of his standards. Erlewine enjoyed the production but found the uneven songwriting means "only portions" of the album as a whole are memorable. On the other hand, Uncut Jon Wilde felt the LP was weighed down by the "over-sheened production", the horns and backing vocalists. Nevertheless, commentators particularly highlight "Pills and Soap" and "Shipbuilding" as the record's standouts; Erlewine says they are "articulate and effective as any of his past work". Perone argues that the two tracks anticipated the more political-charged commentary that continued to infuse Costello's work in subsequent decades. Costello's biographers have given mixed reactions to Punch the Clock. Writing positively, Clayton-Lea says that while it lacked "the sultry, sleazy sophistication" of Imperial Bedroom, its music stood out as "bright" as Armed Forces. He ultimately declares it "another stylistic triumph from a pop star who wasn't all that popular". Hinton, who titled his 1999 biography of the artist after "Let Them All Talk", is more negative, calling the album's sound dated in the CD age, finding that "the album sounds unpleasantly squashed, and never quite loud enough, no matter what volume you play it at." Thomson recognises the record's unified sound, but believes it was "thin contrived". He also disliked the sidelining of the Attractions and felt Afrodiziak and the TKO Horns displayed "very little subtlety" in the final mix. Thomson and Gouldstone agree that too many songs lack the "craft" and "intensity", respectively, of Costello's previous works and were ultimately not up to the artist's standards. Gouldstone and Perone criticise some of the lyrics as "too abstract and uninvolving" and "surface level", respectively. Although the former disregards all of the melodies aside from "Shipbuilding" (which was written by Langer), the latter found it more memorable overall than Goodbye Cruel World. When not compared to other works, however, Gouldstone recognizes Punch the Clock as "a varied, provocative and punchy collection of well-above-average songs". Perone, who deems the album "accessible, but not particularly deep", observes that the album's lyrical themes of narrators acknowledging their shortcomings and accepting responsibility for their actions were expanded upon in Goodbye Cruel World. In lists ranking Costello's albums from worst to best, Punch the Clock has placed modestly. In 2021, writers for Stereogum placed it at number nine (out of 27), saying that the artist's material ranges from "mostly good to excellent", but found the "overwhelming sonics" run their course throughout the album's runtime.