Search - 13th Floor Elevators :: Headstone: Contact Sessions

Times are good for Elevator enthusiasts.

attentive listener | Joysey | 07/09/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Charly records in cooperation with International Artists Records (originating label) is opening the vaults. They released the very limited, 10 disc, Sign of the 3 Eyed Men last year. The label is now releasing, the constituent pieces from that set on their own, not as limited, editions. The First was the 7th Heaven complete mono singles collection. Headstone is the second offering, and it's another mostly mono affair with a fairly compressed remastering. Compression aside, the band sounds speedy, and the very essence of psychedelic. The Buddy Holly cover with the mandatory electric jug is a crazy trip. The extras include a few alternates in stereo and 4 live tracks from the era. The live stuff is mostly a challenge (although relevatory for displaying the Elevators' punky enthusiasm) thus the single star deduction. Otherwise this is a nice look at the band in their infancy. The Elevators would soon become an aggregation of diminishing returns as their record company exploited them to the point of no return. So this is a nice slab of relatively unfettered Elevator brand proto psych and for an enthusiast, probably the way you always dreamed they sounded."