The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators
Studio album by 13th Floor Elevators
Released 1966
Recorded 1966
Genre Psychedelic Rock
Length 34:31
Label International Artist
Producers Lelan Rogers, Gordon Bynum (track 1)
The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators is a 1966 album by the 13th Floor Elevators. The album's sound, featuring elements of folk, garage rock, blues and psychedelia, is notable for its use of the electric jug, as featured on the band's only hit, "You're Gonna Miss Me".
Professional Ratings:
allmusic 4.5/5 stars
Pitchfork Media 9.1/10
sputnik music 4 stars
Review by Mark Deming of allmusic:
Did the 13th Floor Elevators invent psychedelic rock? Aficionados will be debating that point for decades, but if Roky Erickson and his fellow travelers into inner space weren't there first, they were certainly close to the front of the line, and there are few albums from the early stages of the psych movement that sound as distinctively trippy -- and remain as pleasing -- as the group's groundbreaking debut, The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators. In 1966, psychedelia hadn't been around long enough for its clichŽs to be set in stone, and Psychedelic Sounds thankfully avoids most of them; while the sensuous twists of the melodies and the charming psychobabble of the lyrics make it sound like these folks were indulging in something stronger than Pearl Beer, at this point the Elevators sounded like a smarter-than-average folk-rock band with a truly uncommon level of intensity. Roky Erickson's vocals are strong and compelling throughout, whether he's wailing like some lysergic James Brown or murmuring quietly, and Stacy Sutherland's guitar leads -- long on melodic invention without a lot of pointless heroics -- are a real treat to hear. And nobody played electric jug quite like Tommy Hall... actually, nobody played it at all besides him, but his oddball noises gave the band a truly unique sonic texture. If you want to argue that psychedelia was as much a frame of mind as a musical style, it's instructive to compare the recording of "You're Gonna Miss Me" by Erickson's earlier band, the Spades, to the version on this album -- the difference is more attitudinal than anything else, but it's enough to make all the difference in the world. (The division is even clearer between the Spades' "We Sell Soul" and the rewrite on Psychedelic Sounds, "Don't Fall Down"). The 13th Floor Elevators were trailblazers in the psychedelic rock scene, and in time they'd pay a heavy price for exploring the outer edges of musical and psychological possibility, but along the way they left behind a few fine albums, and The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators remains a potent delight.
Review by Stephen M. Deusner on Pitchfork:
The tragic irony behind Roger Kynard "Roky" Erickson's vaunted legacy as the father of psychedelic rock is that the very things that make him so important to so many fans and that keep him prominent in so many listeners' memories also ensured him a hard life spent in sanitariums and studios. Granted, for many that hard life is an integral part of his cachet: Arrested in 1969 and charged with possession, Erickson pleaded insanity rather than face jail time, and was committed to Rusk State Hospital. As legend has it, his mind was so devastated by the shock therapies and medications that he spent the rest of his life battling serious mental illness that left him easy prey for unscrupulous record promoters (who had him sign away his royalties for numerous reissues) and sabotaged almost every attempt at a comeback.
There are, of course, scores of 1960s cautionary tales, but the music Erickson helped to make and the lifestyle he promoted with the 13th Floor Elevators explicitly advocated drug use as mind expansion, as true spiritual freedom-- a bunk idea he shared with Jim Morrison, although even at his most obtuse, Erickson never descended to the empty-headed blathering and lounge-act crooning that were the hallmarks of the celebrated Lizard King. Erickson's psychedelia was not passive aural wallpapers-- all pretty shapes and colors to listen to while tripping-- but an active force of social, musical, and psychological change. Aside from the infamous album starter "You're Gonna Miss Me", which Erickson wrote for his previous band the Spades before rerecording with the 13th Floor Elevators, The Psychedelic Sounds is awash in narcotic philosophy. And in case you miss it, Tommy Hall explains it all in his original liner notes.
However, what makes The Psychedelic Sounds powerful 40 years later isn't its questionable philosophy but, as the title makes clear, its psychedelic sound. The 13th Floor Elevators were a remarkable band: Erickson's wild-man vocals create an atmosphere where unfettered mayhem reigns. Stacy Sutherland's piercing guitar puts a dark mood on "Roller Coaster" and "Reverberation (Doubt)", while drummer John Ike Walton ties it all together. It's a dynamic that's even more pronounced on the eight live tracks on this UK reissue, which were recorded in San Francisco following the album's release. Their covers of Solomon Burke's "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love", the Beatles' "The Word", and even their take on that '60s live staple "Gloria", are anything but placid drugs trips or by-the-numbers re-creation; instead, the songs get the full psychedelic treatment as the Elevators play them like they're handling snakes.
As with any historical legacy, however, Erickson's reputation as the father of psychedelia is largely oversimplified. He was a late addition to the 13th Floor Elevators, which was the brainchild of Tommy Hall. Hall's acid poetry informs every song on The Psychedelic Sounds (aside from "You're Gonna Miss Me", Erickson's lone contribution). And, perhaps most important, it was Hall who plugged in his jug and provided the psychedelic sound that evokes the chemical weightlessness of a trip. It's the wiggedly-wiggedly of a dream sequence, the sound of your hands melting or of a dimensional door squeaking open. That the 13th Floor Elevators could translate that concept into an aural sensation is perhaps the root of their reputation and would have been impossible without Hall.
Erickson, however, undoubtedly was a creative force in the band, as a vocalist on Psychedelic Sounds and also as a songwriter on the follow-up, Easter Everywhere. Selections from those two albums, as well as from subsequent aborted comebacks, are collected on the two-disk I Have Always Been Here: The Roky Erickson Story, which is, unbelievably, the first overview of his long, strange career. Erickson's is a long career to capture on only two disks, but Shout! Factory makes judicious use of the space not only to provide a chronology of Erickson's development over four decades, but also to paint him as a sort of outsider artist rather than as a victim.
Emphasizing Erickson's solo output over his reputation-making Elevators material, the collection includes only a handful of tracks from The Psychedelic Sounds and Easter Everywhere. "Slip Inside This House" is a masterpiece of psychedelic inventiveness, a spacey blues jam that circles back on itself and eats its tail. On "I Had to Tell You" and the heartbreaking same-session outtake "Right Track Now", Erickson forgoes his usual hysterical vocals for a much more direct, reflective approach.
But I Have Always Been Here is more interested in Erickson's less-explored post-Elevators period, roughly from the mid-70s to the present. Whether solo or with the Aliens, he churned out potent and patently weird Texas blues rock similar to Stevie Ray Vaughn or early ZZ Top and often mimicked the vocal hiccups of fellow Texan Buddy Holly. In the 1970s, Erickson became fascinated with science fiction, re-creating B-movies with songs like "Creature With the Atom Brain" and "Stand for the Fire Demon". What makes these songs so kick-ass is that it's the sound of someone going right off the page of the rock script-- like so many B-movie auteurs of the '60s (Ray Dennis Steckler and Hal Warren, ill-fated director of Manos: The Hands of Fate, come to mind), he's doing whatever he wants with no one to tell him that's not how it's done.
As a result, very few of the songs on I Have Always Been Here Before depend for their impact on the listener's knowledge of Erickson's mental health at the time. This is perhaps the singer's true achievement, which this compilation generously spotlights: even when he was suffering, his strange music sounds wholly idiosyncratic and spiritually curious, the sound of a man who won't let the world's ugliness diminish his enjoyment of life or hinder his search for something solid and secure.
Review by Chris Jackson on sputnik music:
This is the 13th Floor Elevators debut album and it was released in 1966. 13FE have released a total of four albums (not including live recordings) and this is unfortunately the only album of theres that I own. I'm not a huge psychedelic fan, I listen to the genre a little bit, and I am no expert on psychedelic music. I own about 10 psychedelic albums and this ranks near the top. This is a great album to start out with if you're new to the psychedelic genre, the album is simple in some parts and then after you listen to it a few more times you discover different things. Although this isn't an amazing psychedelic album, it sure is a good one.
This was one of the first psychedelic albums released in the mid 1960's. While the 13FE didn't invent the psychedelic genre, this was one of the first psychedelic albums. This album can be dark, moody, eerie, uplifting, hypnotic, and intense. When I first listened to this album I thought it was just alright. It was hard to get into the first time I listened to it, but after maybe one or two listens I started enjoying the album more. A lot of these songs can be simple, but at the same time complex and deep. 13FE can combine catchy melodies with dark deep lyrics and vocals. This creates a fusion of psychedelic fun. This album is very eerie and haunting. Songs like "Roller Coaster" and "Don't Fall Down" are haunting, paranoid, and hypnotic. This music is really scary, it is just experimental and eerie at some points. Not to mention that this music is very catchy and you will be singing along instantly once you get used to the eerie, haunting feel.
Roky Erickson's vocals are eerie, haunting, and experimental. Most of the time he sounds like an angry man on speed. His vocals can be paranoid and when he wails into the microphone he sounds like he is a crazy man coming after you. When he whispers he sounds like he is out to get someone, basically he sounds paranoid. Roky's vocals are a highlight of the album, they are very strong and unsettling. His vocals mix very well with the psychedelic fusion and Roky is what makes this album so memorable. Sometimes he even reminds me of the great Syd Barrett. Roky's vocals will not scare you away from the music, they will intrigue you and make you stay and listen to the album. Roky's vocals are a key highlight of this album.
This album is textured with a lot of different sounds and there is a lot of noise going on. Sometimes the textured songs are amazing and with Roky's vocals some of these songs are classics. Other times the fuzziness can be to overwhelming and make some of these songs awfully hard to listen to. The sound of this album captures you and makes you want more. Once you listen to "You're Gonna Miss Me" there is no putting this album down. The 13FE mind warp you and take you to another place. With the great fuzzy, trippy, textures songs mixed with Roky's haunting vocals make you come back time after time to listen to this album. The 13FE have sort of an odd sound. It is fuzzy and layered with guitar and bass playing, nothing is really clear when you listen to this. The production of this album is great, but everything seems sort of blurry. While this is good in some ways, it can hurt the album in others.
This album is dark, fast-paced, hypnotic, and intense. Although fast-paced and hypnotic don't go together this album is mostly hypnotic, but in a few tracks the 13FE pick up the pace. The instruments make sort of an odd, dark sound and mixed in with Roky's vocals this album is dark, and atmospheric. This album isn't horrifying or scary, it is just a little bit unsettling and haunting. This is not an ambient album, although there are a few moments of dreariness, this album is not ambient. I'm sure the question is going to be asked "Can this music be enjoyed without chemical enhancement?" The answer is yes. I can enjoy this album without drugs, even though it is trippy and very psychedelic. This isn't a soft psychedelic album. 13FE throw in some slight pop/rock influences to give this album more of a rock or pop psychedelic feel. If you are looking for a pop or rock album you could give this album a chance, but this is mainly for psychedelic fans only. I especially like this album because it is accessible, once again the slight pop/rock influences will give the music a more playful sound. Even though this isn't a rock album, it may satisfy casual rock/pop and psychedelic listeners.
Overall I would say that this is an excellent psychedelic album. This is a good place to start if you are new to psychedelic music, and if you're a fan of this genre than what are you waiting for? Don't be scared when I say this is a dark, it isn't that intense and even if you like more playful or upbeat albums this should still satisfy you. The vocals are a key highlight, and blended in with the fuzzy instruments this album is a key psychedelic album for any collection. I don't have much knowledge over the psychedelic genre, but from what I know this is a great album. 13FE debut album should not disappoint those with high expectations. Once again this is an excellent psychedelic album that any fan of psychedelic music should enjoy.
Review on Classic Rock Review:
Emerging from Austin, Texas in the mid-sixties was the band which many consider to be the pioneers of psychedelic rock, The 13th Floor Elevators. The band was led by guitarist and vocalist Roky Erickson and lyricist Tommy Hall who added a very special and unique element to the bandÕs sound with the Òelectric jugÓ. This was a crock-jug with a microphone held up to it while it was being blown into. However, in contrast to traditional musical jug technique, Hall vocalized musical runs into the mouth of the jug, using the jug to create echo and distortion of his voice.
The bandÕs debut album, The Psychedelic Sounds of The 13th Floor Elevators was recorded in Texas and released in late 1966. The band found some commercial and artistic success in 1966-67, before dissolving amid legal troubles due to heavy drug use and unabashed vocal advocacy for the practice. In fact, in the albumÕs liner notes Hall wrote a manifesto detailing the history of mind-altering substances and advocating for societal acceptance of LSD, mescaline, and marijuana as a gateway to a higher, Ônon-AristotelianÕ state of consciousnessÓ. At HallÕs urging, the band played most of their live shows and recorded their albums while under the influence of LSD, which was not yet illegal in 1966. At the peak of their success, the band appeared on Dick ClarkÕs American Bandstand, where the host innocently asked, ÒwhoÕs the head of the band?Ó To which Hall replied, ÒweÕre all headsÓ.
Despite their very short time in the limelight, The 13th Floor Elevators are credited with being major influences for many future artists including Big Brother and the Holding Company, the Allman Brothers, and fellow Texans ZZ Top, whose guitarist Billy Gibbons credits ElevatorsÕ axe man Stacy Sutherland with shaping his bandÕs earliest sound. Further, EricksonÕs wild, banshee-like screams and high-pitched notes have been credited by some as a major influence on Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin. The band was also credited by many as being a major influence on the punk rock genre, which wouldnÕt fully emerge until a decade later.
The 13th Floor Elevators were formed in late 1965, when Erickson left his band the Spades to complete the lineup. In January 1966, the band went to Houston to record two songs for producer Gordon Bynum to be released as a 45 single. The songs were EricksonÕs ÒYouÕre Gonna Miss MeÓ, which he had previously recorded with the Spades, and Hall-SutherlandÕs ÒTried to HideÓ. These songs would eventually bookmark the Psychedelic SoundsÉ album. ÒYouÕre Gonna Miss MeÓ eventually became popular outside Texas, and by October it peaked at #55 on the Billboard charts, the bandÕs one and only ÒhitÓ single. The song sounds like it was influenced by a mixture of Van Morrison and Them and California surf music. It is quite edgy for the time, with the electric jug going wild and powered by EricksonÕs feral vocals and SutherlandÕs concise but agile guitar work. ÒTried to HideÓ finishes the album ends on a ÒhighÓ note (no pun intended) with some high-pitched percussion up front and all the intensity of HallÕs electric jug and EricksonÕs voice.
The albumÕs body contains a mixture of adequate, sixties-style rock and ballads cut with this new Òacid rockÓ sound the band was forging. ÒRoller CoasterÓ is a song with sharp, echoed, electric notes that was likely a heavy influence on Pink FloydÕs ÒLucifer SamÓ on their own psychedelic debut a year later. ÒSplash 1 (Now IÕm Home)Ó is a pleasant little ballad with a dreamy, nicely picked guitar and the noted absence of the electric jug (which appears on just about every other song). ÒReverberation (Doubt)Ó is a song which was clearly years ahead of its time, a true hippie creed in 1966, while ÒFire EngineÓ, with its wild, freaky siren effects (which may be laughable using todayÕs technology), may be one of the earliest examples of punk. Although there are some throw-away, forgettable songs on the album, most of it is interesting, innovative, and unique, probably due to the very mind-altering substance that would lead to the bandÕs quick demise.
By 1968, four of the five members of the 13th Floor Elevators were facing pending drug possession charges and Erickson was eventually sentenced to 10 years for marijuana possession (but pleaded insanity and spent much of the coming decades in and out of mental institutions). To this day, there is much debate over whether the band members were the single originators of Òpsychedelic rockÓ or just part of a select movement spearheaded by lesser known artists. In either case, there is no doubt that the 13th Floor Elevators were rock pioneers.
LP track listing
Side One
1. "You're Gonna Miss Me" (Roky Erickson) Ð 2:24
2. "Roller Coaster" (Tommy Hall, Roky Erickson) Ð 5:00
3. "Splash 1 (Now I'm Home)" (Clemantine Hall, Roky Erickson) Ð 3:50
4. "Reverberation" (Tommy Hall, Stacy Sutherland. Roky Erickson) Ð 2:46
5. "Don't Fall Down" (Tommy Hall, Roky Erickson) Ð 3:00
Side Two
6. "Fire Engine" (Tommy Hall, Stacy Sutherland, Roky Erickson) Ð 3:22
7. "Thru the Rhythm" (Tommy Hall, Stacy Sutherland) Ð 3:05
8. "You Don't Know" (Powell St. John) Ð 2:38
9. "Kingdom of Heaven" (Powell St. John) Ð 3:05
10. "Monkey Island" (Powell St. John) Ð 2:38
11. "Tried to Hide" (Tommy Hall, Stacy Sutherland) Ð 2:43
Personnel:
* Roky Erickson - vocals, rhythm guitar
* Stacy Sutherland - lead guitar
* Tommy Hall - amplified jug
* Benny Thurman - bass ("You're Gonna Miss Me", and "Splash 1 (Now I'm Home)"
* Ronnie Leatherman - bass
* John Ike Walton - drums, percussion