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:
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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.
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