The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators


The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators is the debut studio album by the 13th Floor Elevators. The album's sound, featuring elements of psychedelia, garage rock, folk, and blues, is notable for its use of the electric jug, as featured on the band's only hit, "You're Gonna Miss Me", which reached number 55 on the Billboard Charts with "Tried to Hide" as a B-side. Another single from the album, "Reverberation ", reached number 129 on the Billboard's Bubbling Under Chart.

Background

The August 1966 back cover of the album uses the words "The Psychedelic Sounds of: The 13th Floor Elevators", which is purported to be the first use of the word "psychedelic" in reference to the music within. Two other bands also used the word in titles of LPs released in November 1966: The Blues Magoos' Psychedelic Lollipop, and The Deep's Psychedelic Moods.
In 2005, The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators was remastered and reissued in compact disc format by Charly Records, a British record label specializing in reissued material. It included bonus tracks of the band's 1966 performance at the Avalon Ballroom, a music venue in the Polk Gulch neighborhood of San Francisco, and both sides of a single, "We Sell Soul" and "You're Gonna Miss Me", from Roky Erickson's pre-13th Floor Elevators band, The Spades.
In 2009, the original mono version was released as part of the "Sign of the 3-Eyed Men" box set. The set also featured a new, alternate stereo version which retained the band's original intended track listing, as well as false starts on some of the tracks. Both versions on the box set featured different bonus tracks, some that were previously unreleased.
The album was included in Robert Dimery's 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

Track listing

This version was included in the "Sign of the 3-Eyed Men" box set on CD 4 with the following bonus tracks.

Personnel

Production