The first CD from this double album features some of the most striking and beautiful music Connors has made in a while. Besides the Portrait Of A Fool suite, each track is a little exercise in fragility, the notes barely clinging to each other where the slight disturbance could be catastrophic. The Pretty As Ever suite is particularly endearing, it is very close in spirit to his album Airs. This album is also known for featuring a single collaboration (on the second CD) with folk legend John Fahey on Dark Is The Night [...]. Connors plays on the right channel while Fahey plays in the left, the two are immediately recognizable. It's great to hear these two guitar geniuses jamming together. The song is beautiful, yet difficult like many of Fahey's later works, but the mood is completely Connors' territory. The title track is a long and dark soundscape which unfolds in a similar way to his The Bridge album.