Today we'll be covering the 13th Floor Elevators, one of the MOST psychedelic and far out of the first wave U.S garage groups (and yeah, you've guessed it, featured on Nuggets, might do a review of that whole comp one day but seek it out in the meantime, it rocks). Formed in 1965 Texas, the group included lead acid-head and blues shouter Roky Erickson (apparently a large influence on Janis Joplin's throaty wail), lead guitarist Stacy Sutherland, bassist Ronnie Leatherman, drummer John Walton and - in a surprising twist on the classic garage line up - an ELECTRIC JUG PLAYER, Tommy Hall. These guys played kind of weirdo psych-rockabilly with Erickson's screeching vocals and Hall's bubbling Jug effects pushing their sound to a new astral plane (inspired of course by the newly popular hallucinogens floating around at the time...) This LP (one of the first along with the Blues Magoos' debut to feature the word 'Psychedelic' in its title) was released in 1966 and was surely a sign of sounds to come the following year, lets dig in...
Proceedings kick off with 'You're Gonna Miss Me', the elevators track featured on the original Nuggets comp. Here we find the groups sound encapsulated in a three minute assault of psych weirdness, all Buddy Holly on acid twang with the addition of electric jug enhancing the tracks' creepiness tenfold. Next we have 'Roller Coaster', a raga rock moody piece with mildly philosophical lyrics about a man who stopped the singer 'living so unsane' and helped him 'see just what he wanted to see', 'open up your mind and let everything come thru'... Nicely provocative whilst retaining a rocking garage core, an awesome track (and the blueprint for many a psych band on the decades to come, see the Spacemen 3's cover on their debut 'Sound of Confusion' as extra reading). Next is a lovely folk-rock ballad, 'Splash 1', that grooves along beautifully in much a similar style to Love's 'Message to Pretty'. Gorgeous lyrics too, "the neon from your eyes is splashing into mine/they're so familiar in way I can't define/now I'm home to stay", Roky's Buddy styled ballad voice coming to the fore at the same time. A blast of feedback opens 'Reverberation', another ballsy, riff driven psych-rocker that sounds like a hidden Jeff Airplane track from 'Baxters', so cool, crank up the volume and trip out. Closing side one is 'Don't Fall Down', a mid paced and mysterious track with a beautiful bridge section worthy of Gene Clark (although I don't think ol' Gene would scream 'DO YOU FEEL IT, FEEL IT, FEEL IT!!!' at the close on of one of his tunes...)
Side Two starts with blaring horns and a surfy lead guitar riff, plunging us head first back into the bands core sound, Roky now sounds positively UNHINGED, screaming and slobbering all over the place, the band rising in intensity to match his ravings. 'Thru the Rhythm' continues this groove in a slightly more restrained manner (still has a HUGE chorus though), brilliant trebly lead guitars and meaty bass grinding along in a satisfying rave up of a sound. 'You Don't Know' preaches to a figure who doesn't know 'how young you are' whilst reverb threatens to swallow the group whole adding a hazy filter to the sound. This is also the first of a few tunes written by an outside figure, local beatnik Powell St. John, who clearly had an ear for the groups way out weird sound. 'Kingdom of Heaven' is another of his tunes, a blurry tangle of guitars, jug and pulsating bass, 'the Kingdom of Heaven, is WITHIN you...' Roky purrs, a stoned classic (and originally meant to close the album). Instead we have a couple more tracks, firstly 'Monkey Island', 'could you be a monkey too?', nut house psychedelic imaginings (see Roky's ape howls near the end...) infused with a greasy R&B backbeat, what's not to love? Closing the record is a final riff driven number, 'Tried to Hide', kind trad garage song in comparison to the weirdness found elsewhere but links back to 'Miss Me's sound nicely (and of course the whirring jug noises add to the chaos). Man, what an album, possibly my favourite psych record pre-67, a masterpiece of far out, psychedelic sounds that is sure to please any lover of 60's hippiedom.
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