Rolling Stone critic
Ken Tucker said that "
Panorama isn't merely a joyless joyride, it's an out-and-out drag."
Robert Christgau claimed that the album's problem is "boredom with formula" and said that "This is longer, slower and denser [than previous Cars' studio albums], with lyrics that skirt
social commentary and music that essays textural pretension. Roysdon also found the album repetitious, saying that "Songwriter
Ric Ocasek has written some fairly good numbers, but they sound alike, with just a few exceptions."
Quad-City Times critic Greg Kot said that the album "overdoses on Ric Ocasek's too chic, too nebulous lyrics and
Roy Thomas Baker's intrusive production" and that "Ocasek and the band build tension but the climaxes never arrive" resulting in an album that "fails as
rock 'n' roll."
The Pittsburgh Press critic Pete Bishop felt it had "an undue amount of menace and too little
melody and snap in the music."
The Saginaw News critic Nancy Kuharevicz called it a "stark, almost anti-musical album" and said that "When Ocasek isn't moaning like a whiny, jilted adolescent, he's repetitiously droning pat phrases which range from trite to abtruse." Critic Stuart Margulies called it "shockingly boring, unmelodic and senseless."
The Boston Globe critic Steve Morse called it "a tour de force of high-tech strategy" that "ushers in a
potpourri of new sound textures."
The State Journal critic Archer Prewitt said that "every song is good" and that "No one song is similar to another and each has an irrestible characteristic that leave you humming."
Los Angeles Times critic Steve Pond criticized the album's lack of
hooks compared to previous Cars' studio albums but felt that the new approach also yielded some benefits, concluding that "lapses notwithstanding, it's still one of the best rides in town." == Track listing ==