2006/05/08

Sandy Bull - 3 albums











I'm sure there are many people out there who know more about this artist with 3 albums on the Vanguard Label from the 60s (this is about all I know). so I will just say that he has a very psychedelic, magical even, warm and rich guitar sound, sometimes deep like an Oud, sometimes colorful like Flamenco. Like John Fahey he also transcribed European classical music for guitar - the version of Carmina Burana is not the most amazing thing here, but is interesting to say the least.

often with other instruments in addition to guitar or banjo all played by himself, ranging from psychedelia to unclassifiable explorations in what sounds like composed improvisation, sometimes bluesy, sometimes worldly. this is music one can sink into, with many pieces lasting more than 15 minutes - expansive and meandering yet always purposeful.

I got these originally from http://riffingeddie.blogspot.com, and uploading again because they are so good and have not been reissued.

E Pluribus Unum (1969) / Fantasias For Guitar & Banjo (1963)

and here is another fine studio album. I had uploaded the Still Valentines Day live in SF but deleted it because i listened again and it's really weak. i guess at that time his years of drug abuse had taken its toll and the recording is just him repetitively noodling through a phaser or something -- and i do not wish to waste your precious time and pod-space with it.

Inventions

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

dear lord. god bless sandy and yourself...great unrecognised stuff!

Anonymous said...

Hi, new to the site... Good stuff, nice to see these things available to the curious.

Bull's second lp, "Inventions" is certainly worth posting, as is his fourth, "Demolition Derby" if you have those two.

Lars said...

Yo man is there any way you could repost the sandy albums thanks

Tom said...

thanks for reupping these, been looking for fantasias for guitar and banjo for a while.

Unknown said...

i downloaded these but they aren't recognized files by my computer. its says zip and that normally works but for some reason these files aren't happening. any ideas??? i'd really love to hear more of his stuff.......thanks

Anonymous said...

here's some more sandy bull info if you are interested
http://grown-so-ugly.blogspot.com/2006/10/sandy-bull-sandy-bull-was-one-of-most.html

Anonymous said...

I've download both files available of sandy bull's music, but it's been imposible to open these zip files. They appear two carpets, one with the name "_MACOSX", aND OTHER WITH THE ALBUM'S NAME. Is there anyone who could help me and tell me what to do? My e-mail is jorge_deather@yahoo.com.mx.

Thanks allot.

Unknown said...

To unzip, WinRar is useless. Use 7-Zip. Free, but you'll need to google it and download.