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Sandy Bull-E PLURIBUS UNUM CD (Vanguard)

A quickie month-closer guaranteed to knock out those of you still staggering from my previous post. And as you staggering postettes already know, my wang-dang-doodlin' over the likes of Sandy Bull these past few months has become one of the stranger of my obsessive/compulsive music listening excursions what with the reviews of FANTASIAS FOR GUITAR AND BANJO, INVENTIONS and STILL ST. VALENTINE'S DAY that have been peppering up this blog ever since the waning days of the previous year turning this rabid rock & roll FAN into a one-man cheerleading squad for this long-gone string-fiend! And NO WONDER, for the introduction of Bull into my listening parameters has certainly shocked this man to no end, almost to the point of replacing the likes of John Fahey and Robbie Basho as far as what "folk" music can be in one's life w/o the staid sanctimoniousness behind it coupled with a staggering PRETENSION that almost equals the alternative rock scene of the eighties and nineties...let's face it, Sandy Bull was a man who at his best transcended a whole lotta hooey to make a music that could stand on its own (and "in" its own genre so to speak) and affect you the same way a blaring heavy metal band can, or a punk group that has its tension in the right place or even some mad outta-the-sphere Amon Duul I of a trouncing brain-defrying experience!

'68's E PLURIBUS UNUM continues on the fine path set forth by Bull's previous two excursions, this time with the man handling everything including the percussion on "No Deposit-No Return Blues" (particularly clanky string-thing pounce) and returning to the "World Music" theme on yet another "blend" where he sorta mooshes everything from Indian raga to medevial motifs 'n it all comes out smoother'n Dave Lang's KY'd anus. Initially I felt this inferior to Bull's '65 longplayer INVENTIONS which I thought jumped onto a lotta hot bandwagons a few years before the wagon was even BUILT, but E PLURIBUS UNUM is one to grow on ya like moles on a nose, and as far as introspective late-night listening goes keep me up to three inna morn with this spinnin' and a complete run of DENIM DELINQUENT and if I don't snap back at you inna morn something must be wrong!