John Adams was the new boy on the new music block when this record came out on Arch Records in 1980, hailed by some as the logical extension of Phil Glass, LaMonte Young, et al., though his compositions are slightly more ornate than those two. Tim Page said at the time, “This is one of the more promising records I have heard in a long time. John Adams has put together a blend of minimalism that owes at least as much to Bela Bartok as to Terry Riley.”