First.......... a little (personal) background on this LP before I get into the meat of this post. Then you will possibly be able to understand my obsessive/compulsive about this release a little bit better...........
There are 3 significant points in my life that intersect w/ this release.
The first one being that I was a loner growing up. I had great difficulty relating to other kids & therefore was quiet & withdrawn. This seemed to attract more people then pushed away though as now that I look back I realize that even though I wanted nothing more then to be left alone I never was. There was constant family conflict......... nothing I could rectify as a youth so I took the only option I had available. For months at a time I would not go home. Unusually (from what I understand) I would still go to school (enough to pass) & I even participated in after school activities such as soccer & worked in a haunted house for a season. Anyway I had a very close friend at that time named Ray. Ray would hide me in his attic until his mom left for work (night shift nurse). Then he would wake me (every single time) by playing Fire Engine at top volume. No matter how fucked up I was when I fell asleep we'd get up & pump more into our bloodstreams & head out for a spell. Waking up to Fire Engine every day for months on end is the first part of this puzzle.........
Fire Engine.mp3
The second is after I was sent away to a reform school in Ohio I got a job at The Record Exchange. I was there for the next 15 years. When I first started there were 2 managers who would just constantly fill my head w/ knowledge. One was Vicki who gave me an appreciation for jazz & classical even some world music. Then there was Terry. Terry was eccentric. Terry was odd. Terry was Terry. We had both found out that we grew up in the same area of Ohio under the same circumstances & this created a very strong bond for me. After work Terry would take me down to the basement where we kept the overstock LP's (new & used) & just pull 10 LP's out at a tme & tell me to go listen to them. They were always good. From Caravan to The Dead Boys to The Blue Orchids. He would also make me cassettes. (It was one of his cassettes that played a part in point 3.) One cassette in particular had The 13th Floor Elevators - The Psychedelic Sounds of.... on one side & on the other was The first LP by The Silver Apples. This was the first time I had heard the LP all the way through & not just one song. This is the second piece...........
You're Gonna Miss Me.mp3
The third piece is when in college I had a roommate named Dave. Dave was a drunk. I remember carrying him over my shoulder 3 flights up just to have him puke beer down my back. Anyway........... first week of school. No one is talking, just co-existing. Barely a hello let alone any conversation. I was reading Camus The Stranger on the bottom bunk. Dave got down from the top bunk & put a CD in. It Was Spacemen 3 The Perfect Prescription. He tracks up Rollercoaster & presses play. Then gets back up to his bunk. Halfway in I realize I am singing along but don't know why. Dave climbs back down & catches me singing to it. "Oh.....you like Spacemen 3?" "No......actually it's a 13th Floor Elevators song.........." Out comes the cassette & we compare the 2 groups the rest of the night.
Rollercoaster.mp3
As you can read all 3 moments stand out strongly in my mind. All 3 moments deal w/ one record. The 13th Floor Elevators - The Psychedelic Sounds of The 13th Floor Elevators.
So over the years I have collected Their LP's & CD's. Read books about them & found cool stuff in their solo records, their influences & their contemporaries. But only until recently did I come to find that there were different mixes of this LP. Now I knew there were Mono mixes & Stereo mixes as the Stereo mix was the common one out on CD & there was bootleg Mono mixes floating around on LP. What I mean by different mixes in this instance is this recording has separate mixes for LP, 8-Track & CD. Yes, 8-Track!!!! Now this led me into a whole new category of OCDness. I had to hear all 3 mixes.
Thankfully there is a Google trade group called Texas Psyche (see also Texas Psyche Ranch for their online pressence) that had the resources & time to compile the LP & 8-Track mixes onto CD-R's & make available for trade. From what I understand they were allowed to issue such recordings under the promise that if you received a disc that you send $3.00 per disc to Sumner Erickson for The Roger Kynard Erickson Trust to help w/ Roky's medical expenses. This was back in the late 90's. That right has since been revoked due to a program called Bit Torrent which makes it possible to download a copy & it not be traceable as to who owes how much. (Not that anyone ever sent money anyway........ but this was the reason given as to why there are no more trades on these discs.) Now you have to find them on torrent sites such as Demonoid which actually makes it a lot easier to get copies of them as it seems like they are posted constantly.
Here is the front & back covers for the CD-R releases for the LP & 8-Track release. They made them 2 on 1's. The Psychedelic Sounds of... & Live (which isn't actually live but a collection of single releases w/ the live chatter from a Beach Boys LP lifted off & laid over the fade in's & out's) on one disc.
LP-front
LP-back
8-Track-front
8-Track back
& here is Easter Everywhere & Bull of the Woods.
LP-front
LP-back
8-Track-front
8-Track back
& now the final part of all this. I have selected She Lives (In A Time Of Her Own) to post all 3 mixes of as an example of what I mean. I think it is a good choice as it has background vocals & subtle instrumentation. Listen for the balance of instruments (what's higher & lower in the mix) & how the background vocals stand out or retreat back depending on the mix.
LP-She Lives (In A Time Of Her Own).mp3
8-Track-She Lives (In A Time Of Her Own).mp3
CD- She Lives (In A Time Of Her Own).mp3
Correction. It appears that you still can get the CD-R's through trades w/ Texas Psyche..........
but it also appears that they are not too active anymore as a group per see. To me, it looks like they just issue fan club discs now & post on Bit Torrent sites themselves........... much like the Syd Barrett "Have You Got It Yet" series.............. but that's for another post..........
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