In a review for AllMusic, Richard S. Ginell wrote: "The world music-minded producer Bill Laswell gets a hold of Pharoah Sanders here and lo, the sleeping volcano erupts with one of his most fulfilling albums in many a year... This resurrection will quicken the pulse of many an old Pharoah fan."[1]
The authors of The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings called the album "a disappointment after the high of Crescent With Love," and stated: "Sanders sounds almost flabby and because he has surrounded himself with a mechanical, electronic sound, the weakness of the front line sinks in with every repeat hearing."[5]
Robert Christgau commented: "this putatively commercial move ventures into the unknown. With his fabulous sound, un-American activities, and grandly simple musical ideas, the man was made for Bill Laswell's world-jazz strategems."[7]
Writing for the Chicago Reader, Neil Tesser remarked that, with the album, Laswell "for once got it right," and noted: "while he used a modicum of modern tech wizardry and a few new dance beats to dress up the music for today, he clearly intended to return Sanders to the long-limbed spirituality of his 70s dates, and he succeeded."[9]
CMJ New Music Monthly's James Lien stated that the album features "a heady range of musical styles," and "some of Pharoah's best playing in decades."[10]
Track listing
"Kumba" composed by Pharoah Sanders and Foday Musa Suso. Remaining tracks composed by Pharoah Sanders.
