Re-Inventions : The Best of the Vanguard Years

Dirty Linen - "...gleams bright and beautiful....Sandy Bull is an original..." The Wire - "...All of Sandy Bull's albums ought to be heard in their entirety, but this compilation is a very good place to get your feet wet, in an ocean of beauty that knows no boundaries..." Entertainment Weekly - "Master of the guitar, banjo, and lute-like oud, Bull was a world music eclectic decades before it was fashionable. Though not in their league technically, he anticipated fret masters as diverse as Gabor Szabo, John McLaughlin, and Ry Cooder..." - Rating: A- Mojo - "Bull blithely, but brilliantly, merged classical fantasia with Indian raga and American folk primitivism." Entertainment Weekly (2/5/99, p.71) - "Master of the guitar, banjo, and lute-like oud, Bull was a world music eclectic decades before it was fashionable. Though not in their league technically, he anticipated fret masters as diverse as Gabor Szabo, John McLaughlin, and Ry Cooder..." - Rating: A- The Wire (3/03, p.66) - "...All of Sandy Bull's albums ought to be heard in their entirety, but this compilation is a very good place to get your feet we, in an ocean of beauty that knows no boundaries..." Dirty Linen (6-7/99, p.68) - "...gleams bright and beautiful....Sandy Bull is an original..."

Subtitled "Best of the Vanguard Years", RE-INVENTIONS culls eight instrumental pieces from Sandy Bull's releases for the Vanguard label. In the early '60, guitarist and banjo player Bull began experimenting with overdubbing, having already embraced a range of musics not yet squirreled into the overly simplified category of "world music". The result was a trio of compelling and evocative albums. Occasionally joined by a drummer or percussionist, Bull tackled modal blues, ragas, jazz, bossa nova, and even rock & roll. His understanding of the various forms was deep enough to allow for his own agenda.
Bull celebrates the common denominators that bind diverse musics. The 21-minute "Blend", a duet with drummer Billy Higgins, heads into an incredible single rhythmic note solo that dances along so hypnotically as to create its own gravitational pull. When first issued, this music wasn't so much ahead of its time--a listen to any of the sources from which Bull drew bears that out--as it was simply timeless.|