Patti Smith certainly has one hell of a lot to answer for. Not only does she unashamedly use her band as a backcloth for her pretentious "poetic" ramblings, but she simultaneously comes on as the saviour of raw-power rock and roll as it struggles to survive the onslaught of esoteric rock. In other words, she's into the myth-making business. And in this, her second album, the myth is exposed … as cheap thrills. At least "Horses" had the dubious privilege of a rabble-rousing version of Them's "Gloria," but on "Radio Ethiopia" all the cuts are by Patti and Band…. An inarticulate mess. (p. 24)

Marianne Partridge, in Melody Maker (© IPC Business Press Ltd.), October 23, 1976.