BLOG TO COMM

The Thirteenth Floor Elevators-BULL OF THE WOODS LP (International Artists pirate of late-eighties vintage)

This review is dedicated to the memory of none other than Brad Kohler (well, at least I remember who he is!), who asked the musical question "howcum it seems like a whole buncha Mr. Knowitalls out there dump all over the Elevators' BULL OF THE WOODS album anyway?" Good question Mr. K, and although at the time the question was posed to me I didn't have a hefty-enough answer to toss his way I decided to do the right thing and latch onto my very own pirate copy of Roky and co.'s swan song in order to give an uppa-date opinion on it rather'n one of my fuzzy twenny-plus years back looksees (you can tell that this 'un ain't exactly on the BLOG TO COMM top forty hit parade). While I was at it, I thought I'd also clue the rest of you in on my ever-appreciated views regarding this hot pick to click that I'm sure you'll find more'n a hearty substitute for the myriad assortment of opines of a Christgau-esque nature that anyone with or without a cast-iron constitution would surely wanna do without.

I mean, what can I say about this platter other'n it is a unbridled wowzer, in fact a record which undoubtedly is a whole lot better than many of our fanzine brethren have made this tail-end psychedelic masterpiece out to be which really stymies me because alla those fanzine crankers of yore were for the most part RIGHT! Sure one could nit-pick about the reduced presence of our dear Mr. Erickson as well as the inclusion of horns on a couple tracks, but the fact that other members (most notably lead guitarist Stacy Sutherland) take on the lead warblings and some hornage is used (to a good effect mind ya) doesn't bother me one iota. Believe it or not, but hardly anything on BULL OF THE WOODS bugs me, and chop my head off if ya wanna but I gotta admit after all these years that next to their numero uno messterpiece EASTER EVERYWHERE this is probably my favorite Elevators album and neglecting it all these years is certainly a crime beyond redemption! Let's face it, the first album had too much of a disconnected demo feel to it and LIVE came off like the buncha leftovers strung together with some of the worst audience applause imaginable that it was. But BULL OF THE WOODS sounds perfect, like a nice slice of psychedelia recorded around the time when the American version of that movement was being subverted into hokey Old West myth making on one hand and heavy post-Jimi blooze on the other. And, if the critics say, this one was padded out with even more demos from the old days may I say that the Elevators sure had the knack to sound pretty 1968 in 1966, and considering the upheaval rock & roll went through in those two years that really is saying a lot more than Brother Jerry and the rest of the guys on the Marin County Apple Wine Farm ever could!

BULL OF THE WOODS is studious yet never takes itself too seriously, psychedelic yet doesn't use that as an excuse to either indulge in aerie faerie fluff or avant garde pose, and best of all rock & roll during a time when it seemed that the form was being abused by way too many recording artists who seemingly "tired" of the thing. Every cut is a gem, even the so-called tossaways like "Dr. Doom" and while (maybe not-so-obvious reference point) San Francisco was slowly beginning its slide around the time this one was released the Elevators retain all of the freshness and excitement that San Fran once stood for even after all of the acid damage on these guys' part! And it all ends with Roky's haunting hymn "May the Circle Remain Unbroken" which oddly enough is credited to himself...always thought it was an Olde Tymey number very popular in the South but the way Roky does it with his haunting organ he sure makes it his own! If this one had gotten around a lot more than it did thanks to International Artists' limited distribution, maybe that Cold Sun CD I've been raving about wouldn't've come as such a surprise to any of us!

And listening to my obviously illegit copy on my cheapo nostalgia turntable with its poor pressing defects and overall fuzz even had me flashing back to what it woulda been like for some a-head playing it in a basement on an even cheaper portable player somewhere in the bowels of Texas 1969...with the strung out nerve frazzles fully in place! I know I couldn't ask for anything more from the Elevators, could I?, and maybe with the proper environmental stimuli you can experience it in its true form as well!