One of the great landmarks in British jazz. Never before had such a panorama of fresh, articulate ideas been drawn together on a single recording. The potential for small-group jazz envisaged by John Coltrane is literally extrapolated here to such an extent that it enters an entirely new and different territory, with each musician adding entirely individual elements to the unique wholeness of the group. John McLaughlin unashamedly deals in melodic and timbral elements which are more reminiscent of Hendrix than of Joe Pass, while playing what is unmistakably "jazz guitar" in the truest sense, as well as managing to offer a foretaste of the Indian influences which became so prominent later in his career. Tony Oxley's drumming has all the intricacy of late bebop but achieves a sense of punctuation as precise as a rock backbeat, while Brian Odges and John Surman wring an unprecedented level of harmonic richness from their instruments. Beyond its own unique identity, this music also sits at the precise centre of the crossroads which would lead to the modern European jazz sound, fusion, "world jazz" and much more. Essential. --Roger Thomas