Soukous in Central Park

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[10]
Robert Christgau	A−[11]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[12]
Los Angeles Daily News	[9]
MusicHound World: The Essential Album Guide	[6]

The Colorado Springs Gazette-Telegraph wrote: "The style is propulsive dance music, limned with guitars that shiver across the songs like musical mercury. Vocalist Kanda calls out to lead guitarist Nene Tshakou throughout the performance as if entranced by the shimmering sound."^[13] Robert Christgau noted that "guitarist Nene Tshakou is slightly fleeter and more lyrical (if less dazzling) than [former guitarist] Diblo Dibala."^[11]

The Los Angeles Times determined that "Kanda has one of those soothingly raspy voices that could handle American soul music nicely if he were so inclined."^[14] The Washington Post stated that "Tshakou's introduction to 'Sai' is just one example of the fast, precise arpeggio playing that will impress guitarists even more than lay listeners."^[8] The Boston Globe concluded that "Bongo Man's sweet tenor voice is in fine form—but the dull, compressed sound is like a film over the music, adding distance to the experience."^[15]

AllMusic wrote that the album "dances on non-stop with the idiom's patented driving prettiness, beguiling as all-get-out but without peaks and valleys, in a steady-state hyper-competence that never sags but never builds."^[10] In 2010, The Sydney Morning Herald opined that Tshakou "is one of the great axemen, irrespective of the style of music."^[16]