[6] The Philadelphia Inquirer called the album "an ambitious suite of songs dealing with the politics, cultures and economies of a changing world.

"[9] The Chicago Sun-Times deemed it "a gorgeously idiosyncratic piece of work," writing that "the string arrangements that dominate this album are every bit as beguiling as we've come to expect from Parks.

"[8] The Times determined that Parks's "music ploughs its charming, obscure and highly original furrow, faintly evoking Gilbert and Sullivan or Rodgers and Hammerstein rather than any discernable acknowledgement of rock, soul or pop.

"[10] The New York Times wrote: "Sustaining a tone like the innocence and hardheadedness of E. L. Doctorow's Ragtime, Mr.

As history and dreams flash through the orchestral arrangements, they begin a century-long prelude to an even closer future the two nations may share.