(Translated by Ornella C. Grannis)
The 13th Floor Elevators were perhaps the inventors of psychedelic
rock. Certainly they were among the very first to play it. They were
also one of the first bands to suffer the prejudice of the moralists
and the law. They were, alas, also among the first to pay the
consequences of drug abuse.
The band formed in Austin, Texas, around jug musician Tommy Hall and
vocalist Roky Erickson, who had already released an earlier version
of his You're Gonna Miss Me in 1965, with the Spades.
Tommy Hall, who had a background in science and philosophy and had been one
of the first kids in town to experiment with drugs, was the brain behind
the project. He wrote the cerebral lyrics to their songs, and he invented
the sound of the electric jug that became the trademark of their arrangements.
Stacy Sutherland was the quintessential fuzztone and reverb guitarist.
Their first album, The Psychedelic Sound Of The 13th Floor Elevators
(International Artists, 1966), released in the spring of 1966, is one
of the most fascinating of the acid age, the archetype of psychedelia.
The album presents a collection of acid ballads that feed on sound
effects (Reverberation), on ethereal folk-rock (Splash), on rhythmic
boogie (You're Gonna Miss Me), and on down-and-dirty improvisation (above
all Roller Coaster, but also Fire Engine). Theirs is a rhythm and blues a
la Rolling Stones, viewed through the deforming lens of LSD.
The group's anthem, You're Gonna Miss Me, which made history in the genre,
is a ferocious and dissolute soul song with hints of Tex-Mex and depraved
vocalizations, full of instinctive fury, and propelled by the demented
rhythm of Hall's deafening electric jug.
Despite the instability of the lineup, the group recorded Easter
Everywhere (Radar, 1967), which includes Postures, She Lives In A Time
Of Her Own and Skip Inside This House.
The album was Tommy Hall's attempt at assimilating Eastern philosophies
(Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism) as well as Quantum Physics into psychedelic
music.
Then Hall left the band while Erickson was arrested for
drug possession, and locked in a psychiatric hospital for schizophrenia.
He is practically absent from Bull Of The Woods (Decal, 1968), an album
that contains some of their most bizarre experiments. After their break-up
the band attained cult status. Best (Eva, 1994) is a good anthology.
When Erickson came out of the psychiatric hospital (1972), he published
a book of poetry. Despite his mental instability, he hit the scene again
during the rush of psychedelic revival and punk-rock, with dark humor and
a taste for the supernatural that carried him away from his origins,
towards a macabre rhythm and blues, with lyrics filled with alarming
monsters (Bermuda, 1977, Two Headed Dog, 1975).
And The Aliens (CBS, 1980) and The Evil One (415, 1981 - Sympathy, 2002)
are the two albums which define Erickson's solo career. The second contains
bewildering rave-ups such as Creatures With The Atom Brain and Stand For
The Fire Demon, voodoo-blues a la Credence Clearwater Revival, such as
Night of the Vampire, and his spiritual testaments: I Think of Demons and
I Walked with a Zombie.
An album of previously unreleased material, Don't Slander Me (Pink Dust,
1986), is a work of lesser quality, except for Bermuda and the wild Don't
Slander Me.
Erickson ended up in a mental institution again, but the record industry
continued to release every thing that he had absentmindedly recorded. I
Think Of Demons (Edset, 1987) is a compilation of leftover cuts from those
sessions. Gremlins Have Pictures (Pink Dust, 1986), Mad Dog (Swordfish,
1992) and Love To See You Bleed (Swordfish, 1992) include several rarities.
Click Your Fingers (New Roses, 1990) is a compilation of EPs: Mine Mine
Mind (Sponge, 1977) and Clear Night For Love (New Roses, 1985), and the
Holiday Inn Tapes, which are very crude acoustic recordings. Never Say
Goodbye (Emperor Jones, 1998) is a collection of home recordings made
between 1971 and 1985. Three live albums were also released.
Broke and incapable of caring for himself, Erickson released one last,
very spartan album, All That May Do My Rhyme (Trance Syndicate, 1995),
recycling old material (the EP Clear Night For Love, the 1966 single
We Sell Out by the Spades, and remixes of old classics) along with
new compositions.
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I 13th Floor Elevators sono forse gli inventori del rock psichedelico, e
certamente uno dei primi suoi esponenti. Furono anche uno dei primi a fare
le spese dei benpensanti e della legge. Furono, ahime`, anche fra i primi
a pagare le conseguenze dell'abuso di stupefacenti.
Il complesso si formo` ad Austin, in Texas, attorno al musicista jug
Tommy Hall e al chitarrista Roky Erickson (che aveva gia` pubblicato la prima
versione della sua You're Gonna Miss Me nel 1965 con gli Spades).
Tommy Hall, che aveva un passato di scienza e filosofia ed era stato uno
dei primi ragazzi in citta` a drogarsi, era il cervello dell'operazione.
Scrisse le liriche cerebrali delle canzoni e invento` il suono
del jug elettrico che divenne il marchio dei loro arrangiamenti.
Stacy Sutherland era la quintessenza del chitarrista di fuzztone ed eco.
Il loro primo album,
The Psychedelic Sound Of (International Artists, 1966), uscito nella
primavera del 1966,
e` uno dei piu` avvincenti dell'epoca lisergica,
l'archetipo di tutta la psichedelia.
Il gruppo scodella una collezione di ballate acide che
si nutrono di effetti sonori (Reverberation), di etereo folk-rock
(Splash), di boogie incalzanti (You're Gonna Miss Me),
di laide improvvisazioni
(soprattutto Roller Coaster ma anche Fire Engine).
Dilaga il rhythm and blues alla Rolling Stones, ma filtrato attraverso le
lenti deformanti dell'LSD.
L'anthem del gruppo, You're Gonna Miss Me, uno di quelli che scrissero
la storia del genere, e` un soul feroce e dissoluto con spruzzi di
tex-mex e vocalizzi depravati,
intriso di una visceralita` furibonda, propulso da un ritmo demenziale,
nel frastuono assordante del jug elettrico di Hall.
Nonostante l'instabilita` della formazione, il gruppo registro` ancora
Easter Everywhere (Radar, 1967), con
Postures,
She Lives In A Time Of Her Own
e Skip Inside This House.
Era il tentativo di Tommy Hall di assimilare le filosofie orientali (Induismo,
Buddismo e Taoismo) e la Fisica Quantistica nella musica psichedelica.
Ma poi Hall lascio` il gruppo mentre Erickson venne arrestato per droghe e ricoverato in un ospedale
psichiatrico per schizofrenia.
E` praticamente assente da Bull Of The Woods (Decal, 1968), che peraltro
contiene alcuni dei loro esperimenti piu` bizzarri.
Dopo lo scioglimento, il complesso divenne oggetto di culto.
Best (Eva, 1994) e Absolutely the Best (Sundazed, 2002)
sono ottime antologie.
Quando Erickson usci` dall'ospedale psichiatrico (1972), pubblico` un
libro di poesie. Benche' ancora afflitto da instabilita` psichica,
sulla spinta del revival psichedelico e del punk-rock
si riaffaccio` sulle scene, con un umore cupo e un gusto per il soprannaturale
che lo portarono lontano dalle origini, verso un rhythm and blues macabro
popolato di mostri inquietanti
(Bermuda, 1977, Two Headed Dog, 1975).
And The Aliens (CBS, 1980) e The Evil One (415, 1981 - Sympathy, 2002) sono i due
album tratti dalle sessions del 1977, a cui si affida di fatto
la carriera solista di Erickson.
Contengono rave-up stralunati come
Creature With The Atom Brain e Stand For The Fire Demon,
il voodoo-blues alla CCR di Night of the Vampire, e
i suoi testamenti spirituali: I Think of Demons e
I Walked with a Zombie.
Erickson fini` di nuovo in manicomio, ma l'industria discografica si diverti`
a tirar fuori dal cassetto tutto cio` che aveva distrattamente registrato.
I Think Of Demons (Edset, 1987) raccoglie gli avanzi di quelle
sessions.
Un album rimasto inedito verra` pubblicato anni dopo come
Don't Slander Me (Pink Dust, 1986), ma contiene materiale inferiore
(eccetto Bermuda e la selvaggia Don't Slander Me).
Gremlins Have Pictures (Pink Dust, 1986),
Mad Dog (Swordfish, 1992) e
Love To See You Bleed (Swordfish, 1992) contengono rarita` varie.
Click Your Fingers (New Rose, 1990) raccoglie gli EP
Mine Mine Mind (Sponge, 1977) e
Clear Night For Love (New Rose, 1985), nonche' gli Holiday Inn Tapes (registrazioni acustiche molto approssimative).
Never Say Goodbye (Emperor Jones, 1998) contiene registrazioni
domestiche catturate fra il 1971 e il 1985.
Uscirono anche tre album dal vivo.
La salute mentale sara` pero` sempre un problema. Erickson, ridotto sul lastrico
e incapace di gestirsi, pubblico` ancora un disco molto spartano come
All That May Do My Rhyme (Trance Syndicate, 1995), che ricicla anche
vecchio materiale.
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