The The 13th Floor Elevators

This collection brings together tracks from the Elevators 1966 performances in San Francisco and Houston, plus bonus tracks from Roky’s solo performances in the early ‘70s.

The Psychedelic Sounds of… is the Elevators’ ground-breaking debut from 1966 and lays claim to being the first psychedelic rock album—and is certainly the first to use the word 'psychedelic'. Known for founder Tommy Hall’s use of the electric jug and Roky Erickson’s emotive singing of Hall’s poetic lyrics. This edition of The Psychedelic Sounds of… features the mono mix on picture disc vinyl using the original cover artwork, which was recently chosen by the UK’s National Album Day as one of the best 70 album sleeves of all time, and best sleeve from 1966. 2019 Record Store Day exclusive. Limited to 1000 copies.

A spotty but basically worthwhile three-disc set, Collectables' 1966-1967 Unreleased Masters Collection scours the International Artists vault for previously unreleased songs, alternate takes, rehearsals, and demos of songs that appeared on The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators and Easter Everywhere, and a couple of live cuts for good measure…

The 13th Floor Elevators were one of the pioneering bands of American psychedelic rock, and their small but visionary body of work has won them a devoted following, but they've had a hard time earning the respect and historical notice they've deserved. There are many reasons for this, but the often-shoddy treatment of their recorded legacy doubtless has a great deal to do with it…

2023 collection from the psych rock icons. Each original source has been referenced to the earliest vinyl pressing and meticulously transferred at 96khz 24-bit resolution. Multitrack tapes of the original recording sessions have been newly mixed in strict accordance with the records as first released.

If one had to point to a single initial salvo that launched the garage rock revival movement in the 1970s and ‘80s, it would have to be the release of Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era 1965-1968 in 1972. Elektra Records had approached rock critic Lenny Kaye (not yet the guitarist with the Patti Smith Group) with the notion of compiling an album of great, overlooked rock tunes, but what Kaye came up with was something significantly different – an overview of the great, wild era when American bands, goaded by the British Invasion, began honing in on a tougher and more eclectic rock & roll sound, and kids were reawakened to the possibilities of two guitars, bass, and drum…

If one had to point to a single initial salvo that launched the garage rock revival movement in the 1970s and ‘80s, it would have to be the release of Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era 1965-1968 in 1972. Elektra Records had approached rock critic Lenny Kaye (not yet the guitarist with the Patti Smith Group) with the notion of compiling an album of great, overlooked rock tunes, but what Kaye came up with was something significantly different - an overview of the great, wild era when American bands, goaded by the British Invasion, began honing in on a tougher and more eclectic rock & roll sound, and kids were reawakened to the possibilities of two guitars, bass, and drums. Coming up with a simple definition of this period and its sound proved daunting - the word "garage" appears nowhere in the liner notes to Nuggets, and his notion of "the first psychedelic era" quickly fell by the wayside…