the ability to broadcast a character and—ideally—is able to convey their own personality onto the listener. She stated that Costello succeeds at this on "Sweet Dreams", "I'm Your Toy" and "Good Year for the Roses", while failing on "Brown to Blue", "Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down" and "Color of the Blues". Nevertheless, Hume noted that the LP stood as the artist's first album on which the lyrics are easily understandable. Writing for The New York Times, Robert Palmer wrote that Costello's singing "exposes his own technical limitations", a comment supported by Robert Hilburn in the Los Angeles Times, who wrote that Costello's voice is ideal for "expressing ironies and nuances" in his own songs, but "lacks the purity and range" to effectively compete with the original versions of the tracks. Cash Box, on the other hand, proclaimed that the singer's "distinctive vocals fit perfectly into the country framework" and the songs are "rendered with conviction and emotion". On the album as a whole, American critics were also mixed on Almost Blue. Carrie B. Cooper found in Boston Rock that Costello was "settling for love rather than passion". Meanwhile, Billboard magazine announced that the album "does for country what the band's Get Happy!! did for R&B—respect the music's form and essence, yet link both to Costello's own writing". Conversely, Hilburn deemed it a "major disappointment" that would serve as an intriguing piece for hardcore fans, but provide little enjoyment to everyone else. Finding that Almost Blue exhibited "little of Costello's usual vision", Hilburn contended that the LP would have improved if the artist had placed one of his own originals on it. Ultimately, Hilburn asserted that although Almost Blue is not a bad country album, it "simply lacks the power and originality we have come to expect from this invaluable figure". In Trouser Press, Jon Young felt that the artist would be a worthy participant in country as a whole once he presented more of himself into the genre. Young and Ira Robbins later labelled the album "surprisingly clumsy" and "a dud". Additionally, several noted the continued absence of Costello's angry persona that had featured in his earlier works, while some also gave positive reactions to the performances of the Attractions. Writing for The Village Voice, critic Robert Christgau positively compared Almost Blue to other covers albums such as David Bowie's Pin Ups (1973) and John Lennon's Rock 'n' Roll