Contained herein we find Ayler's 1966 quintet live in Lorrach, Germany and Paris, France. This group included brother Donald on trumpet, Bill Folwell on bass, Beaver Harris on drums, and Michel Samson on violin. These concerts have been issued in the past in varying states of quality but are lovingly collected here in more optimal sound fidelity and packaging, and the results prove it was worth the wait.

"Bells" opens this set with its festive freak march, galloping joyously through the wilderness until we finally become lost on the journey. The rhythm has gotten away from us and it's as if a frantic scramble is made to regain our bearings. Of course we find them by way of the brass restating the melody, but only temporarily. As in other versions of this piece, the group continues on this trajectory of lost and found for the duration with each member soloing during the free passages. Folwell's solo in particular is incredible as he bows double stops and bends dissonant notes back into consonance. The refrain is especially festive with melodic overload courtesy of strings and brass sans percussion.

The sound of this group is generally string heavy, illustrated perfectly by the next track "Prophet". It starts in fine freedom with a solo by Donald under which bass furiously saws the song in half behind him and Harris' drums collide with squealing violin. His drums ricochet around the sound space in aggressive somersaults complete with vocalized punctuations. Ayler signals a return to the melody with snaky, shrieking lines that twist around the rhythm section and nearly strangle the trumpet and violin. This is classic energy music, transcending jazz and blues completely. Folwell plays a brief solo, this time with fingers before the maelstrom once again sucks the air out of the concert hall with suffocated overblown trills.

"Our Prayer/Spirits Rejoice" brings back some sanity with it's stately gospel tinged theme that seems to grow bigger as the players diverge from it with vibrato and judicious amounts of dissonance. The two sets on this disc differ slightly by locale, with the German concert having a slightly clearer sound and perhaps more reserved attendees. The Paris audience is in typically vivacious form, showing their love for this music with spirited hoots and hollers; a testament to the fact that Ayler and company had fully converted their congregation.