for AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine describes the album as "exciting, gut-level rock & roll". The Rough Guide to Rock calls Pacer "satisfyingly lo-fi". In Spin magazine, reviewer Joy Press writes that the album includes "a half-dozen gems" but that its overall "foggy sound" and "indecipherable lyrics" prevent the listener from fully embracing the work. Village Voice critic Robert Christgau considers the album's songs to be "definitely slight" and "uneven" but praises the vocals, stating that "speedy or dreamy, Kim Deal sounds so sane, so unpretentious, so goddamn nice that you want to take her home and give her a shampoo". In The Trouser Press Guide to '90s Rock, critic Ira Robbins writes that "Other than the fine title track and a few others, the performances are forced and lackluster; the production varies between flat and colorless." The New Rolling Stone Album Guide similarly praises the title song while dismissing the rest of the album as "forgettable". In the first ever Pitchfork review, Ryan Schreiber found the album's lo-fi sound initially off-putting but praised the lyrics and "awesome rock". Pacer is a favorite album of actor Elijah Wood, who said "I think Pacer has everything. It's kind of experimental; there's a lot of vocal experimentation on the record. I love the recording. [...] The drums are very abrasive and raw, and it has everything. There's an incredible mix of pop songs and weird, kind of abrasive almost punk rock songs, and there's real beauty I think on this record." In 2003, Chris Ott of Pitchfork included the album in a list of "The 20 Worst Post-Breakup Debacles", arguing that the Amps were "an interim project" whose album should not have been released; "clamoring for pennies still falling from a sky 'Cannonball' had blown open, their sloppily assembled, barely written album was a mistake." Aftermath The Amps toured in 1995 and 1996, supporting Guided by Voices, Sonic Youth, Helium, and Foo Fighters. Later in 1996, they recruited Carrie Bradley (who had played on Pod), and Deal changed its name back to the Breeders. The band's lineup continued to evolve, and within a few years, Deal was the only of the former Amps left in the group. Pacer is the sole album that the Amps released. A number of artists have covered songs from Pacer. The Muffs included a version of "Pacer" on their compilation albums Hamburger and Kaboodle. On Gigantic: A Tribute