Sandy Bull – Still Valentine’s Day 1969

No Quarter has consistently been home and hollow to some of the best in folk and Cosmic Americana in the past few years, but they’ve also been known to offer up the occasional essential in the reissue department as well (see: Laddio Bolocko). Now, the label folds the incomparable Sandy Bull into their roster with an issue of a pair of live recordings made in 1969 around the time of the release of his E Pluribus Unum album. As such, the record incorporates both offerings from that album, each in their own live splendor here alongside some improvisations and adaptations from the preceding Inventions.

Recorded over two nights at The Matrix club in San Francisco, the songs here find Bull exploring a reverberating electric vision that exemplifies his earned legend. “No Deposit, No Return Blues” transforms from the original’s more tactile version into a heat-wave hallucination, a unique version that steps off from the recorded document to weave spectral air. “Electric Bend” is given a similar treatment, leaving the syncopated stringwork behind to singe the speakers with an echoed hypnosis. The record finds Bull experimenting with Oud, no surprise given its prominence in his work at the time, but it’s great to hear some works that are lest structured unfold here. Likewise his more mannered take on the classic “Memphis, TN” serves as a classic vision of Bull for the purists. An essential entry into Bull’s documented recordings and another gem from the No Quarter folks.

Support the artist. Buy it HERE.

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