You were either on the
Mountain Bus, or you were not. Those who did like
Gear Fab's 1998 reissue of the Chicago band's sole album -- and perhaps even some of those who did not -- should find the even more satisfying
Amazing Grace, which collects the various recordings made by the post-
Mountain Bus communal band
Sky Farmer, to be a welcome treat. From the time the original band was litigated out of existence until its reshuffling and re-emergence with the music found on this archival release, the members of
Sky Farmer discovered an even more liberating range of stylistic eclecticism (
Mountain Bus certainly started them on the road in that regard) and a more pronounced sense of self-deprecation (for all the moments of aw-shucks insouciance on
Sundance, there were corresponding stretches of solemn jamming during which the band took itself quite seriously indeed).
Amazing Grace has some of the same attributes and characteristics as
Sundance, but in other ways it is a whole new gumbo of coalescing musical impulses. The early
rock & roll piano that opens up
"Okooch Farewell," for instance, abruptly gives way during the chorus to a variety of swinging, laid-back hippie
funk only endemic to the weird and uncategorizable post-
Woodstock '70s. Much of the rest of the album is saturated by this brand of loose
rock &
soul groove (
"Torch Poem"), with
Annie Hat's voice at times recalling
Maria Muldaur or the blue-eyed wail of
Bonnie Bramlett. But there are also traces of
blues (
"Out of Hand"),
R&B, and particularly
jazz, especially during the extended cosmic jams, as well as festive
Latin rhythms and nods to
zydeco (
"Senorita") and even some
country licks (
"Playboy After Dark"). And it is not a little bit -- say, psychedelic? -- hearing a bunch of longhairs covering a
Merle Haggard song. Good songs (mostly), often excellent playing, it's worth the rediscovery. ~ Stanton Swihart
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