songs, from a cover of Barry White's 'Never, Never Gonna Give You Up' and 'Never Gonna Fall' to the ballad 'I Cried My Last Tear Last Night,' are uniformly strong and the singer's voice is seductive and sexy, making the album a small gem in her catalog." Josef Woodard from Entertainment Weekly wrote that Stansfield "plays her old-school R&B straight, unleashing white-soul-queen riffs over disco grooves or pop-soul ballads spiced with horns, strings, and backup vocals. She does right by Phyllis Hyman's hit 'You Know How to Love Me' with one foot in the happy-face '70s." Q stated that "Stansfield's excellent singing remains on a par with the best American female R&B and the songs are consistently superior." According to Natasha Stovall from Rolling Stone, "unlike many of her peers from England, Stansfield is not jumping on the latest UK dance trend. On her new album, the bass thumps quaintly along, and the drums are as mellow as tea and biscuits. The heat comes from Stansfield, who belts her heart out in a voice that's smooth and pliant when she's falling in love again ('The Real Thing') but edgy – even harsh – when she's staring, eyes appropriately red-rimmed, at a broken affair ('I'm Leavin''). Stovall added that Stansfield will always fit more smoothly in a smoky piano bar than in the strobe-lit warehouse of a moody DJ star." Commercial performance Lisa Stansfield performed well on the charts peaking at number two in the United Kingdom and being certified Gold. It also reached top ten in Belgium and Italy, peaking at number six in Belgium Flanders, number seven in Belgium Wallonia and number eight in Italy. It also peaked at number eight on the European Top 100 Albums. Lisa Stansfield was certified Gold in Switzerland and Spain, where it reached numbers 11 and 23 respectively. The album also peaked inside top forty in other European countries, including number 12 in Austria and Greece, number 13 in France and Germany, number 14 in Sweden, number 18 in the Netherlands, number 34 in Hungary and 38 in Finland. In other parts of the world, Lisa Stansfield reached number 40 in Japan and was certified Gold. It also reached number 41 in Australia, number 46 in New Zealand and 99 in Canada. In the United States, it peaked at number 55 on the Billboard 200 and number 30 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums.