Sandy Bull

Sandy Bull may have been the first man in the '60s folk renaissance to foreground modal drones in his music and thereby forge a link between Scottish ballads, jazz, and sitar meditations. The results are seismic, and when seen in the light of the millennial freak-folk scene, they cast Bull as one of the genre's primary father figures. VANGUARD VISIONARIES seeks to introduce neophytes to Bull's finest noodlings, covering ground that's similar to the previous Vanguard best-of, RE-INVENTIONS. The differences are minor--an alternate sequence, the added gem "Last Date," and the inclusion of "Electric Blend" instead of the acoustic version--but enough to make VANGUARD VISIONARIES the definitive single-disc Bull collection, and the perfect entry point for neophytes.