The 13th Floor Elevators – Easter Everywhere (International Artists IA-LP #5 1968)

Personnel
Roky Erickson – Lead Vocals, Rhythm Guitar
Stacey Sutherland – Lead Guitar, Vocals
Tommy Hall – Electric Jug
Dan Galindo – Bass, Backing Vocals
Danny Thomas – Drums

Track Listing
Side 1
1. Slip Inside This House (Hall – Erickson)
2. Slide Machine (Powell St John)
3. She Lives (In A time Of Her Own) (Hall – Erickson)
4. Nobody To Love (Sutherland)
5. Baby Blue (Dylan)
Side 2
1. Earthquake (Hall – Erickson)
2. Dust (Hall – Erickson)
3. Levitation (Hall – Sutherland)
4. I had To Tell You (Clementine Hall)
5. Postures (Leave Your Body Behind) (Hall – Erickson)
Produced by Lelan Rogers
Recording Engineer – Frank Davis

This LP is one of my all time favorites, and finding a mono reissue has really blown me away!!! Over the years I had heard from various people that the mono versions of Easter Everywhere and Psychedelic Sounds have vastly superior mixes, but my first vinyl copies of these LP’s where the Radar Records reissues from 1979/1980 and where stereo, and seeing original mono copies for sale on Ebay for around £400 each meant I wasn’t gonna be able to afford an original any time soon , but it seems those good people at Achme Records not content with just putting out a box set of Elevators singles have also done a good job on the LP’s too!!! In great packaging and with copies of the original labels they are a real bargin at just £12 each.
The first play of this disk was a real treat, the thing that struck me was the amount of bass! next that the vocal was so clear and upfront, after doing an A/B test with a stereo pressing I realised that on the stereo mix the vocals where going through a stereo reverb which really muddys things up a bit. The ultra clear vocals meant I was able to get into the lyrics again “Slip Inside This House” has IMHO the finest psychedelic/mystical lyric ever!

Slip Inside This House
Bedoin tribes* ascending
from the egg into the flower,
alpha information sending
state within the heaven shower
from disciples the unending
subtleties of river power.
They slip inside this house as they pass by.

If your limbs begin dissolving
in the water that you tread,
all surroundings are evolving
in the stream that clears your head,
find yourself a caravan
like Noah must have led,
and slip inside this house as you pass by.

Slip inside this house as you pass by.
True conception, knowing why,
brings even more than meets the eye.
Slip inside this house as you pass by.

In this dark we call creation
we can be and feel and know
from an effort, comfort station,
that’s surviving on the go.
There’s infinite survival in
the high baptismal glow.
Slip inside this house as you pass by.

There is no season when you are grown.
You are always risen from the seeds you’ve sown.
There is no reason to rise alone.
Other stories given have sages of their own.

Live where your heart can be given,
and your life starts to unfold
in the forms you envision
in this dream that’s ages old.
On the river layer is the only sayer.
You receive all you can hold,
like you’ve been told.

Every day’s another dawning.
Give the morning winds a chance.
Always catch your thunder yawning.
Lift your mind into the dance.
Sweep the shadows from your awning.
Shrink the fourfold circumstance
that lies outside this house.
Don’t pass it by.

Higher worlds that you uncover
light the path you want to roam.
You compare there and discover
You won’t need a shell of foam.
Twice born gypsies care and keep
the nowhere of their former home.
They slip inside this house as they pass by.

Slip inside this house as you pass by.
You think you can’t, you wish you could.
I know you can, I wish you would
slip inside this house as you pass by.

Four and twenty birds of Maya
baked into an atom you
polarized into existence,
magnet heart from red to blue:
to such extent, the realm of dark
within the picture it seems true,
but slip inside this house and then decide.

All your lightning waits inside you.
Travel it along your spine.
Seven stars receive your visit.
Seven seals remain divine:
seven churches filled with spirit,
treasure from the angels’ mine.
Slip inside this house as you pass by.

Slip inside this house as you pass by
The space you make has your own laws.
No longer human gods are cause.
The centre of this house will never die.

There is no season when you are grown.
You are always risen from the seeds you’ve sown.
There is no reason to rise alone.
Other stories given have sages of their own.

Draw from the well of unchanging.
Its union nourishes on
in the right re-arranging
till the last confusion is gone.
Water-brothers trust in the ultimust
of the always singing song they pass along.

One-eyed men aren’t really reigning.
They just march in place until
two-eyed men with mystery training
finally feel the power fill.
Three-eyed men are not complaining.
They can yo-yo where they will.
They slip inside this house as they pass by.
Don’t pass it by.

Mighty Baby – Mighty Baby (Head Records – 1969)

Personnel
Alan King – Guitar and Vocals
Roger Powell – Drums
Michael Evens – Bass
Martin Stone – Lead and Slide Guitar
Ian Whiteman – Vocals, Flute, Sax, Organ, Piano and Organ

Track Listing
Side 1
1. Egyptian Tomb
2. A Friend You Know But Never See
3. I’ve Been Down So Long
4. Some Way From The sun
Side 2
1. House Without Windows
2. Trials Of A City
3. I’m From The Country
4.At A Point Between Fate And Destiny

Might Baby formed out the remains of Mod band “The Action”, their musical style was heavily influenced by American west coast bands like Quicksilver and The Grateful Dead, and the compositions on this disc do have a rather loose jammed out feel especially “House Without Windows” and “Trials of a City” the guitar playing of Stone and King bringing Moby Grape to mind. The LP was originally released on Head Records 1969 but when John Curd the labels owner got busted and imprisoned the label fell apart, so the record had limited release, in the US it faired slightly better as the LP was licensed to Chess Records, in theory that should make it easier to find an original….but I have yet to see a copy, it was re-released by Psycho records in 1984 as Egyptian Tomb, the copy I have has just been reissued by Lightning Tree Records which is the Freak Emporium’s label. A great LP well worth checking out.

Cold Sun – Dark Shadows (Rockadelic Records 1989)

Personnel:
Bill Miller – Lead Vocals and Electric Autoharp
Tom McGarigle – Guitar and Backing Vocals
Mike Waugh – Bass and Backing Vocals
Hugh Pattern – Drums

Track Listing

Side 1
01 Ra Ma (Miller, Mcgarrigle, Nelson)
02 See What You Cause (Miller)
03 Here In The Year (Miller)

Side 2
01 Twisted Flower (Miller)
02 South Texas (Miller)
03 For Ever (Miller)
04 Fall (Miller, Taylor)

The LP is a limited (300 copies) pressing of the bands demos from 1968, the recordings where made by Sonobeat Records with a view to selling the finished recordings to a major label, in the same way Sonobeat had done with Johnny Winter, sadly no one seemed interested at the time. The band name was not the name they used for gigging which was Amethyst, they formed in 1968 and originally featured drummer John Kearney who had played with The Spades, Roky Erikson’s pre Elevators band. The sound of Cold Sun is quite heavily influenced by both the 13th Floor Elevators and The Velvet Underground the vocals and lyrics are very much reminiscent of Easter Everywhere period Elevators, the epic 11 minute opener from the Dark Shadows LP Ra Ma is almost Cold Sun’s “Slip inside This House” !!!! with mystical acid influenced lyrics and ringing electric autoharp, its quite a fabulous opening track, although it was originally to be the LP’s finale, a great tune as either a finale or opening cut. Surely this is one of the great missing artifacts of the Texas Psychedelic scene, and is very hard to come by, but rumors are circulating of a CD release with live cuts from 1968/9, I am looking forward to this event should it happen. Sorry to say the band split in the early 1970′s but ironically ended up (minus Tom McGarigle) as Roky Erikson’s band under the name Blieb Alien!! and Bill Miller was instrumental in the formation of Roky’s next group The Aliens and his electric autoharp being an important part of their sound, just check out the runes LP, Bill now goes under the name Billy Angel and performs around the USA as part of the group “The Blood Drained Cows” which also features ex-members of The Angry Samoans
For more info on the Cold Sun story check out this rather excellent web page http://members.tripod.com/lysergia_2/LamaWorkshop/lamaColdSun.htm

The Chambers Brothers – Time Has Come Columbia Records 1966

Personnel:
Lester Chambers – Vocals and Harmonica
Willie Chambers – Vocals and Guitar
Joe Chambers – Vocals and Guitar
George Chambers – Vocals and Bass
Brian Keenan – Drums

Track List
Side 1
01. All Strung Out over You (Clark) – 2:30
02. People Get Ready (Mayfield) – 3:52
03. I Can’t Stand It (Chambers) – 2:42
04. Romeo and Juliet (Chambers) – 4:32
05. In the Midnight Hour (Cropper/Pickett) – 5:32
06. So Tired (Chambers Brothers/Goodwin) – 4:05

Side 2
01. Uptown (Mabry) – 2:56
02. Please Don’t Leave Me (Chambers) – 3:00
03. What the World Needs Now Is Love (Bacharach/David) – 3:20
04. Time Has Come Today (Chambers/Chambers) – 11:06

Time Has Come is their first LP for Columbia Records and contains the groups first chart hit “Time Has come Today!” the LP mix weighing in a hefty 11:00 mins is a true psychedelic soul masterpiece but these guys are no “one trick dog” the LP is 100% quality all the way through from the stomping “All Strung Up Over You” and equally as stomping “I Can Stand It” to a really strong cover of “The Midnight Hour” the beautiful “So Tired” a good cover of the Bacharach/David song “What the World Needs Now Is Love” to the amazing “Time Has Come Today” this 1966 tune is like an amazing hybrid of Love’s “Little Red Book” and Paul Butterfield’s “East-West”.
These guys are still performing, go here for more info http://www.lesterchambers.com/
There’s interview here http://www.soul-patrol.com/funk/chambers.htm
A rather sad story about Lester Chamber’s record collection

http://www.boingboing.net/2003/07/29/music_legend_lester_.html