” Maybe some  day people lose  their fear to  honor rebels ,and  finally in the annals of music history , legend of Roky Erickson will live forever.”

Should you choose to take the 13th Floor Elevators  trip, you just choose the weird world of LSD, electric jugs, and mind expansion, you just choose a trip through a twisted piece of lisergically fueled vintage garage rock for  listening pleasure.

Unless you were growing up in south Texas in the late 1960s, you surely has  missed  this talented group of young, brave and  dedicated pioneers who created the seminal sound for a generation of rock and roll bands called  13th Floor Elevators.

As someone who deemed himself a psych rock collector, I must admit that midst  all of my vinyls, tapes , CDs and digitals , one of the  most mystifying  block  is maybe  The 13th Floor Elevator’s .

First, to prevent any newbies to psych music feeling disappointed, what you should know is that what was called psychedelic on the 60´s is what we today call garage rock. The Elevators coined the term “psychedelic rock” and it is not surprising, being that it´s based on Erickson’s  music – a  raw garageband rock’n’roll through psychedelic trips , an acid tinged garage sound that often transformed into blissful psychedelic jams.

It  takes a lot of time to recount the history of the band.. But if I want  abridge it  , the 13th Floor Elevators started in Kerrville as The Lingsmen in 1965. With John Ike Walton on drums, the band included fellow Kerrville resident Ronnie Leatherman on bass, and Stacy Sutherland on guitar. They added singer/songwriter Roky Erickson, along with their signature “electric jug” player Tommy Hall, and became 13th Floor Elevators and  months after forming, they had a  hit , You’re Gonna Miss Me,  and among their followers were members and future members of the Grateful Dead, Steppenwolf, Moby Grape, and ZZ Top.

Forty years on, the Elevators continue to influence artists and fortunately are being rediscovered by a new generation.

You will found below the full contents of the Elevators’ four official LPs: “Psychedelic Sounds of,” “Easter Everywhere,” the fake “Live” album now on a completely new mix , minimizing the fake applause that were added to the recordings and removing glitches which blighted previous versions., and “Bull of the Woods.”

Enjoy this sound , still inspires as it  made  in the 60´s. And don’t worry, this stuff is truly  psychedelic, both in lyrics and in sound, with an amazing experimental inventiveness. Check it out if you don´t did  yet….

 

The Thirteenth Floor Elevators ‎– The Albums Collection

Label: Charly Records 

Format: 4 × CD, Album  Box Set All Media, Compilation, Remastered, Limited Edition 

Country: UK

Released: 2011

 

Tracklist

 

Disc 1

The Psychedelic Sounds Of: The 13th Floor Elevators

1. You’re Gonna Miss Me

2. Roller Coaster

3. Splash 1

4. Reverberation

5. Don’t Fall Down

6. Fire Engine

7. Thru the Rhythm

8. You Don’t Know (How Young You Are)

9. Kingdom of Heaven (Is Within You)

10. Monkey Island

11. Tried to Hide

Disc 2

Easter Everywhere

1. Slip Inside This House

2. Slide Machine

3. She Lives (In a Time of Her Own)

4. Nobody to Love

5. Baby Blue

6. Earthquake

7. Dust

8. (I’ve Got) Levitation

9. I Had to Tell You

10. Postures (Leave Your Body Behind)

11. Fire in My Bones

Disc 3

Live

1. [Introduction] [Live]

2. Before You Accuse Me [Live]

3. She Lives (In a Time of Her Own) [Live]

4. Tried to Hide [Live]

5. Take That Girl [Live]

6. I’m Gonna Love You Too [Live]

7. Everybody Needs Somebody to Love [Live]

8. (I’ve Got) Levitation [Live]

9. You Can’t Hurt Me Anymore [Live]

10. Roller Coaster [Live]

11. You’re Gonna Miss Me [Live]

Disc 4

Bull Of The Woods

1. Livin’ On

2. Barnyard Blues

3. Till Then

4. Never Another

5. Rose & the Thorn

6. Down by the River

7. Scarlet & Gold

8. Street Song

9. Dr. Doom

10. With You

11. May the Circle Remain Unbroken

PART 1

PART 2