recordings	[13]
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette	[14]

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wrote that "these are picture-perfect West Coast blues—like fine brandy—smooth and sensuous with just the right edge."^[14] Stereo Review said that Fulson's "electric-guitar playing, juke-joint raw, wastes no notes, and his simultaneously gruff and mellow vocals get the job done with economy."^[15] The Retford, Gainsborough and Worksop Times noted that Fulson maintains "very high musical standards with gritty commitment."^[16]

The Age praised Fulson's "unhurried voice and flowing guitar" on "Sun Going Down".^[9] The Lake Geneva Regional News labeled the music "seductive and spiky."^[17] Metro Silicon Valley opined that "Sun Going Down" "ranks up there with the best of the West Coast blues pioneer's midnight-hour grinders, while the title track percolates with the down-home soul of Memphis-cooked stew."^[8]

AllMusic noted Fulson's "customary biting guitar and insinuating vocals."^[10]