In 1991,
NME writer Terry Staunton called it "quickie out-takes album". Similarly, Rob Hughes of
Uncut, in 2003, described
The King as "an album of improvised
noise" that was issued to expedite a hasty exit from Matador in the US and "which, as was intended, ensured a clear path to DGC." Martin Horsfield of
The Guardian describes
The King as "instantly deleted and tossed-out".
Alexis Petridis, also of
The Guardian, describes it as Teenage Fanclub's "perplexing second album", containing "seven
grungy instrumental originals and covers of
Pink Floyd's '
Interstellar Overdrive' and Madonna's 'Like a Virgin'". The
BBC have described
The King as a "deliberately obscure instrumental album", and "a thrashy mess". Retrospective critical opinion on
The Kings quality has varied. The music author Mark Bennett has described it as "a frankly rubbish set of instrumental covers." In
The Rough Guide to Rock (1999), James Owen described the limited edition instrumental album as a "backhanded tribute" to
Elvis Presley, believing that it "failed to satisfy existing fans or to garner new ones." In
The Great Rock Discography (2006),
Martin C. Strong described
The King as "a substandard effort released to fulfill contractual obligations". More favourably, Ira Robbins and Matthew Kaplan of
Trouser Press deem the "hastily tossed together" record to be "an interesting curio", noting its "quizzical" choice of covers and believing the majority of the original material to be "quite interesting", as is guest
Joe McAlinden's "skronking" saxophone. Robbins and Kaplin particularly noted "Opal Inquest" for its
Bevis Frond-esque guitar indulengeces and "Robot Love" for its
Butthole Surfers influence and its unrecognisably distorted vocals. In 2010, Dom Gourlay of
Drowned in Sound wrote that "the ramshackle
lo-fi of
A Catholic Education and
The King undoubtedly provided food for thought for young upstarts like
Urusei Yatsura and
Mogwai". Donald Milne of
Guitar.com characterises the album as "largely improvised". ==Opinions of band members and cancelled follow-up==