In a contemporary review for The Village Voice, Robert Christgau said Opening the Caravan of Dreams "lacks the studio-engendered beginning-middle-end that focuses Of Human Feelings and for that matter Metheny/Coleman's Song X. When it threatens to break altogether 'free,' its risks seem more like entropy than thrills and chills. But it's a live album showcasing one of the great improvisers, as well as musicians who never sound more authoritative than when following his orders."[4]Robert Palmer wrote in The New York Times, "The event lent the music a certain raw edge and a bluesy vitality. But it also attains an impressive clarity; in many ways, it's a more openly accessible piece of work than the thick, thundering group improvisations heard on the Coleman-Pat Metheny Song X album."[2]Scott Yanow later wrote in a review published by AllMusic, "this was the leading 'free funk' band of the 1980s, and this LP, which is worth a search by open-eared listeners, gives one a definitive look into the group's unusual music".[3]
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