by Robert Wilkinson
Our Friday show starts early, since we're celebrating the tragic genius of the jug player for one of the truly legendary bands of history.
Tommy Hall (September 15, 1943) is an electric jug player who founded the prototypical psychedelic rock band the 13th Floor Elevators. From Wikipedia:
A special aspect of The Elevators' sound came from Tommy Hall's innovative electric jug. The jug, a crock-jug with a microphone held up to it while it was being blown, sounded somewhat like a cross between a minimoog and cuica drum. In contrast to traditional musical jug technique, Hall did not blow into the jug to produce a tuba-like sound. Instead, he vocalized musical runs into the mouth of the jug, using the jug to create echo and distortion of his voice. When playing live, he held the microphone up to the mouth of the jug, but when recording the Easter Everywhere album, the recording engineer placed a microphone inside the jug to enhance the sound.
It is also part of the legend that he “tuned” the jug by the amount of marijuana he would put into it or take out of it at the concerts. This was Texas in the 60s, where simple possession of a joint could get you 2 to life! Because of the national success of "You're Gonna Miss Me," they made a late 1966 pilgrimage to San Francisco and shared billing with Quicksilver, Moby Grape, and Grace Slick's Great Society. This was before the iconic 1967 "Summer of Love" which marked the blossoming of flower power and the Bay Area musical tidal wave which followed. It's also clear and that the Elevators had a big effect on many of the bands playing around the Bay Area, given the similarity to their unique sound in various songs which came out after their tour there.
It's accepted that fellow Texan Janis Joplin modeled her style of singing after Roky's screeching on "You're Gonna Miss Me," and by 1967 they were already legends. Unfortunately, due to tremendous pressures of being heads and famous in Texas in 1967 and the subsequent busts, they fell apart due to a variety of reasons in mid-1968. The 13th Floor Elevators may have been uneven talents at times, but it was no doubt due to the radical amounts of hallucinogens ingested by all the players during that very psychedelic time in history. To this day they are still one of the most phenomenal sounds in the history of modern rock music. Not many bands are literally legends in their own times. The 13th Floor Elevators were such a band.
Anyway, Tommy eventually wound up drifting into unknown zones, where after he “slipped inside this house,” he wound up not making music any more. Rather than go any further into the legend here, we'll move into the videos. There's precious little live video performances of the band, and most of the Elevators' music out there are from the studio recordings set to stills. But I found a bit, so enjoy one of the most unique sounds in the history of modern music! For your enjoyment, Roky Erickson, Tommy Hall, and the 13th Floor Elevators!
Here's where the legend began! Rare footage of Roky and the Elevators in September 1966 on Where the Action Is lip-synching to their national hit "You're Gonna Miss Me" with lots of closeups of Tommy Hall and his electric jug! (Dick called them “the Sixteenth Floor Elevators…..)
Here's another appearance on American Bandstand from October of that same year (with some very strange camera effects) with the Elevators lip-synching to "You're Gonna Miss Me" Last year’s clip featured the interview after the song. When Dick asks Tommy "who's the head" Tommy responds "We're all heads." Wow. This wasn’t the Monkees, folks! This year the whole clip is gone, but here’s the 1 minute interview. "You're Gonna Miss Me"
To give you a sense of just how pioneering the Elevators' sound was, here are a few off their first two studio albums, set to pictures and the album covers:
From their first album The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators, "Roller Coaster" and "Reverberation (Doubt)"
Here’s another “uptempo” version of this magnificent tune, live in Houston in 1967! “Reverberation”
Here’s a reverb and echo drenched live version, slower and a bit sloppier, but they were still unique! “Reverberation”
Super rare footage from a radio interview followed by a live performance of “Fire Engine”
A real treat! This is the “B” side of “You’re Gonna Miss Me,” and a lot faster tempo than the album, which is far more laid back. "Tried to Hide" Here’s the version on the album, with a more laid back driving groove. "Tried to Hide"
Here’s the exciting "Fire Engine"
This year I have a gem! It’s an unused alternate take from the recordings of the first album, with a lot less production and a cleaner sound. “Roller Coaster.”
Here’s a live performance by the Elevators at the Avalon Ballroom in 1966 of “Fire Engine”
Last year I had the audio of “Roller Coaster” from the Avalon gig, but it’s disappeared this year.
A few covers from that gig! They took a shot at the Kinks with this version of “You Really Got Me,” and went full R&B with “Before You Accuse Me.” We’ll close with one of the stranger renditions of the Beatles’ tune “The Word” (“Have Mercy” has disappeared.)
Here’s 43 minutes of that show! The 13th Elevators Live at the Avalon Ballroom – September 1966
From that West Coast tour, here’s a great interview (sounds like an LA DJ) followed by some very grainy live performance footage of the Thirteenth Floor Elevators of “Fire Engine”
Two from the first album! "Don't Fall Down" and "The Kingdom of Heaven Is Within You"Here’s the entire live show from the La Maison club in Houston in 1965 or 1966 of a classic Elevators performance! I put them in order of the set list.
“the Kingdom of Heaven is Within You.”“She Lives In A Time of Her Own”
Moving into the studio, here's the amazing poetic masterpiece which said to be a "transcendental epic." From their second album Easter Everywhere, "Slip Inside This House"
Also from Easter Everywhere, "Levitation" and the equally awesome "Earthquake" The album ended with this strange psychedelic soul tune “Pictures (Leave Your Body Behind)”
This was a promotional copy sent to DJs, and is longer than what was released on the album. "Earthquake"
Here are four of Stacy Sutherland's extraordinary psychedelic compositions from Bull of the Woods. If you listen closely, you’ll hear things that influenced more than a few musicians during the Bay Area psychedelic music years. Some of his playing could easily have been an influence on mid-60s Jefferson Airplane or Quicksilver at the beginning of their careers.
"Scarlet and Gold"Stacy wrote this with Tommy, and it’s a good song but the horns were unnecessary. “Dear Dr. Doom”
And a royal treat! The astonishing closing number of that album, written by Roky, and exquisitely delivered by Stacy, set to a video of the band performing some other song back when drenched in a red hue. "May The Circle Remain Unbroken"
The following are all live performances set to still photos or other types of video effects:
From May 1966, a live recording of the Elevators set to a very interesting visual doing their hit "Roller Coaster"
It resurfaced again. Here’s the audio of the band live on The Larry Kane Show in Houston doing "Don't Fall Down"
Unfortunately the weird clip by the 13th Floor Elevators of one of a very strange version of “Roll Over Beethoven” plus an even stranger version of the Beatles’ “The Word” have disappeared. However, I found this from very psychedelic Austin in 1967 (when Gilbert Shelton and the Furry Freak Brothers still lived there), the gentle psychedelic folk song “I Had to Tell You”
Also from Austin in 1967, “Fire In My Bones”
The Elevators doing Van Morrison's first hit "Gloria"
Here they are doing the Kinks smash hit "You Really Got Me"
Last year I had the entire 78 minute set of The Thirteenth Floor Elevators Reverberation in the Round - Live At the Houston Music Theater from 1967, but it’s gone. However, I found these three clips from that classic show!
Here are entire 13th Floor Elevator albums!
The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators (1966 – 35 minutes)
Easter Everywhere (1967 – 43 minutes)
The first two were pretty much done at the same time, and the band disintegrated shortly after Easter. That left Stacy to assemble what he could of a band, and this features his songwriting, both solo and with Tommy Hall.
Bull of the Woods (1969 – 34 minutes)
It’s gone again. Every so often a copy of their unreleased 1968 album, A Love That’s Sound shows up, but this year it’s disappeared, as has the clip of “Wait for my Love” which I had last year.
Here are a few single clips from that album!
“Sweet Surprise (Sign of the Three Eyed Men)”
Last year I had the whole 64 minute album from 1999 titled 13th Floor Elevators – Singles and Rare Stuff, but this year it’s nowhere to be found. This year it’s still gone, as is the 121 minute 1999 gem with some true rarities, Thirteenth Floor Elevators – His Eye Is On the Pyramid. I also had a monster 2 hour 26 clip from one of the oldest TFE fan groups on the web, with all their studio material on one clip, but Thirteenth Floor Elevators – Attack of the 8 Tracks is gone.
This gem disappeared and is nowhere to be found. In Jan-Feb 1966 an unreleased 56 minute album was made of the “preflyte” Thirteenth Floor Elevators along with the Spades, Roky’s group before the Elevators titled Headstone – The Contact Sessions. This year I found some tracks on one clip. “Tried to Hide,” “Everybody Needs Somebody to Love,” “Take That Girl,” “You Can’t Hurt Me Anymore, ” and “I’m A Gonna Love You Too” have disappeared as single clips.
The 13th Floor Elevators - Headstone: The Contact Sessions“ (Set list: “Roller Coaster,” “Now I’m Home,” “Where Am I? (Through the Rhythm),” “Fire Engine,” “You Can’t Hurt Me Anymore,” “Fire Engine,” “You’re Gonna Miss Me,” “Tried to Hide” (Take 7) with three from La Maison I have below.)
“Where Am I (Through the Rhythm)”
“You’re Gonna Miss Me” (Take 6)
These were tacked on to the album, and show this was one weird band! “Roller Coaster” and “Fire Engine” could be the same as those in the La Maison sets earlier from 1965 or 66.
“Roller Coaster” (Live at La Maison, Summer 1966)
“We Gotta Get Out of This Place” (Live at La Maison, Summer 1966)
Their phenomenal 1967 live show in Houston is gone. This was 78 minutes titled “The 13th Floor Elevators Reverberation in the Round - Live At the Houston Music Theater” and I hope it resurfaces next year.
Here’s a live performance from Autumn 2015 with Tommy and Powell St. John, another Austin legend who was a songwriter and singer for the Elevators and Mother Earth. My old friend David Blanchard is the guitarist without the hat. He loved the session! This was a Powell St. John composition the Elevators put on their first album which blew all our minds! "The Kingdom of Heaven Is Within You" and from that same jam, the opus magnum off their second album, "Slip Inside This House."
We'll cut to some performances by "The Tommy Hall Schedule," a group of musicians who are huge Tommy Hall fans and do their own versions of Tommy's music. Davis Blanchard is on keyboards. First, "Slip Inside This House," which we'll follow with "Dust." From their 2014 benefit for Tommy, "She Lives."
Before we close the show, here’s Tommy’s Wikipedia entry which describes how he got “THAT” sound on the jug bass! Tommy Hall - wikipedia
We’ll close this Elevators section with our intro clip from Where the Action Is in September 1966 with the band doing what they do best to a backing track, cranking out the unmistakable psychedelic sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators at their peak, screaming and howling, giving us the classic “You’re Gonna Miss Me”
This year we’ve lost a classic show. It was some serious kinetic energy from a 1966 live show at the New Orleans Club at 11th and Red River in Austin Texas, which was one of my hangouts from 1969 to the early 70s, and is now part of the Symphony Square complex. From February and March 1966, it’s said to be the earliest recording of a live 13th Floor Elevators show, but this year these two short sets of the Elevators live courtesy of KAZZ are gone. Better luck next year.
This year I found this great 3 hour clip with several live performances from a 1966 radio show, several tunes from the Sumpin’ Else TV show, some of the La Maison 1966 concert, some of the Avalon Ballroom set, the electric Grandmother show, and a few by Roky from 1973 and 1984. 13th Floor Elevators Live in Texas – The Ultimate Live Collection 1966-1984
From The Austin Chronicle, a 2004 interview in Austin. “Where the Pyramid Meets the High - Founding Elevator Tommy Hall and his horizontal thinking”
In a final nod to the Elevators, here’s a 39 minute documentary on the band. 13th Floor Elevators Documentary “You’re Gonna Miss Me.”
A most happy and merry to you, Tommy. Thanks for kicking the doors open to true psychedelic music, and igniting the Bay Area and the rest of musical history!
© Copyright 2024 Robert Wilkinson
Comments