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Urban Hat€monger ? · 06-15-2008, 10:06 AM

13th Floor Elevators - Live - 1968

Not really a live album but a bunch of studio out-takes with crowd noises dubbed over them put out by the record company while they waited for the band to get their shit together for what would eventually become Bull In The Woods. Although a pointless exercise the quality of the music cannot be faulted. There's a great cover of 'Before You Accuse Me' which they often played in their live show but is only available on this album , a blues song performed by a countless number of bands , I've never heard these versions but the Elevators make it sound nice & dirty. The rest of the album just sounds like what it is , a bunch of songs off the first 2 albums with obvious crowd noise dubbed. Without the crowd noise this might make an interesting bootleg hearing alternate versions of songs , but that's all this album can aspire to being .. a curiosity for fans. And on that level it still fails due to being a mock live album.

2/10

The 1900s - Plume Delivery E.P. - 2006

The 1900s are a 7 piece band from Chicago who shouldn't be confused with the piss poor British guitar band 1990s.
The band have duel folky male/female vocals much like Belle & Sebastian and a couple of the songs on this EP sound a lot like them 'A Coming Age' and 'Whole Of The Law' in particular with their lavish strings and layered vocals. It's not all like that though. The 1900s share the same 60s influences not just with Belle & Sebastian but also the likes of Stereolab too so you also get some keyboard driven lounge pop too especially with the opener 'Bring The Good Boys Home'.
The 7 minute long 'Patron Saint Of The Mediocre' is another highlight having a sound that is almost shoegazish , imagine early Blur with a female vocalist. This isn't a band just throwing out any influence they can either. All of the songs sound like natural progressions, the EP flows along effortlessly and nothing seems out of place. The EP finishes with summery 60s pop of 'Heart Props' all one minute & 18 seconds of it.
They released a full album last year called 'Cold & Kind' but i've not heard it yet. If it's half as good as this i'll be in for a treat. My opinion when I bought this 2 years ago was it's the best debut EP i've heard by a band in years. Listening to it again I still think that.

8/10
Favourite Songs - Bring The Good Boys Home (Available as a free download on Last FM) , A Coming Age , Patron Saint Of The Mediocre ,

06-15-2008, 10:06 AM	#8 (permalink)
Urban Hat€monger ? The Sexual Intellectual Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Somewhere cooler than you Posts: 18,626	13th Floor Elevators - Live - 1968 Not really a live album but a bunch of studio out-takes with crowd noises dubbed over them put out by the record company while they waited for the band to get their shit together for what would eventually become Bull In The Woods. Although a pointless exercise the quality of the music cannot be faulted. There's a great cover of 'Before You Accuse Me' which they often played in their live show but is only available on this album , a blues song performed by a countless number of bands , I've never heard these versions but the Elevators make it sound nice & dirty. The rest of the album just sounds like what it is , a bunch of songs off the first 2 albums with obvious crowd noise dubbed. Without the crowd noise this might make an interesting bootleg hearing alternate versions of songs , but that's all this album can aspire to being .. a curiosity for fans. And on that level it still fails due to being a mock live album. 2/10 The 1900s - Plume Delivery E.P. - 2006 The 1900s are a 7 piece band from Chicago who shouldn't be confused with the piss poor British guitar band 1990s. The band have duel folky male/female vocals much like Belle & Sebastian and a couple of the songs on this EP sound a lot like them 'A Coming Age' and 'Whole Of The Law' in particular with their lavish strings and layered vocals. It's not all like that though. The 1900s share the same 60s influences not just with Belle & Sebastian but also the likes of Stereolab too so you also get some keyboard driven lounge pop too especially with the opener 'Bring The Good Boys Home'. The 7 minute long 'Patron Saint Of The Mediocre' is another highlight having a sound that is almost shoegazish , imagine early Blur with a female vocalist. This isn't a band just throwing out any influence they can either. All of the songs sound like natural progressions, the EP flows along effortlessly and nothing seems out of place. The EP finishes with summery 60s pop of 'Heart Props' all one minute & 18 seconds of it. They released a full album last year called 'Cold & Kind' but i've not heard it yet. If it's half as good as this i'll be in for a treat. My opinion when I bought this 2 years ago was it's the best debut EP i've heard by a band in years. Listening to it again I still think that. 8/10 Favourite Songs - Bring The Good Boys Home (Available as a free download on Last FM) , A Coming Age , Patron Saint Of The Mediocre , __________________ Urb's RYM Stuff Most people sell their soul to the devil, but the devil sells his soul to Nick Cave.