The "communal spirit feels absolutely awe-inspiring, [and] recalls a bit of David Peel & The Lower East Side’s “Have a Marijuana”. The same degree of joy from that 1968 album lives on with Harry’s loopy take on folk rock."
Blind Uncle Harry goes for a playful sound on the freak folk of “Dopesmokers of the World Unite and Take Over”. Sung with the right degree of tongue in cheek, his work recalls a bit of David Peel & The Lower East Side’s “Have a Marijuana”. The same degree of joy from that 1968 album lives on with Blind Uncle Harry’s loopy take on folk rock. Everything here has a dazed, hazy quality to it befitting the sharp lyricism that comes on through. Layers are brought together but the whole of the piece has a surprising spaciousness to it. Unlike David Peel, Blind Uncle Harry’s voice has a warmer, more welcoming presence that draws equally from traditional folk as well as anti-folk.
The use of a wide swath of singers and the communal spirit feels absolutely awe-inspiring. He makes the whole of the piece feel so alive and teeming with a tremendous degree of energy. Everything about it seems to almost fall about in a way that feels absolutely celebratory. Such a wide range of instruments filter into and out of the mix it becomes quite stunning to behold in full. For the final stretch he lets the already loose arrangement become even looser as the whole of the song fades away in a delirious blurred beauty.
“Dopesmokers of the World Unite and Take Over” shows off the genteel nature of Blind Uncle Harry in how he taps into folk’s very rebellious roots.
http://www.beachsloth.com/blind-uncle-harry-dopesmokers-of-the-world-unite-and-take-over.html