Midnight Rose's

The album was produced by Eric Calvi.[7] As on previous albums, the band was influenced by fellow Ohioans the Ohio Players.[8] "Pretty Good Life" is an examination of the yuppie lifestyle.[9] "I'm Sayin'" is about a marriage proposal.[1] "Mt. Everest" is about a romantic relationship with an extremely tall woman.[10] "Timebomb" contains a rap verse.[11] Singer David Ellison played harmonica on the album.[12]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[13]
The Buffalo News	[14]
Robert Christgau	[15]
The Cincinnati Post	[12]
Dayton Daily News	[11]
MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide	[7]
Orlando Sentinel	[16]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[17]

Newsday stated: "In the tradition of the Ohio Players and the other '70s funkateers they grew up listening to, Royal Crescent Mob takes a conscious stand against the notion of significance... As long as Royal Crescent Mob persists with this bizarre modesty, they'll be one of rock's best kept secrets."[18] The Orlando Sentinel wrote that on the album's best track "the group ... abandons its funkateering and comes up with some delightfully loopy rock. 'Drunkard's Nose' combines a New Orleans rhythmic feel and swampy horns with country-flavored licks and one of the most original subjects ever for a rock song—the nose of the title and alcoholic's deteriorating looks."[16] Trouser Press determined that guitarist Mr. B "colors the songs in with cogent flashes of aptly aimed guitar as the rhythm section sets the rhythmic clock in motion."[9]

The Philadelphia Inquirer noted that "the only chink in the Mob's armor is that some of its songs exist only as one-dimensional grooves, with Ellison wisecracking over them."[19] The Houston Chronicle opined that, "where the [Red Hot Chili] Peppers thrash and bash and peel their clothes off in concert, the Mob layers melody, lyrical wit and subtle grooves to the attack, never more evident on Midnight Rose's."[20] The Austin American-Statesman concluded that, "where so many bands with similar influences ... seem to think that establishing a style is mainly a matter of extending cliches toward the point of parody, the Mob has real songs to go with its real grooves."[21]