This Is the Modern World is at once more intriguing and less exciting [than In the City] because, this time around, Weller's music lags behind his thought.

In less than a year, Weller's sensibility seems to have made a giant leap from The Who Sings My Generation to Tommy and especially Quadrophenia. On the most interesting of his new songs, punk desperation and truculence have given way to a wistful, reflective resignation that brings to mind not only later Pete Townshend but also Ray Davies: "Life from a Window" is a New Wave "Waterloo Sunset" and nearly as poignant, while … [some sentiments hark] back to The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society.

Ken Emerson, in his review of "This Is the Modern World," in Rolling Stone (by Straight Arrow Publishers, Inc. © 1978; all rights reserved; reprinted by permission). Issue 259, February 23, 1978, p. 52.