The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators

This is one of those albums that must've sounded great when they created it at 3 in the morning then woke up the next day and realized it's absolutely not what they thought it sounded like.

Brilliant from start to finish - exactly what I joined this list for. An absolute gem that i’d have never otherwise known about.

I fully endorse this album to become the new official music of elevators from now on.

It's not impressive, and it's not easy on the ears.

Pretty solid psychedelic rock. Surprised I’ve never heard of the band before.

I was looking forward to listening to this as I do love psychedelic sounds and was intrigued by the idea of an electric jug as instrument. While I could see that this likely had some influence on later works, it never really grabbed my attention. It had a bit more garage band feel than what I'd think of as psychedelic. "Reverberation" would be an exception. Once I noticed that the electric jug sounded like Curly from the Three Stooges was in the background, then that's all I could hear.

That amplified jug is wild

beautiful album - 10/10 I’m a slut for acid rock

Very samey, hated that sound effect they used on most songs.

Utter crap. Hate the jug sound

The electric jug is an awful, horrible, terrible, evil "instrument".

Any album with an electric jug is at minimum a 4.4 and then they make the rest up with fantastic songwriting. There’s only 1 mediocre song on the whole album (Monkey Island) everything else are classics. I just wished they hadn’t called it psychedelic cause it’s not really. The album has more in common with stoner/ garage/ punk rock than it does psychedelic music. Although it was released in 1966, the same year Tomorrow Never Knows came out, so was there at the very start of the psychedelic movement. I’d forgotten about the sound-quality which is a shame. It sounds cheaply produced with the sounds muffled and distant. But I LOVE this album. All the songs sound different and exciting, the songwriting is excellent and there was nothing like this in 1966. Maybe my favourite album cover of all time too. 5 stars.

Really cool psych surf garage gem from 1966, almost an entire year before the psychedelic era of rock was in full swing. The sound is here and the instrumentation is spot on, with some of the lyrical cadence reminding me a bit of Zappa’s first album from this year “Freak Out”. I would definitely consider this essential listening- glad I finally got to hear it beyond “You’re gonna miss me”. Go enjoy!

Feral for 1965. Texas menace with amplified jug. Some hate Roky's vocals, but they are philistines.

Going through this list, it's kinda become clear I'm not a huge fan of a lot of psychedelic rock, especially when it really gets long and spaced out. However, this type of psychedelic rock I do kind of enjoy, especially when it sounds like it's paired with elements of garage rock and surf rock. The Elevator's debut is a compact yet quite enjoyable record, with some catchy riffs and great singing, along with one of the most odd instruments I've heard yet in an electric jug. I imagine somebody was baked beyond belief to try that, but it kinda works for some of these songs.

Awesome. Can't believe I never heard about this band.

We should all thank the Sandoz Corporation for creating LSD in 1938, which ended up changing the course of modern music forever.

This is such a historically important album. Not technically the first “psychedelic” album, but the first album to be officially coined as psychedelic. I listened to the original mono recordings, and man they are raw as hell! I can only imagine what it was like seeing them live. And Janis Joplin wanted to join this band? Man, what could’ve been!

I'd never associated the name of this band with "You're Gonna Miss Me"--for some reason I thought the 13th Floor Elevators were a late 80s/early 90s band. So I wasn't all that excited to listen but the minute the first song started, my mood brightened. Rocking greatness! Love the harmonica. And now I'm being led down a mossy acid path into the rest of the album. Quick takes: Quite happy though Roller Coaster isn't as good a ride as "You're Gonna Miss Me." I wish Eric Burdon was singing Splash One instead of the guy who is. Reverberation would be better if they muttered "and dance" each time after they said reverberation. Don't Fall Down is quite earnest and I dig it. Fire Engine brings everything together: rock rhythm, kind of bad vocal effects (is someone trying to imitate a fire engine?), urgent vocals--like if you'd only listen the world would be a much better place, and most importantly, just lots of fun. I want to play it loud and do the frug while some dude sings about taking a trip to an empty place. Through the Rhythm reminds me of an earlier question: what is that sound that sounds like someone is doing the scales up and down with their lips? Is that what that is? Omg it just started again with You Don't Know. What is that sound? I heard it earlier but tried to get it out of my mind. I just looked them up on wikipedia and omfg that sound is, I believe, an ELECTRIC JUG. Nothing says 60s more than an electric jug. Also, I do not like Electric Jug. I do not like it. Onto Kingdom of Heaven--a slow burn which sounds like something they play on the ABC Afterschool Special on the dangers of drugs: heroine puffs pot and next thing you know she's swirling around the stars as the Kingdom of Heaven plays. Monkey Island--This is a little more bluesy omg someone is now making little monkey sounds. What is it with the 60s and monkeys? Monkees, Kinks' Apeman, Planet of the Apes, etc. Tried to Hide reminds me that I do not like Electric Jug. I think their rhythms and guitar work is really outstanding. Downgrading for the jug.

La conception de cet album s'est faite dans des conditions extrêmement particulières, c'est pourquoi je le note avec indulgence. Les 13th Floor Elevators choisissent en 1966 le studio du douzième étage (13th Floor aux USA) d'un immeuble pour l'enregistrer. Après avoir installé la batterie, les membres repartent chercher les autres instruments sans remarquer que la fenêtre est ouverte. Problème : l'immeuble en question est encerclé par des conifères habités de pygargues à tête blanche. Une branche voit d'ailleurs son extrémité s'arrêter juste sous la fenêtre en question. À leur retour, les musiciens ne remarquent rien de particulier et commencent la session d'enregistrement. Très rapidement, des petits crissements se font entendre. Le chanteur et le guitariste se retournent alors vers le batteur qui ne semble pas comprendre d'où peut provenir le bruit. Ce dernier continue donc de tambouriner sur sa grosse caisse. Quelques minutes plus tard, il sursaute en apercevant les gros yeux blancs d'un pygargue le fixer. L'animal est coincé dans la caisse qu'il est en train de castagner. Il prévient alors les autres avec un jeu de regard, et, tout en continuant l'enregistrement de l'album, se lancent dans une opération de sauvetage de l'animal. ♫ But what's gonna stop me, baby ? ♫ chante le leader tout en se saisissant d'un sécateur. ♫ Am / Dm / Am / Em ♫ joue le guitariste au moment de jeter des graines à l'animal. ♫ BAM ! BAM ! BAM ! BAMMM ! ♫ continue de bourriner le batteur pour les besoins de l'enregistrement et au grand dam de l'oiseau. Une dizaine de morceaux plus tard, une brèche est ouverte dans la grosse caisse et l'on entend le "FLAFLAFLAflaflafla...." du piaf qui s'en va retrouver sa liberté, merveilleusement capté par l'outro de l'album.

It got old fast. It's protopunk I guess but the recording style kills it for me.

Cet album a été enregistré dans des conditions exécrables. En effet, un volatile est venu se glisser dans la caisse claire du batteur du groupe. Ceci va complétement venir gâcher la prestation proposée sur cet album. Dans la première partie de l'album, les différents membres du groupe vont venir tenter d'amadouer le volatile, à l'aide de différents appâts. Le volatile répondra par de nombreux cris et gloussement, mais ne se décidera pas à sortir de sa cachette. Dans la seconde partie de l'album, le batteur tenta d'utiliser ses baguettes afin de doucement pousser le volatile vers la sortie de la caisse, mais là aussi, tout ce qui sera obtenu sera des cris et gloussements de la part du volatile. Enfin, la troisième et dernière partie montre un groupe résigné à accepter la présence du volatile, qui fait désormais partie intégrante du groupe et de leur enregistrement musical, pour le plus grand bonheur de tous les ornithologues.

I'm getting very strong "surely-there-are-1001-better-albums-than-this" vibes from this one.

So “The 13th Floor Elevators” album was absolutely dreadful… Perhaps that’s a bit unfair – as the actual music and lyrics – sounded just like every other band of their ilk from the time, so not very original, but then they decided to just kick their album into the absolute shitter by adding in “the electric jug”… Had know idea there was such a thing – and perhaps that is the only reason that this album made the list, was because of the jug (i.e. I saw some mention of just how innovative “the electric jug” was for its time…). I guess maybe if you want to slip it in for a track here or there – I wouldn’t advise it, but sure, experiment a bit – but not on every god-damned track… The only other time the use of an instrument totally ruined a song for me – was when Mr. Zimmerman decided to ruin the track “Highway 61 Revisited” with that stupid siren-whistle - but at least Dylan had the sense to ONLY use it on one song – but I digress… Dull, unoriginal, mono, and hopefully the ONLY album on the 1,001 that used an “electric jug”…

Really cool psychedelic 60s. Lots of fun!

Excellent album for those who like psychedelic rock. Trully felt I was listening to some 60's band

Seminal psychedelic garage rock. This 1966 record still routinely inspires quite important musicians today (examples : Osees, Ty Segall, Chad Van Gaalen, The Black Angels...). It's not so hard to put your head back to 1966 and imagine the shock that the album's lo-fi sound and wild performances throughout must have been for innocent rock'n'roll ears at the time. There's also that crazy electric jug, not to the taste of some reviewers on this app, apparently. It's obviously a noticeable detail in the instrumentation, but at the same time, I find it pretty unfair to dismiss the whole album because of it. Especially when the majority of the songs are so great and catchy on a compositional level ("You're Gonna Miss Me", "Splash 1", "Reverbation", "Don't Fall Down", "You Don't Know (How Young You Are)" "Kingdom Of Heaven", "Tried To Hide"). And if the rest doesn't exactly reach that stellar level, it's pretty groundbreaking stuff for 1966, performed with a lot of heart and stamina by Roky Erickson. Number of albums left to review: around a hundred, as I've went over the 1000 line and this generator is including albums from all editions of the book Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 431 (including this one) Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 255 Albums from the list I won't include in mine: 315

This is a great psychedelic rock album and a great debut by the 13th Floor Elevators. I've definitely listened to this one before but mostly remembered the song 'You're Gonna Miss Me', as I think it's easily their most popular. I really enjoyed this one. The "amplified jug" playing, which almost sounds like a Theremin, adds a cool vibe to most of the songs. These guys were out their in 60s Austin, TX doing it right before many others in the genre. Standout Tracks: You're Gonna Miss Me, Roller Coaster, Splash 1, Reverberation, Fire Engine, You Don't Know, Tried to Hide

didn't know an electric jug existed before this. I can tell this record was really innovative and I enjoyed it a lot.

My first thought was "oh great, another old psychedelic rock album no one's ever heard of before". I don't mind the style per se, but I often find it overdone, with good musicianship let by the roadside in favor of uncomfortable experimentation just for the sake of it. This album took me by surprise though. It's excellently executed with great musicianship (especially the fantastic guitar work). The psychedelic elements feel organic and actually enhance the enjoyment of what would otherwise already be accomplished classic rock.

Prefs : You're Gonna Miss Me, Roller Coaster, Splash 1 (Now I'm Home), Reverberation (Doubt), Fire Engine, You Don't Know, Kingdom of Heaven, Monkey Island, Tried to Hide Moins pref: Don't Fall Down (still good)

Yes. This is the good and outstanding shit that deserves its "psychedelic" label. I may be somewhat influenced by reading this band's story and just how much they LIVED that, but this alone - sparking my curiosity to learn about an album and not be disappointed - puts this into a high rating. And even though the Jug overstays its welcome, there are enough amazing bits in here (Roller Coaster!!) that I think I'd like to continue the trajectory of my last 5 star rating, CAN's Tago Mago.

So good. Plenty of that dirty 60's sound, strong vocals, and amplified jug. Roller Coaster is my favorite of the album.

Psychedelic Rock is a favorite genre of mine. This release (some would argue) solidified the sound of the genre.

Fierce, bright, explorations of psychedelia, turmoil and inner space. Best in mono.

I had never heard of this band before, but I was blown away. This album contains elements of Dick Dale style surf rock which almost gives it a proto-punk sound. The music itself is dark and exploratory with explosive and gritty vocals. This album is cohesive and is a blast of fresh air.

My partner's review: "I like it. 4 stars?" (I'm a true freak so I'm giving it 5. Roky forever)

First use of the word "psychedelic" to describe their music? Sign me up! This was an instant favorite with clear signs of what would become garage rock and even early hard rock and metal - the riff on 'Kingdom of Heaven' is nasty! There's definitely a sense of purity surrounding this album.

If this is not the best psychedelic rock record I don’t know where you lived and you have listened to before. Because it most definitely is!

My favorite psychedelic album ever. Unfortunately spotify doesn’t have the tripped out philosophy behind each song from the liner notes.

Proto-alternative album, great influence

60s psychedelic garage bands will always be my shit. why are we remastering songs and labeling them with the remastering year tho, that’s so goofy.

Wantlist

Desert island selection.

Wow!!!!

I enjoyed this albums, would absolutely put it on when I’m in a psychedelic mood. Had to skip Fire Engine, that one was just too much for me.

My favorite album featuring an electric jug. Essential psych rock from the Evil One himself, Roky Erickson. What a great scream and songs you'll find yourself humming for days.

cool

Album Nr. 8 Endlich mal ein Album aus den 60's, welches sich wirklich gut anhören lässt.

This was a big surprise, excellent psyc rock album!

I’d like to take a moment to thank these guys for starting a musical movement that is still going strong to this day.

This was pretty fantastic! And I mean fantastic in the literal sense. It's imaginative and unique. An electric jug player? I mean common! Listened to it twice back-to-back.

Unhinged in a way that only someone truly unhinged could be. You can hear notes of psychobilly, punk, and country in here. It's fantastic and exactly why I started doing this thing, over 800 albums ago. Favorite tracks: "Reverberation", "Thru The Rhythm", "Monkey Island", "You're Gonna Miss Me"

I loved this, very psychedelic as the name suggests

To me this is THE definitive psychedelic album. Certainly among the pioneers of the genre. At their best, they meld surf and garage rock into a hair raising sonic assault - often verging on proto punk. But there's a lovely sensitivity there as well. They don't overdue the effects, or include things like sitars, but the electric jug gives them an exotic, immediately identifiable sound of their own. I love that they came from Texas, and remained there, rather than fleeing for the coasts. Perhaps that was not necessarily by choice though, especially after Roky's mental breakdown and incarceration. Roky Erickson's story is fascinating - certainly a bit tragic, but there is a beautiful redemption there as well. I'd definitely recommend the documentary "You're Gonna Miss Me" that came out on him around 2007. He's like an American Syd Barrett that miraculously kept coming back again and again over the years despite the odds. A beautiful, if tortured, soul.

Trippy!

Love this album. Worth 5 stars for Fire Engine / Reverberation / Tried To Hide alone. The opener is not bad either. It lives up to the title, really capturing (and informing) the psychedelic era, but it is just bonkers and individual enough to stand out and pass the test of time.

I never knew how much I loved psychedelic rock until I started listening through this book. The ability to produce sounds like this through instruments is so impressive to me. This was wonderful, and it's a clear rotation piece going forward for sure. Favorite track: Roller Coaster

This is great. Greasy, salty surf punk that rolls right over you like a California breaker. Them with Dick Dale on lead guitar.

Haha the elevators gave us a hell of a ride. A great record.

Really good example of 60s psychadelic pop

Este disco es una FUMADOTOTOTOTOTA que imagino está aquí por ser un magnífico exponente del "rock ácido" Pero el disco me agradó bastante y con gusto lo volvería a escuchar. Agregué una canción a mi lista: "Tried to hide", que por cierto me recordó al estilo de “Bad Boy” de los Beatles, y no creo que sea coincidencia.

Not really my thing, but it was pretty good.

Great psychedelic rock sound and cover art. Their influence on later acts is apparent. Glad to have heard it.

I loved the groovy, psychedelic 60s vibe of this album. It took a little time to adjust to the quality of the recording itself, but I ended up enjoying the atmosphere of it all. Was the strange whomp whomp noises running through most (or all?) of the songs a saw being bent? The electric jug mentioned in the wikipedia article? Some other strange phenomena? After a few songs these questions left me and I just settled in.

Cool album! I like this psychedelic surf sound, especially the guitar. Never heard of this band before.

It’s great until it disappears uo it’s own arse.

pretty sick psychedelic rock. i just love the quintessential 60s guitar tone on all these tracks, i want to capture that in some songwriting soon. really dug this one, had never heard it before.

I love Roky’s solo stuff- paranoia never sounded so sexy- but I’m not as familiar with his earlier stuff. This is pretty cool, solid psychedelic rock with some killer guitar and neat backing tracks. Would hear more. B

I had never heard of this album or artists and it took me by surprise. The sound is definitely ahead of its time - it came out in 1966 but sounds like classic early 70s rock to me. Great surfer guitar licks, and that amplified jug is pretty unique. The vocals are gritty, squealy, bluesy and strongly leaning towards a hard rock sound which had not become popular yet. This is a combination of several genres that aren't my normal go-to (psychedelic rock, hard rock, 70s rock, etc., etc.) but it's so unusual and early I have to give it at least a 4/5 for sheer coolness. I mean, amplified jug .... so strange and cool!

Great album. There are refrains of The Dead, Jefferson Airplane, The Seeds, Love, etc. This is some great music.

When I read the band had conducted sly sheepish LSD trips during recording, a lot started to make sense. I didn’t mind it at all. That weird noise throughout is someone making noises into an old jug…

Pretty much exactly what you expect when you think 60s psychedelic rock. I didn’t know the electric jug is an instrument but that definitely adds a unique sound to the album

nice album

One of, if not the definitive sounds of the psychedelic 60s. This one caught me off guard and proved to be more enjoyable than it should be.

Some definite gems in this collection. I had only heard You’re Gonna Miss Me before (which is fantastic). And the only time I’ve ever experienced the electric jug.

Rating: 7/10 Best songs: You’re gonna miss me, Don’t fall down, You don’t know

I have listened this one a few times. It's some really great 60's classic psychedelia.. Love all the weird quirky sounds, the surf guitar riffs and Roky's boisterous vocals. The crazy thing was this sound came from Texas and not San Francisco. Sadly this on about the only decent material they made.

Beyond unique, too canoncial for less than 4 stars but a little too loose and sloppy for 5.

It’s like if The Doors’ cover of Gloria were an album long. Fun, but not incredibly deep

I like a lot of this. I'd never heard of this band before so this is a genuine little hidden gem. They have a lot of elements from similar 60's bands, like the jangly guitars, bluesy riffs and vocals... some surf in there. It's kind of the Doors meet the Rolling Stones, with a bit of Dick Dale thrown in, or sitting somewhere in that space. The jug was pretty interesting at first, but jeez do they use a lot of it! It would have been better used sparingly I think. Still.... Groovy! As a side note, the first song was SO familiar and I knew I'd heard it in a film I knew well - turns out it's the start of High Fidelity, apt!

54 year olds are not children #scottkellysnoncingworldcup

A very 60s album, and a good listen overall. Definitely a band who's discography I expect to listen to more. Forgot to record favorite/least favorite songs.

Had never heard this album before. I knew the opening track because it was on the High Fidelity soudtrack, but found I really liked the whole album.

I love 60s music, and this is quite enjoyable.

Najs

Fav songs: - Splash 1

Jako ekscentričan album

One of the greatest garage rock albums of all time, as is Easter Everywhere, you could include either. This has more straightforward bangers on it than EE but that Dylan cover... Man. The debut probably loses a bit of steam towards the end. Adore Splash 1, and Don't Fall Down, both of which show they had more about them than freakouts and playing a jug. What the authorities did to Roky and the band is a disgrace.

I'm a sucker for Psychedelic Rock. Čuo sam za njih tek kada sam čitao knjigu o bendovima koji su napravili promjene u glazbi, ali nisu okusili slavu. O svakom bendu po nešto, i eto bio je i ovaj bend - zajedno sa dosta njih i drago mi je što sam posudio tu knjigu. Nažalost ne znam više kako se zvala, ali je bilo nešto što ja volim.

This feels so authentic to the era it’s paying homage to that i thought it actually belonged to it. A lot of Mick Jagger inspired vocals.

I liked this a lot more than I expected to...I figured it would be generic knock off psychedelic band and they kind of were... But a much higher quality than anticipated

So that’s what an electric jug sounds like. I think this stood out as a bit more out there than some of the other seminal psychedelic rock albums I’ve heard so far, which made it more interesting. 7/10

Classic weird psychedelic rock. Some of it rocks, some of it wallows, some of it is just plain strange. A favorite, for sure.

helt kova

I like these guys - heard them for the first time years ago when watching that Foo Fighters documentary that tracked roots of music.

A very important album for rock music and also holds up very well. R.I.P. Roky Erickson

Electric jug. Freak it.

enjoyed this much more than I thought I would

Really great, enjoyable psych rock. I’d never heard of this but would absolutely revisit it.