Monday, October 1, 2012

The 13th Floor Elevators - "The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators - Original Stereo Mix" (LP, Inernational Artist - 1966)

Fuck fake ass psychedelia, SF late sixties hippie scene, peace, love and understanding! What the world (still) need's punk rock! In a time that bankers and religion leaders doing whatever the fuck they want, we 're not having the privilege of 'peace'. I live in a land that day by day all its social spar is collapsing in front of your eyes gloriously and swankily. Everything's for sale now (history, ethos, consciousness - the far right is growing rapidly and all this to the place that gave birth to democracy...) and you just don't have the right to remain in silence. Fuck your generation baby! And somehow all these shit are linked for me with the hippies. I mean, call me crazy you might be right, I never read for a 'leader' of today to admit he was part of the punk scene, but many for the opposite. I wish Joe Strummer to had an influence even a minor to some jerk up there but (naturally) he was not.
The Elevators were the only psychedelic band ever, all others were a bunch of lame ass imitators or some 'let's get some drugs and shag some chicks with a good reason' wankers. Period! OK Syd Barrett's Floyd were the European similar/twin but from there nothing else stands for psychedelic, at least for me (you see - I'm a very Democratic person, he-he!). And what seems crazy and weird to me still is the birthplace of this band. I guess Texas wasn't always the world center of obscurantists... And this is as groundbreaking as a record can be! Come on, you don't need me to tell you HOW IMPORTANT the Elevators were, right? A possessed bunch of acid punks, flushed on drugs and armed with the most dangerous rock & roll of their time. Roky was always a stoned murmuring James Brown in a mix with Dion and Syd Barrett and this album is the shocking ancestor of a generation about to come with 'dope, guns and fucking in the streets'. Thankfully Roky didn't had Syd's future. From time to time fed us with masterpieces like 'I Think of Demons' and 'Don't Slander Me' to quench our thirst. Anyway, what the WTS team has to offer is NOT the usual CD recently remastered version (or not) , but the old plastic grooved STEREO. I was never good at it so here's what Jean Philippe sent me along with the links:

"And FWIW, here's my 2 cents usual audiophile shit contribution (btw, what follows is also true for 'Easter Everywhere'):

As far as we know, the REAL original stereo mix of the 13th Elevators has never been reissued (even as a bootleg). In the late 70's, a slightly different mix was released by International Artist label. These LPs are known as 'Masterfonics' version (because that's what you can read in the dead wax). A good mix, but not as good as the true original stereo mix (some unnecessary echo/reverb was added), which has crystal clear high frequencies. Over the years, 'The Psychedelic Sounds Of The 13th Floor Elevators' has been reissued countless times, unfortunately not from the original mix, but from a very poor copy made from Masterfonics LP. You can easily tell which is which: on Masterfonics LP, the intro of 'You're Gonna Miss Me' has some distortion, and the intro of 'Don't Fall Down' is missing a few notes. The same mix was used for the pricey 2012 vinyl box set 'Music Of The Spheres'. International Artists record label claimed their stereo version is 'a remastered version of the original stereo mix', but that's not true, as evidenced by the aforementioned flaws found on the Masterfonics version. The 2010 CD box set 'Sign Of The 3-Eyed Men', contains an alternate stereo mix, not the original mix. Frankly, those two box sets look incredibly cool, but are a major disappointment sound quality-wise.


The first pressing of 'The Psychedelic Sounds Of The 13th Floor Elevators' is now very expensive and hard to find in good condition, but I'm lucky enough to have a very cool friend (JF) who owns a top mint copy –amongst many other Elevators rarities, such as the insanely rare French EP. So thank you JF, for allowing me to pick up this priceless LP from your collection to rip it for WTS readers pleasure.
"


21 comments:

  1. Ripped and uploaded by Jean Philippe:
    FLAC part1: http://www.mediafire.com/?lzidc1b46vhp16l

    FLAC part2: http://www.mediafire.com/?lb8w1xuxcq831j8

    320kbps: http://www.mediafire.com/?o876z4j72k8clw6

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  2. Really curious to hear this, as I wasn't aware of the most recent reissues being done from the famous Masterfonics mix. I own the Mono Sundazed reissue, that sounds crude & powerful enough even through my poor equipement. I expect this stereo version to sound more "ethereal".
    Many thanks for this rarity !!!

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  3. very cool, thanks! love the elevators. this is so much better than the released CDs

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  4. I only compared "You're Gonna Miss Me" from this and another copy, and this blows it away! Thanks JP!

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  5. Wow, thanks! I've got the two box-sets (and the individual limited 2-CD sets, etc.), but this is fucking great!
    Cheers,
    MLP

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  6. Thank you! FLAC is fine now but 320 link gets error / copywrited material message.

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  7. Son of a...

    I lose again. A re-post in lossless would be the bomb.

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  8. I concur with the man above. All the other rips were taken down too.

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  9. Would really love to hear this. A repost would be much appreciated.

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  10. FLAC part1 is unavailable anymore under the link above. Is it available anywhere else?

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  11. please anyway reup part 1 flac?

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  12. Nice sounding rip, but "YGMM" has that dreaded drop-out at the very beginning. While this pressing is nice, I think it may not be a true first pressing. Another recently circulated rip is from a certified first edition stereo pressing and doesn't have the drop out (and YGMM is absolutely killer in sound quality.) Its possible that IA made a copy of the master tape and used that copy for re-pressings. The rest of your rip sounds like the original stereo mix. Like I said, maybe IA made a copy tape of the master and used that for subsequent pressings, (OR used another tape copy of YGMM. Who knows). Thanks for posting this version. Its always cool to compare different rips. One thing

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  13. Great album! Great guy who post is!
    Very thanks!

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  14. Despite owning a reissue of this LP for almost 30 years I knew very little about the sound quality 'issues/differences'. Thanks for the info. I remember a few years back a 'test pressing' of either this LP or Easter Everywhere appearing on Ebay with the seller claiming it was the unissued mix which created mass argument/discussion amongst various psyche heads I knew claiming it wasn't. Shame I can't remember the outcome or what it sold for.

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  15. ..Hey great work.. I loved this post..Thanks for sharing this information. Affordable Kitchen Cabinets Davie

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  16. Links still good.

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