Search - 13th Floor Elevators :: Easter Everywhere

Slip inside their house

water_me_once_a_week | Ireland | 08/11/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Few albums can really transport you to a different place, a different time, a different world. Loves "Forever Changes", Van Morrisons "Astral Weeks" and the Strands opus "Magical World of the Strands" can and do. So does this album, you'll find yourself standing in the Texan desert in the summer of 67. The opening track seduces you in, "Slip Inside this House" is a true psychedelic classic, its like The Beatles "Tomorrow Never Knows" in a bare knuckle fight with Loves "A House is not a Motel", it swoops along with its throbbing baseline and jug, and every now and then something jumps from the mix and grabs you by the balls, be it Roky Ericksons helium howl or the piercing bluesy guitar licks soaked in reverb, the words could stand alone on page as poetry, "Every days another dawning, give the morning winds a chance, always catch your thunder yawning, lift your mind into the dance".. its fantastic stuff! And this my friend is just the beginning!
"Slide Machine" flows seamlessly with its duelling twin guitars, one raw and bluesy, the other clean and haunting with psychedelic licks pushing through and tickling your ears, all under pinned by a hypnotic rhythm which moves up a gear effortlessly, close your eyes and you could be riding across a desert at 100 mile an hour, by the time that you open your eyes again you wont have noticed that your probably listening to the next song She Lives (in a time of her own), such is the cohesion, both musically and lyrically the first 5 songs/sideA are a sonic tapestry like nothing you will ever have heard before.
I have to admit I approached "Baby Blue" with nervous caution, I love the Dylan version, I think the Byrd's version is criminal, but the Elevators tackle the song with such sensitivity, beauty, and creativity that you will find yourself playing it over and over again, Dylan purists may scowl upon the lyrical alterations but after a few listens it all makes sense, the guitar playing isn't a million miles away from the Stone Rose's John Squire on their first lap. Swaggering, staggering, cool jazzy playing, but never over indulgent, it's the same on the last track Postures. I could take up another 1000 words to describe the second half of this album, but why bother, buy this record, discover it for yourself, you wont be let down."