Ruminating on the Elevators

Just thought I'd repeat this review I posted on Amazon for the 13th Floor Elevators final album, Bull of the Woods. They're from Austin, TX! The first and only true psychedelic band!

A band with a good bench, May 22, 2006

My appreciation of this band contiunes to grow by leaps and bounds. This is the Elevator's swan song, recorded under incredibly difficult circumstances. Their second album failed to land a hit single, as the first one did.PSychedlia was perhaps, on the wane, which this band with irretrievably tied to, which is fair.
Of course, the obvious circumstance of Roky Erickson's breakdown and hospitalization were the primary reason for the band's demise, but the chemistry had been upset for some time. Electric Jug-ist Tommy Hall had been the main lyricist and LSD as revolutionary tool advocate. The rest of the band were becoming more into hard escapist drugs and grew tired of Hall's philosophy.
Taking the needle and the mantle was the late lead guitarist Stacy Sutherland, truly an unsung guitar hero if I ever heard one. His playing is just enough country and Syd, not sounding overly slick,and a bit of laid-back Jerry Garcia. His lyrics a more accessable bridge abutting conventional songwriting and Hall's metaphors for the psychedelic journey to self-enlightenment. Sutherland is more grounded, down to earth, dirty and dead-end. Despite his dark nature, band members regard him affectionately. And I gotta give props to the new rhythm section of Dan Galindo and Danny Thomas, these guys chug and stammer like The Magic Band on 'Til Then.

Great Stuff