Critical
Billboard gave Wild Planet a positive review, calling it an improvement over the band's debut album and "a cinch for hot rotation in rock-oriented discos".[15] Robert Christgau of The Village Voice observed, "'Party Out of Bounds' and 'Quiche Lorraine' are expert entertainments at best and the wacko parochialism of 'Private Idaho' is a positive annoyance. Only on 'Devil in My Car' and 'Give Me Back My Man' do they exploit the potential for meaning—cosmic and emotional, respectively—that accrues to the world's greatest new-wave kiddie-novelty disco-punk band."[16]
Frank Rose of Rolling Stone felt that it "plainly lacks the relentless exuberance of the group's debut disc", which he considered "partly a result of the production: flatter and duller sounding than its predecessor".[17] Conversely, New York Rocker wrote that Wild Planet "does a better job [than the first LP] of capturing Ricky Wilson's strangely-tuned riffing and the snap of Keith Strickland's drums."[18] While Trouser Press thought the album had its "inspired moments", it concluded that "too much of the album, with its short length and recycled ideas, comes across as a pale imitation of its predecessor."[19]
In a retrospective review for AllMusic, David Cleary thought the songs were "faster, tighter, and punchier than previously, though production values are not as wonderfully quirky and detailed", and highlighted the "cunning mix of girl group, garage band, surf, and television theme song influences, all propelled along by an itchy dance beat."[6] In 2018, Pitchfork ranked Wild Planet number 183 on its critics' list of the 200 greatest albums of the 1980s.[20]
