Customer Reviews

Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators

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The Elevators' catalog has had some rough treatment over the years. There are several CD versions of this album on the market, including a U.S. reissue from Collectables that's gotten bad marks for its fidelity, and several imports. This latest is from Snapper's Charly label out of the UK, and in addition to the album's original eleven tracks, it includes eight live tracks (all but two from an oft-issued Avalon Ballroom performance), and both sides of the pre-Elevators' single by The Spades.

The album tracks sound about as good as they're likely to get, given that the original master tapes were lost some time ago, and the bonuses, likewise sound similar to other issues. This is an excellent 70-minute package, fleshing out the classic original album with a host of live covers ("Everybody Needs Somebody to Love" "Before You Accuse Me" "I'm Gonna Love You Too" "You Really Got Me" "Roll Over Beethoven" "The Word" "Gloria"), one live original ("She Lives (In a Time of Her Own)"), and Roky Erickson's originals of "We Sell Soul" and "You're Gonna Miss Me."

Digipack reproductions of the original album art are sharp but small enough to be virtually unreadable. Luckily the enclosed booklet reproduces the album's back cover notes, and includes new liners from Jon "Mojo" Mills along with several period photos. 21 tracks on a single disc - a great buy! [©2005 hyperbolium dot com]

I've known about this album for a long time without ever hearing it in its entirety. After finally procuring a copy I, too, agree with burritoman that this LP is somewhat over-rated. A lot of the songs are just standard early psychedelic rock compositions. However, the performances themselves are noticeably strong. Stacy Sutherland was an interesting guitarist. His lacquered modal riffs make him sound like the missing link between Dick Dale and Jorma Kaukonen. He must've played surf/Ventures style music a few years earlier and, subsequently, musically evolved into something more distinct by the time this LP was recorded. The electric jug gets tedious. The band's sound would've benefitted by alternating the jug with tambourine, harmonica, maracas, autoharp, etc to help give the Elevators music more kineticism and flavor. The real standout is Roky Erikson. He is simply one of the greatest rock singers ever. Although basically a shouter, he showed great restraint, power and interpretation on this early offering. The bonus cuts are interesting. It shows how rocking these guys could be when they let loose. It's too bad they didn't cut a more rock-based LP when they first recorded and released 'You're Gonna Miss Me' (like Love did for their first LP) in early '66 and then move on to the tunes on this CD as a second LP for later '66. In fact, this LP pairs well with Love's second LP. Although I wasn't overwhelmed by this LP, it's still worth having for the aforementioned strengths. It's great to hear that Roky is functioning and back in action again. What a great talent.

It seems to be almost unanimous among fans of hardcore 1960's rock that this, the first 13th Floor Elevators album, was their best.
I disagree. Why is another question, but I believe it comes down to the fact that there's too much Roky Erikson and too little Stacy Sutherland, and also because Tommy Hall is just too prominent (that so-called electric jug shtick is interesting at first but eventually becomes a slight irritant). Having said all that, it's still a classic of sorts. It includes the only two songs that anyone outside of their fan base will likely ever hear (and of course even that's facing long odds), the single 'You're Gonna Miss Me' and the outstanding 'Splash 1'. The former is one of the all-time magnificent garage tunes of the era, and became a very minor hit. The problem there was the fact that the song has little in common with anything else the band was doing. I can imagine it confused listeners at the time, and likely sealed their commercial fate, but who cares now? The album is interesting, intermittently brilliant but ultimately disappointing. As for being 'psychedelic', I'm not convinced much of the material is, but these wackos were indeed ahead of the curve on that score as this was a 1966 release.
I'd have to recommend their third and final album "Bull Of The Woods" easily over this debut and slightly more than their second disc "Easter Everywhere". Start with their 1969 swansong.

I love the 13th floor elevators but the descritpion specifies this is a 3 disc CD set when there actually only is one CD.