Hello Friends,
Another Halloween has come and gone and we're left with the damp, drizzly Novembers of the soul.
Good thing we still have Roky Erickson to help us through our Halloween hangovers!
Enjoy!
Showing posts with label 13th Floor Elevators. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 13th Floor Elevators. Show all posts
Sunday, November 1, 2015
Saturday, October 31, 2015
The Evil One
Roky Erickson and the Aliens - "The Evil One" (1981) - Light in the Attic Records
Hello Friends,
Tonight we're sipping some cocktails and listening to a three-sided record featuring Two Headed Dogs and Fire Demons courtesy of one of rock's most legendary troubled souls, Roky Erickson.
The Evil One, released in 1981, contains 15 songs over 3 record sides and the 4th side is left blank, but with an etching of Two Headed Dog in place of grooves(!). Every single song is fucking great! Straightforward, economical rock & roll with Roky's growling, bluesy vocals and paranoid, horror-inspired lyrics.
Its like if Little Richard was possessed by Baphomet and had the original Alice Cooper Band playing back up.
This record marks the great Roky Erickson's return to the fold since The 13th Floor Elevators disbanded and he spent much of the 70's in and out of mental institutions.
The result is an undersung and undisputed classic.
The song title alone are worth the price of admission. They read like a catalog of Classic B Horror flicks!
Two Headed Dog
I Walked With A Zombie
Night Of The Vampire
It's A Cold Night For Alligators
Mine Mine Mind
Sputnik
White Faces
I Think Of Demons
Creature With The Atom Brain
The Wind And More
Don't Shake Me Lucifer
Bloody Hammer
Stand For The Fire Demon
Click Your Fingers
If You Have Ghosts
Again, every single song is good. Every single song rocks. Great, disturbing lyrics with passionate, disturbed vocals and good ol' fashioned raucous rock roll to back it all up!
Fun Fact: Hey kids, this record was produced by Stu Cook, former bassist of Creedence Clearwater Revival.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
Tonight we're sipping some cocktails and listening to a three-sided record featuring Two Headed Dogs and Fire Demons courtesy of one of rock's most legendary troubled souls, Roky Erickson.
The Evil One, released in 1981, contains 15 songs over 3 record sides and the 4th side is left blank, but with an etching of Two Headed Dog in place of grooves(!). Every single song is fucking great! Straightforward, economical rock & roll with Roky's growling, bluesy vocals and paranoid, horror-inspired lyrics.
Its like if Little Richard was possessed by Baphomet and had the original Alice Cooper Band playing back up.
This record marks the great Roky Erickson's return to the fold since The 13th Floor Elevators disbanded and he spent much of the 70's in and out of mental institutions.
The result is an undersung and undisputed classic.
The song title alone are worth the price of admission. They read like a catalog of Classic B Horror flicks!
Two Headed Dog
I Walked With A Zombie
Night Of The Vampire
It's A Cold Night For Alligators
Mine Mine Mind
Sputnik
White Faces
I Think Of Demons
Creature With The Atom Brain
The Wind And More
Don't Shake Me Lucifer
Bloody Hammer
Stand For The Fire Demon
Click Your Fingers
If You Have Ghosts
Again, every single song is good. Every single song rocks. Great, disturbing lyrics with passionate, disturbed vocals and good ol' fashioned raucous rock roll to back it all up!
Fun Fact: Hey kids, this record was produced by Stu Cook, former bassist of Creedence Clearwater Revival.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
RATING: 5 demons up in the attic to the left out of 5
Thursday, April 9, 2015
13th Floor Elevators: Easter Everywhere
The 13th Floor Elevators - "Easter Everywhere" (1967) - International Artist
Hello Friends,
The year 1967 marked a turning point in music and culture, especially in these here United States. There was no shortage of good music either. Bands began pushing the envelope with sounds and instruments. 1967 had debuts from The Doors, The Grateful Dead, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Moby Grape, Big Brother & the Holding Company, The Velvet Underground, Pink Floyd & Leonard Cohen. Frank Zappa & The Mothers released Absolutely Free. The Kinks gave us Something Else. The Beach Boys cut & pasted together, Smiley Smile. Cream, Disraeli Gears. The Who Sell Out. The Stones' Their Satanic Majesties Request. And the grandaddy of them all, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
The year 1967 marked a turning point in music and culture, especially in these here United States. There was no shortage of good music either. Bands began pushing the envelope with sounds and instruments. 1967 had debuts from The Doors, The Grateful Dead, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Moby Grape, Big Brother & the Holding Company, The Velvet Underground, Pink Floyd & Leonard Cohen. Frank Zappa & The Mothers released Absolutely Free. The Kinks gave us Something Else. The Beach Boys cut & pasted together, Smiley Smile. Cream, Disraeli Gears. The Who Sell Out. The Stones' Their Satanic Majesties Request. And the grandaddy of them all, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Released just one year after their amazing debut, The 13th Floor Elevators released Easter Everywhere, another psychedelic masterpiece. Like the times themselves, there's a definite evolution here as well. Not only was the band continually expanding their minds through living the Rock & Roll lifestyle, but by '67 they were more worldly & world-weary. Also, by most reports, they were probably ingesting more psychedelics than your average, run-of-the-mill Texas garage band! Just say no, kids!
The band has broadened their sound as well, playing a slightly more developed version of their signature psychedelic blues with more folk, jazz & Eastern influences thrown in. For their sophomore effort, the rhythm section would also be updated. Bassist Ronnie Leatherman and drummer John Ike Walton would be replaced by Dan Galindo and Danny Thomas, respectively. Of course, each song on the record is enhanced by Tommy Hall's ubiquitous and fluttering electric jug playing!
Frontman Roky Erickson is in especially fine form. His barbaric yawp never sounded better! With whacky stream of consciousness lyrics, he's equal parts Syd Barrett & Jim Jones. William Blake & Charlie Manson. Whimsically menacing. Almost like a crazed Bob Dylan leading a religious cult while ingesting healthy doses of lysergic acid.
Things get kicked off with "Slip Inside This House" which typifies everything that's to follow on the record. Blistering psychedelic rock with equal parts drugs & blues. Erickson's manic philosophy invites the listener in to "slip inside this house as you pass by". At over 8 minutes, it sounds more like a Sermon than a follow-up to "You're Gonna Miss Me".
"Slide Machine" was written by frequent Elevators pal & muse, Powell St. John. Now we're not exactly sure what a slide machine is except that "it sweeps bones right off the road" and the image of a slide machine headed our way with Stacy Sutherland's angry fuzz guitar and Hall's maniacal jug is enough to scare the crap out of anyone, stoned or otherwise!
"She Lives (In A Time of Her Own)" is a fantastic little 3 minute psych-pop gem which sounds like it would have sounded perfectly at home on their debut record, The Psychedelic Sounds of The 13th Floor Elevators.
On Surrealistic Pillow (also 1967), The Jefferson Airplane asked "Don't You Want Somebody to Love"? On Easter Everywhere, Stacy Sutherland channels both the Airplane and The Byrds (two West Coast-influences) on the lamenting and fuzzy, "Nobody to Love".
Side One wraps up with a grungy, desperate-sounding version of Dylan's "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue". Erickson channeling Dylan is equal parts triumphant and heartbreaking!
Side Two opens up with another rollicking psychedelic thrill ride, "Earthquake" (think "Roller Coaster" from The Psychedelic Sounds Of).
This rager is followed by one of the band's most raw and vulnerable-sounding songs, "Dust". A quiet and mostly acoustic ballad with cryptic, haiku-type lyrics is about as close to a "love" song as the band would ever get!
In a much cooler alternate Universe, "I've Got Levitation" would have been Easter Everywhere's "hit" single. Once again, it sounds a little like The Byrds or even more like The Monkees on LSD. (It also contains the lyric, "The waves of higher bodies soon dazzling in my ears / Will center my vibrations with the music of the spheres" inspiring the name of the box set!)
Clementine Hall (Tommy's wife) would co-write and harmonize on the gorgeous-sounding, "I Had to Tell You" which has Roky sounding a lot like Michael Stipe. (Just listen to the way he sings, "I'm feelin' fine" at the end of the each chorus!) Clementine was no Yoko however, as this song is fantastic, as is the song she co-wrote on the first record, "Splash 1".
The album's last track is, unfortunately, the album's only weak song. "Postures (Leave Your Body Behind)" provides a Motown-influenced backdrop to Roky's meandering lyrics about out-of-body consciousness. Its all rather new age-y. It probably would have worked much better against noisy, fuzzy guitars, feedback and drums that sound like they might be tumbling down a set of stairs.
As part of the MUSIC OF THE SPHERES BOX SET, this updated & remastered vinyl edition of Easter Everywhere is presented as a double LP with both Mono & Stereo versions of the record. I'm sure somewhere else someone has done a pretty thorough breakdown of the differences between the two versions. What we basically notice is that the Mono version has a fuller sound with a deeper bass mix and more prominent jug-playing. (Imagine the Saturday Night Live sketch with Christopher Walken telling Will Ferrell/Tommy Hall, "More Jug!")
Easter Everywhere would be the Elevators' penultimate release as well as their masterpiece. In that much cooler, alternate universe that we mentioned earlier, The 13th Floor Elevators are so much more than just rock & roll footnotes. If there was any justice in the world, it would be Roky Erickson's meddlesome mug gracing posters in teenagers' rooms in the late 60's and 70's instead of that creep Jim Morrison! Lizard king, my ass!
The band has broadened their sound as well, playing a slightly more developed version of their signature psychedelic blues with more folk, jazz & Eastern influences thrown in. For their sophomore effort, the rhythm section would also be updated. Bassist Ronnie Leatherman and drummer John Ike Walton would be replaced by Dan Galindo and Danny Thomas, respectively. Of course, each song on the record is enhanced by Tommy Hall's ubiquitous and fluttering electric jug playing!
Frontman Roky Erickson is in especially fine form. His barbaric yawp never sounded better! With whacky stream of consciousness lyrics, he's equal parts Syd Barrett & Jim Jones. William Blake & Charlie Manson. Whimsically menacing. Almost like a crazed Bob Dylan leading a religious cult while ingesting healthy doses of lysergic acid.
Things get kicked off with "Slip Inside This House" which typifies everything that's to follow on the record. Blistering psychedelic rock with equal parts drugs & blues. Erickson's manic philosophy invites the listener in to "slip inside this house as you pass by". At over 8 minutes, it sounds more like a Sermon than a follow-up to "You're Gonna Miss Me".
"Slide Machine" was written by frequent Elevators pal & muse, Powell St. John. Now we're not exactly sure what a slide machine is except that "it sweeps bones right off the road" and the image of a slide machine headed our way with Stacy Sutherland's angry fuzz guitar and Hall's maniacal jug is enough to scare the crap out of anyone, stoned or otherwise!
"She Lives (In A Time of Her Own)" is a fantastic little 3 minute psych-pop gem which sounds like it would have sounded perfectly at home on their debut record, The Psychedelic Sounds of The 13th Floor Elevators.
On Surrealistic Pillow (also 1967), The Jefferson Airplane asked "Don't You Want Somebody to Love"? On Easter Everywhere, Stacy Sutherland channels both the Airplane and The Byrds (two West Coast-influences) on the lamenting and fuzzy, "Nobody to Love".
Side One wraps up with a grungy, desperate-sounding version of Dylan's "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue". Erickson channeling Dylan is equal parts triumphant and heartbreaking!
Side Two opens up with another rollicking psychedelic thrill ride, "Earthquake" (think "Roller Coaster" from The Psychedelic Sounds Of).
This rager is followed by one of the band's most raw and vulnerable-sounding songs, "Dust". A quiet and mostly acoustic ballad with cryptic, haiku-type lyrics is about as close to a "love" song as the band would ever get!
In a much cooler alternate Universe, "I've Got Levitation" would have been Easter Everywhere's "hit" single. Once again, it sounds a little like The Byrds or even more like The Monkees on LSD. (It also contains the lyric, "The waves of higher bodies soon dazzling in my ears / Will center my vibrations with the music of the spheres" inspiring the name of the box set!)
The album's last track is, unfortunately, the album's only weak song. "Postures (Leave Your Body Behind)" provides a Motown-influenced backdrop to Roky's meandering lyrics about out-of-body consciousness. Its all rather new age-y. It probably would have worked much better against noisy, fuzzy guitars, feedback and drums that sound like they might be tumbling down a set of stairs.
As part of the MUSIC OF THE SPHERES BOX SET, this updated & remastered vinyl edition of Easter Everywhere is presented as a double LP with both Mono & Stereo versions of the record. I'm sure somewhere else someone has done a pretty thorough breakdown of the differences between the two versions. What we basically notice is that the Mono version has a fuller sound with a deeper bass mix and more prominent jug-playing. (Imagine the Saturday Night Live sketch with Christopher Walken telling Will Ferrell/Tommy Hall, "More Jug!")
Easter Everywhere would be the Elevators' penultimate release as well as their masterpiece. In that much cooler, alternate universe that we mentioned earlier, The 13th Floor Elevators are so much more than just rock & roll footnotes. If there was any justice in the world, it would be Roky Erickson's meddlesome mug gracing posters in teenagers' rooms in the late 60's and 70's instead of that creep Jim Morrison! Lizard king, my ass!
RATING: 4.5 Three-eyed Men Are Not Complaining They Can Yo-Yo Where They Will Out of 5
Friday, July 11, 2014
13th Floor Elevators: Live in California
13th Floor Elevators - "Live in California" (1966) - International Artists
Hello Friends,
We're enjoying another record from our Music of the Spheres Box Set tonight.
Recorded "live on LSD" in San Francisco in the fall of 1966, the Live in California LP captures rock & roll's first psychedelic band at the height of their demonic powers and its presence in the box set marks the first time that this LP would be officially released on vinyl.
Live in California is much better quality than most of the bootleg-type live stuff that we've heard from the Elevators. The rhythm section gets a little muddy-sounding at times but still the vocals, guitars and electric jug come across sounding crisp and alive! (Its much better, for example, than the official 1968 release "Live" which is basically outtakes of songs "enhanced" by fake crowds and overdubbed clapping!)
Presumably recorded from a series of gigs at San Francisco's Avalon Ballroom, the exact dates or locations of these recordings remain a mystery. What is known is that in the Fall of 1966, the Elevators migrated from Austin, TX to San Francisco, CA and shocked/awed/inspired audiences in the Bay Area. During their tenure, they played with bands like Big Brother & The Holding Company, The Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service, The Jefferson Airplane & The Sir Douglas Quintet. A real who's who of what was to become known as the "San Francisco sound." There's no doubt that the Elevators presence in this scene was hugely influential not only because of their ground-breaking sound, but because of their LSD-fueled frenzied live performances. Like demons slithering in Eden.
Kicking things off on the record is a raucous cover of Solomon Burke's "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love"-- an R&B song covered by practically every garage band from 1964 to 1968-- however in Roky Erickson's hands it becomes a demented-druggy sermon to his eager parishioners: "So glad to be here tonight / It's so good to be home / And I've got a message I want to tell everybody tonight..." Intense and furious.
Another oft-covered blues tune, Bo Diddley's "Before You Accuse Me", is next. If you were on acid seeing these guys perform, no doubt by the second song you were convinced that ringleader Roky Erickson, with fire in his eyes, was some sort of rock and roll demon and that maniacal boop-boop-boop-boop sound being made by the kid with the ceramic jug was actually sounds emitting from the innards of your own subconscious!
The originals "You Don't Know (How Young You Are)" and "Splash 1" are next and sound pretty close to the record versions. By this time in their young career, they've probably knew these songs inside-out but considering the generous amounts of mind-altering substances they were ingesting on a daily basis, they do a great job holding things together!
The Buddy Holly hit, "I'm Gonna Love You Too" makes an appearance and wouldn't be heard from again until Blondie covered it in 1978.
"You Really Got Me" closes out Side One and the Kinks have never sounded so threatening and dark!
Side Two begins with a howling version of "Fire Engine" with some extra crazy-sounding electric jug!
Next up there's two more cover songs, the oft-covered Chuck Berry classic, "Roll Over Beethoven", followed by the Rubber Sole classic, "The Word". Not your typical cover song in 1966, but in the Roky Erikcson and the Elevators' hands it sounds less like a pot-influenced love song and much more like a fiery, drug-fueled, Revelation-inspired sermon. Charlie Manson would be proud!
The side closes out with "Monkey Island" and an excellent, extended version of "Roller Coaster" complete with start-stops, tempo changes and more Erickson howling litanies:
Kinda funny how "You're Gonna Miss Me" is absent from the set considering how it would have been the band's biggest (and only) "hit" of the time and you think the band would have been playing it any chance they got! We're not really complaining though because we really like this record as is!
RATING: 4.5 starts like a roller coaster ride so real it takes your breath away out of 5
Recorded "live on LSD" in San Francisco in the fall of 1966, the Live in California LP captures rock & roll's first psychedelic band at the height of their demonic powers and its presence in the box set marks the first time that this LP would be officially released on vinyl.
Live in California is much better quality than most of the bootleg-type live stuff that we've heard from the Elevators. The rhythm section gets a little muddy-sounding at times but still the vocals, guitars and electric jug come across sounding crisp and alive! (Its much better, for example, than the official 1968 release "Live" which is basically outtakes of songs "enhanced" by fake crowds and overdubbed clapping!)
Presumably recorded from a series of gigs at San Francisco's Avalon Ballroom, the exact dates or locations of these recordings remain a mystery. What is known is that in the Fall of 1966, the Elevators migrated from Austin, TX to San Francisco, CA and shocked/awed/inspired audiences in the Bay Area. During their tenure, they played with bands like Big Brother & The Holding Company, The Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service, The Jefferson Airplane & The Sir Douglas Quintet. A real who's who of what was to become known as the "San Francisco sound." There's no doubt that the Elevators presence in this scene was hugely influential not only because of their ground-breaking sound, but because of their LSD-fueled frenzied live performances. Like demons slithering in Eden.
Kicking things off on the record is a raucous cover of Solomon Burke's "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love"-- an R&B song covered by practically every garage band from 1964 to 1968-- however in Roky Erickson's hands it becomes a demented-druggy sermon to his eager parishioners: "So glad to be here tonight / It's so good to be home / And I've got a message I want to tell everybody tonight..." Intense and furious.
Another oft-covered blues tune, Bo Diddley's "Before You Accuse Me", is next. If you were on acid seeing these guys perform, no doubt by the second song you were convinced that ringleader Roky Erickson, with fire in his eyes, was some sort of rock and roll demon and that maniacal boop-boop-boop-boop sound being made by the kid with the ceramic jug was actually sounds emitting from the innards of your own subconscious!
The originals "You Don't Know (How Young You Are)" and "Splash 1" are next and sound pretty close to the record versions. By this time in their young career, they've probably knew these songs inside-out but considering the generous amounts of mind-altering substances they were ingesting on a daily basis, they do a great job holding things together!
The Buddy Holly hit, "I'm Gonna Love You Too" makes an appearance and wouldn't be heard from again until Blondie covered it in 1978.
"You Really Got Me" closes out Side One and the Kinks have never sounded so threatening and dark!
Side Two begins with a howling version of "Fire Engine" with some extra crazy-sounding electric jug!
Next up there's two more cover songs, the oft-covered Chuck Berry classic, "Roll Over Beethoven", followed by the Rubber Sole classic, "The Word". Not your typical cover song in 1966, but in the Roky Erikcson and the Elevators' hands it sounds less like a pot-influenced love song and much more like a fiery, drug-fueled, Revelation-inspired sermon. Charlie Manson would be proud!
The side closes out with "Monkey Island" and an excellent, extended version of "Roller Coaster" complete with start-stops, tempo changes and more Erickson howling litanies:
"You've gotta open up your mind and let everything come through..."
Kinda funny how "You're Gonna Miss Me" is absent from the set considering how it would have been the band's biggest (and only) "hit" of the time and you think the band would have been playing it any chance they got! We're not really complaining though because we really like this record as is!
RATING: 4.5 starts like a roller coaster ride so real it takes your breath away out of 5
Saturday, May 3, 2014
The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators
The 13th Floor Elevators - "The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators" (1966) - International Artists Records
From the Liner Notes..."Recently, it has become possible for man to chemically alter his mental state and thus alter his point of view (that is, his own basic relation with the outside world which determines how he stores his information). He then can restructure his thinking and change his language so that his thoughts bear more relation to his life and his problems, therefore approaching them more sanely.
It is this quest for pure sanity that forms the basis of the songs on this album."
Hello Friends,
Tonight we're listening to the Elevator's first proper record, The Psychedelic Sounds of The 13th Floor Elevators. We believe that this is the first record released that used the term "psychedelic" in its title!
As part of the Music of the Sphere's box set, this re-issue includes the original mono record in the original sequence as well as a 2010 re-issue, remastered in Stereo with the originally intended track listing.
This is a pretty significant debut record in terms of 60's psychedelia/garage rock. Every song is pretty much amazing featuring the Elevators' signature twangy guitar driven blues rock, Roky Erickson's demonic vocals and Tommy Hall's maniacal electric jug playing throughout! Produced by Lelan Rogers (Kenny's older brother), the album was the first LP released by fledgling Austin record label, International Artists.
Lyrically, most of the songs are about different states of consciousness or the desire to achieve altered states of consciousness through the use of psychedelics.
The key word, kids, is psychedelic. Probably an overused term by 1970, but at the time, this was the kind of music being made by teens and twentysomethings who weren't quite satisfied hanging around the garage drinking a few beers and smoking a few joints. No, no. You can tell, in the very fabric of the music and lyrics, that these young troublemakers were into some pretty strong shit. Mushrooms, Pills, DMT, LSD, Adrenochrome, whatever the hell they could get their hands on. Blast off to Monkey Island, kids!
We're not sure if the album accomplishes its stated goal as a quest for pure sanity, but it certainly does rock our socks off...
RATING: 5 Kingdoms of Heavens within you out of 5
As part of the Music of the Sphere's box set, this re-issue includes the original mono record in the original sequence as well as a 2010 re-issue, remastered in Stereo with the originally intended track listing.
Original 1966 Track Listing (Mono)
Side One: You're Gonna Miss Me
Roller Coaster
Splash 1 (Now I'm Home)
Reverberation
Don't Fall Down
Side Two: Fire Engine
Thru the Rhythm
You Don't Know (R.P. St John)
Kingdom of Heaven (R.P. St John)
Monkey Island (R.P. St John)
Tried to Hide
2010 Track Listing (Stereo)
Side One: You Don't Know (How Young You Are)
Through the Rhythm
Monkey Island
Roller Coaster
Fire Engine
Reverberation
Side Two: Tried to Hide
You're Gonna Miss Me
I've Seen Your Face Before (Spash 1)
Don't Fall Down
The Kingdom of Heaven (Is Within You)
This is a pretty significant debut record in terms of 60's psychedelia/garage rock. Every song is pretty much amazing featuring the Elevators' signature twangy guitar driven blues rock, Roky Erickson's demonic vocals and Tommy Hall's maniacal electric jug playing throughout! Produced by Lelan Rogers (Kenny's older brother), the album was the first LP released by fledgling Austin record label, International Artists.
Lyrically, most of the songs are about different states of consciousness or the desire to achieve altered states of consciousness through the use of psychedelics.
You gotta open up your mind and let everything come through - Roller Coaster
The key word, kids, is psychedelic. Probably an overused term by 1970, but at the time, this was the kind of music being made by teens and twentysomethings who weren't quite satisfied hanging around the garage drinking a few beers and smoking a few joints. No, no. You can tell, in the very fabric of the music and lyrics, that these young troublemakers were into some pretty strong shit. Mushrooms, Pills, DMT, LSD, Adrenochrome, whatever the hell they could get their hands on. Blast off to Monkey Island, kids!Through the stained glass windows moonlight flashes on the choirA weird and wonderful debut LP. A definite standout in an era of landmark LPs. Overall, the production is a bit more "polished"-sounding than Headstone: The Contact Sessions, but the Mono-version of the LP still sounds gloriously distorted and muddy!
And splashes on the altar in glows of liquid fire
Then it bathes you with its glory and you begin life anew
And the kingdom of heaven is within you - Kingdom of Heaven
We're not sure if the album accomplishes its stated goal as a quest for pure sanity, but it certainly does rock our socks off...
RATING: 5 Kingdoms of Heavens within you out of 5
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