The album contains almost all cover material, except one song written by Thorogood.[11] "Want Ad Blues" is a cover of the John Lee Hooker song.[12] "Gone Dead Train" was written by Jack Nitzsche.[13] Thorogood wrote "Baby Don't Go".[14] "Howlin' for My Baby" was written by Willie Dixon and Howlin' Wolf.[15] The album cover art was made by Peter Bagge.[16]
Release
EMI America released Haircut on July 27, 1993.[2][3][4] The album debuted at No. 133,[17] and peaked at No. 120 on the Billboard 200 chart.[7] The album was certified gold by Music Canada, where it sold more than 40,000 units.[18]
"Get A Haircut" was the lead single from the album.[5] The song peaked at No. 2 on the Album Rock Tracks chart,[19] and was the No. 1 most played song in Canada on FM radio.[20] "Howlin' for My Baby" was the second single.[21] It debuted at No. 34,[22] and peaked at No. 12 on the Album Rock Tracks chart.[23] "Gone Dead Train" debuted at No. 39,[24] and peaked at No. 24 on the same chart.[25] "Killer's Bluze" was released as a single in 1994.[26]
Ron Wynn of AllMusic wrote that "Thorogood's work has never lost its edge because he avoids becoming indulgent or a parody, and continues to sound genuinely interested in and a fan of the tunes he's doing."[11] The Windsor Star wrote that "the guitar-slinging motor mouth offers another round of stinging and rocking blues, featuring that consistently fat sound with which his band has made its trademark style."[34] The Calgary Herald deemed Haircut "boogie blues and rock 'n' roll ... And, yep, he hasn't changed a thing."[28] The Colorado Springs Gazette-Telegraph opined that "since shtick is exactly what Thorogood's become reduced to, the only phrase that comes to mind listening to this is, 'get a real job'."[35] Michael Kramer of Music Connection called "Get A Haircut", "an instant Thorogood standard, right up there with “Bad To The Bone” and “I Drink Alone.", but considered the rest of the album "a letdown", adding "Although his vocals and guitar are as good as ever, none of the other songs are particularly exciting or even catchy."[36]
The Canadian Press called it "another slice of devil-may-care, comically anti-authoritarian riff rock".[37]The Boston Globe concluded that "Thorogood doesn't gain any dramatic ground, but his loyalty to his favorite idioms remains genuine."[14]The Indianapolis Star praised the "stark, deliberative" "Killer's Bluze".[30]
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