...Roky Erickson/13th Floor Elevators? I can't recall too many discussions on him/them. I really dig their stuff & his backstory makes it even more fun to listen to.

For those who don't know- he pleaded insanity to a possession charge to avoid going to jail and he was subsequently instituionalized and received shock treatments which affected him and ultimately made him well, crazy.

RIYL- Psychedelia

JustPlainTodd in 4...3...2...1....

I like a couple of tracks on the first album, but I find most of it unlistenable. Never listened to a note of Easter Everywhere.

Holy crap. Well, that oughtta learn 'im. Shoulda just gone to jail.

I've got some 13th Floor vinyl, and there's some great stuff there, in small doses.

Julian Cope does an incredible job with "Levitation" on the World Shut Your Mouth ep, btw.

I only know "you're gonna miss me"

Jail.

Though Roky does communicate (through telepathy) with Anton, Blanket, Pillow, The Tickle Monster, Dick Loogar, and the inventor of the Humiliator...

WOW...EASY BUBBA, THIS IS A PUBLIC FORUM

<---------------Will be laughing at this all the way home.

Easter Everywhere and the first album (Psychedelic Sounds of...) are both masterpieces of psychedelia. Period.

Sure his backstory makes him more interesting to the casual listener, but just like Syd Barret and Brian Wilson, his music is even more interesting than the story.

On a somewhat related note: The only acid/mental issues case from the 60's who got hyped unnecessarily in my opinion was Skip Spence. "Oar" has some interesting tracks and a couple tracks (Grey/Afro) were in a way, ahead of their time --- but it's not worthy of the adoration it was given.

For those not familiar with Roky, the most recent compilation that came out on Shout Records is probably the best way to listen to Roky if you aren't already familiar. It's got a nice sample of all phases of his career.
There's a few tracks up for listening over at the Onion's AV Club right now, if you're into that sort of thing.

And oh yeah, it wasn't the shock treatment that made Roky crazy, anymore than the acid made Syd crazy. It was only a matter of time for schizophrenia to rear it's ugly head with both of em. The other factors just brought it out a little quicker and possibly more pronounce.

I got Psychedelic Sounds of... a little while back and could never get into it. I didn't get what was so adventurous, far out, or interesting about it except that it sounds really raw and dirty. I'll have to give it some more chances, but as of right now I'm pretty "meh" on Roky/13th Floor Elevators.

I got it a few months ago and was pretty disappointed.

It should be called The Barely Audible Sounds of...

It's not even especially Psychedelic.

Pretty much sums it up.

I try to believe it was "psychedelic" for the time, but it's really hard to give a shit about that.

That's exactly what it was. It's is something of an artifact in that way. It's the combination of the 'electric jug' sound that was used, the subject matter (acid/weed/tripping your balls off), and the complete over-the-top nature of it all. This was all recorded about a year or so before the San Francisco thing really started to gel and eventually take off.

Listen to songs like 'Slip Inside This House', 'Splash 1', 'Fire Engine', 'Roller Coaster'...they're all essentially documentation of the psychedelic experience. It's not real deep or anything, but it was a new thing for them at the time.