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13th Floor Elevators - His Eye Is... |
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ALBUM REVIEWSPick of the Chick: Our Favorite Releases, 1999-Present |
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During the mid-'60s, a small army of American youth inspired by British rock marched into their garages for a revolution. With electric guitars in hand, these kids hammered out a new kind of music that was rawer and edgier than the music of the Rolling Stones or the Who. Of course, many of them could barely play their instruments, but that didn't matter. These garage rockers wanted to make some noise. And make noise they did--the garage rockers provided the first glimpse at a style of music that would come to be known as punk. The 13th Floor Elevators were one of the most acclaimed garage rock bands of the period. The band incorporated psychedelic elements into their music, but the sound was still raw and magical. A new 13th Floor Elevators compilation, called His Eye Is on the Pyramid, has been released on the Recall label. This specially priced, two-CD set contains all of the songs that appear on the Elevator's first two studio albums, The Psychedelic Sounds of the Thirteenth Floor Elevators and Easter Everywhere. A handful of tunes are also included from Bull of the Woods, the band's third and final studio album. All of the classic 13th Floor Elevators songs appear on His Eye Is on the Pyramid, including "You're Gonna Miss Me," "Roller Coaster," and "Splash 1," but the deeper cuts like "Street Song" and "Barnyard Blues" are the ones that really catch your ear. Roky Erickson is touted as the songwriting genius behind the Elevators; however, these tracks, written by bandmate Stacy Sutherland, are equally engaging. The quality of these deeper cuts also shows that the Elevators were more than just a singles band. (Many of their garage rock contemporaries never recorded an entire album's worth of songs.) Although the music on His Eye Is on the Pyramid is great, the packaging for this set leaves much to be desired. The Recall label is a division of Snapper Music, a company that's traditionally done an outstanding job on reissues. (Snapper's re-release of the Pretty Things catalogue, for example, was excellent.) On His Eye Is on the Pyramid, however, the company drops the ball. Other than listing songwriting credits, the booklet that comes with this set lacks any useful information about the tracks. There's no mention of the albums these songs came from. There's not even a copyright date to serve as a clue. Recall did devote some resources to creating nice artwork and writing a brief history of the band in the booklet, but this money would have been better spent documenting the origins of these tracks. At best, the packaging job leaves you searching for answers, and at worst, it leaves you pulling your hair out. Despite the packaging woes, His Eye Is on the Pyramid is a great set of music. Even a half-assed reissue effort can't take away from that. And for the price, you can't beat it. Those who are interested in garage rock may also want to check out the Nuggets box set, released a couple of years ago on the Rhino label. Nuggets provides a great introduction to garage rock in an indisputably well-designed package. PIGEONHOLE: '60s garage rock that's heavily influenced by psychedelia.
Andrew Helminger |
THE
13TH FLOOR ELEVATORS
