Any recording with multi-instrumentalist Joe McPhee promises to be interesting, and this one does not disappoint. It helps, of course, that everyone on the date brings something creative to the table, as the other three members of the quartet bring as distinct and fresh an approach as McPhee so often does. The first listen was overwhelming for me, due not just to the intensity but to the variety of inventive sounds these musicians concoct-something I expect of McPhee, but happily found matched by the others on this session.

It takes several listens to really appreciate the way these musicians listen to each other and complement what the others are up to. Raymond Boni's guitar conception is light-years ahead of most of what is passing for creative music on the instrument. With sound sculpting being the operative principle here, Boni comes up with some fascinating sonorities that keep the listener in a state of wonder. McPhee's horns (alto and soprano saxes and pocket trumpet on this date) not only soar alongside the others, but often are what make the music happen. The others, Daunik Lazro on alto and baritone saxes and Claude Tchamitchian on doublebass, however, lend equally strong voices to the session. There is intensity and playfulness right from the start with the aptly titled "Folie Dure" ("Hard Madness") but one finds also veins of lyricism and imaginative sound conception through out. The closer, "Le r�gne du calamar g�ant," (translation: "The reign of the Giant Squid") has shades of Frank Zappa and Eric Satie. This is brave, envelop-pushing music from inspired musicians involved in heightened creative interactions.