"To the Limit" is a serious and, at times, puzzling album…. [The] lyrics (particularly in such as Taking My Baby Uptown, Your Letter, and You Rope You Tie Me) have the dodgy ambivalence of a half-overheard, partially comprehended conversation…. [There] is still something very young about her, as if she were someone who has seen too much early on but who has opted to fight rather than settle for a passive, smart-ass bitterness. Joan Armatrading is still someone to watch.

Peter Reilly, "Popular Discs and Tapes: 'To the Limit'" in Stereo Review (reprinted by permission of the author), Vol. 42, No. 3, March, 1979, p. 112.