Customer Reviews

Bull of the Woods

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

My appreciation of this band contiunes to grow by leaps and bounds. This is the Elevator's swan song, recorded under incredibly difficult circumstances. Their second album failed to land a hit single, as the first one did.PSychedlia was perhaps, on the wane, which this band with irretrievably tied to, which is fair.
Of course, the obvious circumstance of Roky Erickson's breakdown and hospitalization were the primary reason for the band's demise, but the chemistry had been upset for some time. Electric Jug-ist Tommy Hall had been the main lyricist and LSD as revolutionary tool advocate. The rest of the band were becoming more into hard escapist drugs and grew tired of Hall's philosophy.
Taking the needle and the mantle was the late lead guitarist Stacy Sutherland, truly an unsung guitar hero if I ever heard one. His playing is just enough country and Syd, not sounding overly slick,and a bit of laid-back Jerry Garcia. His lyrics a more accessable bridge abutting conventional songwriting and Hall's metaphors for the psychedelic journey to self-enlightenment. Sutherland is more grounded, down to earth, dirty and dead-end. Despite his dark nature, band members regard him affectionately.

Great Stuff

After the release of the 10 disk box set, International Artist is releasing the 3 13th Floor Elevator albums as stand alone sets. For Psychedelic Sounds and Easter Everywhere, the addition of alternate bonus tracks from the box set irritated fans, who felt they were being ripped off and forced to buy the same albums multiple times. For Bull of the Woods, you get just the album and a Mono set of songs making up a theoretical 'lost' third album. Many of the songs later appeared on Bull of the Woods. There are no bonus tracks on this set, so it is the exact same album as 'Sign of the 3 Eyed Men' (Boxset) version.

The sound quality is truly fantastic, and as a hardcore fan, I consider this the definitive version. Bull of the Woods has always been polarizing to fans, due to the lack of input from Roky. When judged next to the previous Elevators albums, it is indeed inferior. That said, as a stand alone psych album it is really great. Stacy Sutherland in conjunction with Roky and Tommy defined the Elevators sound. This set is no different, sans the lack of Roky vocals on more than half of it. It should be noted that the Mono bonus disk 'A Love that's Sound' is all Roky vocals. The typical disclaimer is this; if you're new to the 13th Floor Elevators start with 'Psychedelic Sounds.' After that album sucks you in, leave no doubt that you'll devour Easter Everywhere and Bull of the Woods quickly. Don't let this under appreciated psych album pass you buy. 5 stars for the great packaging, in depth liner notes, (for fans) no extra gimmicky bonus tracks, updated sound quality, full mono 'alternate' album and really great songs.

Final note: it's rumored that all of the Elevators albums will be appearing on 180gram vinyl in the near future. Wait on this package, if you prefer wax.

Don't bother with the mp3 version. 192k at a low quality.
Why Amazon does this with classics is baffling. 256k CBR should be the minimum.

This is a frankly awful, murky and muddy mix of this otherwise classic album. Avoid it! Buy the French Spalax release instead, it has better sound!!!