The album showcases Kottke's early, hard-driving
polyphonic finger-picking style (which eventually led to his developing
tendinitis and having to change his playing approach). Even at the fastest tempos the notes are clean and crisp, with a distinctive tone. The album was recorded in one afternoon, in exactly the running order of the album. Most tracks were done in a single take. Kottke doesn't even pause when he audibly smacks the slide on the guitar neck on "The Sailor's Grave on the Prairie." In the liner notes to
Anthology he states, "We didn't know about sequencing, so the record is in the order it was recorded...The record took three-and-a-half hours to do, and all I had to do was sit down and play everything I ever knew." True to its title, the album contains performances on both 6- and
12-string acoustic guitars, some using a
slide. Although Kottke has included vocals on other albums, this album is all instrumental – the reason being, as Kottke explains in the liner notes, his voice "sounds like geese farts on a muggy day." All the tracks were written by Kottke except ''
Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring'', Kottke's arrangement of the familiar
Bach piece. The album had a large influence on, and was an inspiration for, guitarist
Michael Hedges, who would later tour with Kottke. This album has been re-released as an
SACD. ==Reception==