13th Floor Elevators Appreciation Thread
 

One of the best, original psychedelic bands of the sixties. (Its rumored that they were the first to use the term psychedelic) They have some great records but are hardly ever mentioned except for record collectors.

This is music made to trip out to psychedelics to.

I love how the band has that electcic jug in their music, it give it a real uniqueness.I have to say i like Easter Everywhere the best.So many good, tripped out songs like "she lives in a time of her own", earthquake", "slide machine","nobody to love" ," slip inside this house" and "levitation". I also really like how they do a trippy version of Dylan's "its all over now baby blue".
I feel like this record is just a lost treasure waiting to be appreciated.

So any other fans out there? whats your favorite songs/album?





Most people only know them from their hit "you're gonna miss me" but that song is deceiving.Still a good song, but its more garage rock than psych.The debut record has some great songs on it like 'fire engine", "reverbaration" and "roller coaster".I dont like it as much as Easter though because i feel its more garage than psych overall.Easter is where they truly stepped into their own creative force.

I've liked what I've heard, but I need to hear more. I suspect Savage Clone probably has something to say on this matter.

yes i like them a lot. another great pre punk band. unfortunately i only have their debut album "The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators".

Everyone get "easter everywhere" if you haven't its their best record by far !!!!

yes i will defn get that someday. do you ever heard of Blues Magoos?

I like the first two records equally well, but I guess if pressed "Easter" is my favorite. The first LP has a ton of great tracks too though, and they are both rock-solid.
If you like the Elevators, I urge you strongly to check out "Power Plant" by The Golden Dawn. Brought to International by Roky, from the same area as the Elevators and of a very similar musical style. That album is excellent and easy to get as a reissue. A must for Elevators fans!

I love them.

I got the first two and Easter Everywhere is a masterpiece.

what does the third one sound like?

The jug started to bug me after a while, but Dear Dr. Doom is one of my favorite songs ever.

She lives in a time of her own is rad too. Isn't reverberation basically the same song? Maybe I got a bad mp3?

The bob dylan cover is my favorite version of that song.

I keep wanting to get these guys but so far I haven't.

When we say psychedelic, do we mean like Love? Or more like Blue Cheer?

More like folk and blues noodlers. I like the 'garage' stuff much more. They are better than Quicksilver Messenger Service, more dynamic than The Warlocks and more focused than The Fugs (but not as idiosyncratic), so there's your trade-off.

Gimmie Early Dead with Pig Pen!!!

I don't see how you get "folk" out of that, but OK.

The Elevators have a distinct vibe to their music that West Coast bands did not have. The Golden Dawn have it too; perhaps it's a Texas thing, I don't know. It's a bit more raw and less "guitar solo" action goes on than in some of the California bands. Blue Cheer were far more blues-oriented, and far far louder than the Elevators. They are definitely "psychedelic" though; many of the songs speak of the experience in fairly blatant terms, and the electric jug sound is not only fairly acidic, but makes the Elevators pretty easily identifiable even before hearing Roky's voice.
They are not even half as "noodly" as California bands like the Grateful Dead and Quicksilver, that's for sure.

I don't see how dazedcola gets "original."

All the early "psychedelic" bands sounded about the same.

Most of that Krautrock shit is highly overrated as well...a bunch of jams by pretentious half-musicians. I listened to Golem. It blew.

13th Floor Elevators are not a Haight-Ashbury band though.


Nice edit.

I think by "original," dazedcola meant "first wave" of psych.

Austin

Tex-ass

San Antonio.

Edit:
you are correct. Austin it is.
I am so grateful Janis Joplin never recorded with them.

Try some Bongo Joe aka George Coleman who was from around Houston and parts unknown.

Now, early-to-mid Can..that stuff is good...good garage rock n' roll with a highly creative bent.

I was recently turned on to Robin Crutchfield through the mixes that Tokolosh posted links. His composition, "Dark Day:Trapped" leads-off Outtakes from the Jukebox #1. It's pretty amazing and very psychedelic. It's noisy too, but in a great way. It's from the earliest wave of no wave, pre-dating the artists you've been programmed to associate with no wave.

I got to hear some of that Crutchfield music when I worked at the record store. A little dated, but not in a bad way. I'm surprised that music is not more well-known.

The production isn't the best (probably done on a shoestring...some things about the production are good though), and it's synth-heavy, this pre-DNA music is some pretty wild stuff. Early eighties music exhibits particularly nutty ideas about how drums should sound.

The Sonic Youth ep's drums sound pretty much just like Branca's drums on his early stuff.

Great band I love their sounds

great band and nice thread (aside from the somewhat polemic comments towards Krautrock)