Hard to believe that this far down the line there would still be unreleased recordings of Albert Ayler, never mind a full live set from the apex of his reign, the glorious 1966 tour of Europe, so I nearly did a double take when I first saw this title listed. The Berlin set which the CD is bundled with turned up in lesser fidelity and in the incorrect order on Revenant’s disputed Ayler box, but the Stockholm set has never even been booted and both receive their first release fully authorised by the Ayler estate. Stockholm is presented w/comparatively glorious sound and really, it might just be the best set from the tour, eclipsing even the companion Lorrach, Paris 1966. ’66 was Ayler’s year and he had the best band he would ever put together, with his brother Donald on trumpet, William Folwell on double bass, Beaver Harris on drums (still Ayler’s best drummer, over both Sunny Murray and Milford Graves) and the amazing Michel Samson on violin. The addition of the violin is key and the way that the Aylers combine with Samson’s massively inventive string work is truly ecstatic, more than living up to Ayler’s vision of a New Holy Music. The ’66 sets are fairly unique in that they consist of improvisations around a series of simple core melodies, with each track blurring into the next as Ayler mixes folk motifs, snatches of national anthems and country brass fanfares with some truly incredible upper register soloing. The Stockholm set runs “Truth Is Marching In”, “Omega (Is The Alpha)”, “Our Prayer – Bells” and “Infinite Spirit – Japan”, the latter being a cover version of a Pharaoh Sanders track from Tauhid.  Simply put, this is some of the greatest music ever made, with Ayler playing at the absolute peak of his powers, and if his music ever meant anything to you then you owe it to yourself to check this out. Comes with excellent extensive liner notes from John Litweiler. The hands-down archival find of the year – highest possible recommendation! (Volcanic Tongue)