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This is one of the most exciting albums I have listened to for some time. The playing is exemplary and the care with which the terrific range of tone colours and cracking jazzy tunes are constructed is of a very high order. This album carries you along on a melodic journey that is utterly absorbing and rewards repeated listening. Intimo Ritmo part 1 is a standout track that features keyboards strongly in a way that is reminiscent of Dave Stewart's work with Hatfield and the North and National Health. The guitar has a rockier edge on solos but is utterly disciplined and melodic in the jazzier parts of the arrangements, which feature horns mostly in ensemble playing. The scale of this piece has similarities with some of Zappa's major jazz pieces, although without some of the cutting edge of Big Swifty or It Must Be A Camel, anyone who likes this period of Zappa's work ? and what's not to love about it, will thoroughly enjoy this track and the great El Despertar de la Siesta de un Fauno that follows it. The latter has a particularly fine ending; a few minutes of lyrical solo piano followed by a terrific coda with horns guitar and great funky organ sound. Take a quick breath, because the title track is next and it's an absolute gem. The mood is bluesy Cinematic Orchestra with almost St Germaine keyboards which spend some time grounding a wonderful melodic guitar solo that made me replay on the ipod several times to appreciate the full depth and beauty of what had passed through my ears, and that's followed by more Zappa horn section moves and tempo changes that finally succumb to a fading flute phrase. Gorgeous stuff! The interplay between drum and bass in El Crucigrama is reminiscent of the finest work of Soft Machine, by which I mean the third album. The horn work that moves over it is great, giving chunks of growing sound that are on a par with those Mike Ratledge created for Slightly All The Time. Canterbury scene fans will be utterly delighted with this. It is wonderful to hear a track where drum and bass are so central without solos, just due the sheer beauty of the way they work together and support everything else. This is playing of the highest quality. Intimo Ritmo part 2 features a splendid trombone solo, and the sound takes me straight back to the brilliant ensemble playing on Lizard by King Crimson. There's not enough trombone in jazz-rock, but this track makes up for that. Don't get me started on the subject of bassoons! I love them! However, the more conventional sax and guitar riff put some real energy into this track before a great anthemic ending. If you have Hatfield and the North, Soft Machine and Frank Zappa as major players in your musical life you won't merely like this album in your collection, you will need it.