A thread for Sandy Bull

I bet you'd like him. Very smart. Extended/psychedelic in places. You can't really go wrong with either of his first two albums for a taste.

i turned some deadheads onto his choogling version of "memphis, tn" too, but "blend" with billy higgins (post-ornette's free jazz) borders on the psychic.

Sandy Bull wise it's all about "Blend." Awesome!

'Electric Blend' / E Pluribus Unum is a far more soporific proposition, has a completely different vibe to the earlier records. It suffers a lot from bad recording, but does do great value as smacked-out drift music, kinda like Spacemen 3's sitar music. Sounds fuck all like Iron butterfly.

I really should have these albums on vinyl by now. They are surprisingly common, even here in the UK.

'Electric Blend' / E Pluribus Unum is a far more soporific proposition, has a completely different vibe to the earlier records. It suffers a lot from bad recording, but does do great value as smacked-out drift music, kinda like Spacemen 3's sitar music. Sounds fuck all like Iron Butterfly.

I really should have these albums on vinyl by now. They are surprisingly common, even here in the UK.

Sez here that Bull/Butterfield/Butterfly ALL did wonderful things with guitars, in their own separate ways. (Plus, if "I. Ron Butterfly" were the name of an individual and not a band, then they'd all be hunkered down together in my "Bu-" section, maybe passing the pipe with Burning Spear and the Buzzcocks and Butthole Surfers.)

After thorough listening and consideration, I am prepared to pronounce "Demolition Derby" his finest moment.

Right on, dude.

All I got in my pocket are two tokens and a dime, but I'm holding to the pieces of my dream.

Sandy's daughter is a stone fox, btw.

pix pls.

looked, but no dice. She played taboura on stage with him towards the end there. She made a doc about her dad?

tamboura

we can't stop fighting now
we can't stop fighting now
we can't stop fighting now

I like East-West now BTW.

She made a doc about her dad?

wait, what? did this come out?

so i just ordered the live disc on water and i picked up the best of on vanguard

can we do a proper S/D with the best tracks?

i'm thinking of picking up e pluribus unum because none of that is included on the best of, but i wonder how much i need the first three to fill in the gaps from the best of

also i just want to point out that i got into this via roy montgomery's track "fantasia on a sandy bull"

live disc on Water is slightly shambling, but still awwwwwwesome -- him and Fahey on one night, must've been incredible.

i would definitely buy all the bull albums. but yeah, get e pluribus, it's fucking great.

too bad e pluribus is the only one readily available on CD. but i'm digging on this comp like crazy, wish i could find copies of "inventions" and "demolition derby".

and yeah that review upthread is on some bullshit.

demolition derby is just something else entirely man. god i love that record.

wish i could find copies of "inventions" and "demolition derby".

― moonship journey to baja, Monday, June 29, 2009 12:21 AM

never heard those either, i just have fantasias and e pluribus and possibly the live one but i think i sold it

demolition derby is a ridic record. inventions is similar in vibe to fantasias.

demo derby is not really deep into the acid raga groove, aside from a few tracks. you get sort of weird sentimental stuff like "last date" which sounds like duane eddy but is totally smokin.

"coming together (a song of peace)" is ultimate stoner feel-good hippy protest jam.

hey um in reference to this:

She played taboura on stage with him towards the end there. She made a doc about her dad?

― Fox Force Five Punchline (sexyDancer), Monday, November 17, 2008 11:08 AM (7 months ago) Bookmark

see this excerpt from the comments HERE:
Cassandra said...

I am Sandy's daughter that made the film. I have recently done some new edits and started showing it around oakland/sf and am busy trying to set up some dates in other cities. let me know if you or anyone you know wants to host a night of film/music

should i start a thread on cosmic americana music? or is there already one?

where we talk about stuff that sounds like his version of "memphis, tn"?

yeah start one so I can talk about Fahey's "Fare Forward Voyagers"

I guess the doc is screening in Greenpoint tonight. Anyone going? SexyD?

SB features prominently in the new Jonathan Lethem book, "Chronic City."

weird.

How so? He's a character?

xpost threads about cosmic American music? Ah, yeah! You might wanta start with these--sorry if links don't work

Takoma's one-offs and obscurities (started by JacobSanders on board I Love Music on Jun 15, 2011)

Laser Pace - Granfalloon (Takoma - 1974) Wow! (started by scott seward on board I Love Music on Nov 6, 2007)

Revolt of the ILX Brigade: New Post-Fahey Folk For PPL that post in the Takoma & Tompkin's Square Threads (started by Andrew WKRP (upper mississippi sh@kedown) on board I Love Music on

which bach bouree opens the live at the matrix album? anybody know?

After thorough listening and consideration, I am prepared to pronounce "Demolition Derby" his finest moment.

― ian, Monday, November 17, 2008 12:18 PM (5 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

cool! just found this record (sans cover) for $5. sounds dope.

I was listening to E Pluribus Unum yesterday, and I am prepared to pronounce it his finest moment.

listened to the live valentines day thing today - some of it is a mess, but some of it is so good. the electric blends = c o s m i c

definitely times where i want to listen to sandy bull and sandy bull only.

Tonight was one of those times for me. I put the "Reinventions" comp on (from Spotify), and when "Blend" got going my wife was like, this is amazing, who IS this? Guy was great.

inventions was the first sandy bull i heard, and it still remains my go-to for him. the 20 minutes of "blend" fly by, every single time, and his "memphis, tn" somehow sounds appropriate in just about any listening situtation.

actually...the "blend" i know is "blend II" from inventions. i'm not sure i've heard the "blend" on the comp! i'll check it out, stat

He was somewhat prominent in the recent Jann Wenner biography--Wenner listened to his music a lot before Rolling Stone was launched, and Wenner's wife Jane had a long involvement with him. Got me to download "Blend," which is nice.

"coming together (a song of peace)" is ultimate stoner feel-good hippy protest jam.

― ian, Sunday, June 28, 2009 11:46 PM (eight years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Does anyone rate his later records, specifically 1991's Vehicles? I ask because this clip from around the time period (and similarly accompanied by Aiyb Dieng) is amazing, and there's a radio show from around this time floating around too that is really good

And I guess KC's documentary about her dad never did get a wide theatrical (or DVD) release, huh? Would love to see it.

i just realized it's dennis charles -- the free jazz drummer who played with cecil taylor in the late 1950s and early '60s -- who's playing percussion on the LP "demolition derby"

what's more, if you look at rick lopez's william parker sessionography, you'll find there's an alleged recording floating around out there which features parker, sandy bull, don cherry, along with ed blackwell AND roger blank.

so that's a total of four (4) legendary free jazz drummers to collaborate with sandy bull, that i know of (including billy higgins on the "fantasias" LP, which gets plenty of mentions upthread).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bo-p1oKoNPs

And I guess KC's documentary about her dad never did get a wide theatrical (or DVD) release, huh? Would love to see it.

― Paul Ponzi, Wednesday, April 11, 2018 2:38 PM (three years ago

i could ask her about it if you are sincerely curious.

okay i need to post one more thing, this was recommended to me by youtube after searching various SB things: his 1992 album, "vehicles"

fuck it's good! just give it a minute until the steel guitar comes in ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSesUxCgqjY

i could ask her about it if you are sincerely curious.

― sarahell, Tuesday, March 15, 2022 3:41 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

Of course! That would be great. I was just wondering what became of it. I'm pretty burned out on music docs in general but I feel like Sandy's is probably a story that actually deserves one

it's only a 40- or 50-min movie anyway, from what i can gather online

Looks like KC Bull posted the documentary on Youtube last year -- missed it til just now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7nSx1oJySQ

Seconding the praise for Memphis, Tennessee. Wish he'd done more in that vein.

thx for the heads up on the doc — been wanting to see that!

hell yeah - i will be watching that soon, thanks

thanks for sharing

Anyone heard this recently released live album?
https://www.forcedexposure.com/Catalog/bull-sandy-live-in-san-francisco-late-1969-lp/TDP.54111LP.html

I’ve pretty much given up on Drag City repressing the rhythm ace record

curious about that SF 69 thing ... but I can't find any info about it (other than the descrip on the FE page and elsewhere). seems like it'd be at least a slightly bigger deal.

biggest surprise of the Jann Wenner bio was Sandy Bull playing such a prominent role being Jane Wenner's longtime romantic partner, even while she was married to Jann. also didn't know he was such a bad junkie.

just when you think sandy can't be any cooler, he cucks jann wenner

and yeah, he was, uh, a committed heroin user for a long time, i think.

but I can't find any info about it (other than the descrip on the FE page and elsewhere). seems like it'd be at least a slightly bigger deal.

idk, is it a bootleg label? the cover photo, pretty clearly from the 80s, doesn't inspire much confidence.

Trading Places appears to be a Radation sublabel, which afaik is legit

https://www.discogs.com/label/1624893-Trading-Places

from Discogs comments:

For those concerned with questions of legitimacy, Trading Places appears to license many of their releases from Cherry Red, who does factually maintain rights to the several releases I checked. Cherry Red / Esoteric Recordings is fully legitimate, and if they grant the license then the releases are legitimate. One may contact Cherry Red to confirm this for themselves. Every Trading Places release I've viewed has some form of licensing claim, whether from Cherry Red or other parties related to the respective release. This does not mean they are legitimate, but are at the very least researching rights holders.

what an amazing doc that was, and so real. loved it.