Pillow Lips

The album was written over a period of 18 months, and was produced by Pat Collier.[8][9][10] Modern English recorded it as a trio.[11]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[12]
Calgary Herald	B+[11]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[7]
MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide	[13]
Ottawa Citizen	[14]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[15]

Entertainment Weekly wrote that "even the lightest, most eager and abandoned melodies on this album tap a deeper vein of feeling than most songs do."[16] Trouser Press thought that "the diverse record contains some easy-to-like bounce-pop ('Beauty', 'Care About You') but other tracks either drift along listlessly (like the enervated title tune) or sag under clichéd lyrics ('Life's Rich Tapestry'...) and equally unimaginative melodies."[17]

The Ottawa Citizen stated that "now with the band trimmed back to a trio, the sound is tighter, the spirit more lively, and the approach better conceived."[14] The Los Angeles Times concluded that the album was "recorded without a permanent lead guitarist in the group and suffers accordingly, with a thin, techno-pop approach somewhere between OMD and late-period Sparks."[18] The Dallas Morning News determined that "having provided us a near-perfect pop song, the group now delivers a hodgepodge that includes everything from neo-Modern English to country to watered-down Big Audio Dynamite."[19]

AllMusic noted that "older fans of the band despaired of their new, slicker variant."[12]

• Pillow Lips at the Internet Archive