"[1] The authors of The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings awarded the album a full 4 stars, and stated: "these extraordinary sides roll back the years like nobody's business... these two discs seem to pass by in moments, when in fact they are among the most substantial performances from either man in recent years.

"[4] Seymour Wright of The Wire described the music as "an aggregate wealth of rational invention, sonic resources, traditions broached, instrumental control, and dry, tender, wry play."

There's a zooming-in-and-out-of sonic proportion, tempers, physicalities, and unfolding of time at play that is remarkable and typical of Oxley and Bailey's work.

"[6] A reviewer for Hi-Fi News remarked: "Alternately sentimental and aggressive, this is very serious fun: musicians asking each other what the point is of it all, without relenting.

He wrote: "the way that time appears to stand still, opening up myriad extra pockets for fountains of variegated guitar and percussion sounds, has a similar quality on both discs, even though the two duos were recorded eighteen years apart.