In our first day of Round 2, The Misunderstood of the So Cal Region went through New York champions, The Blues Magoos, like a hot knife through butter. The Misunderstand now move on to the top three and await their next opponent. Misunderstood no more.
Day 2 of the second round pits two epic records against each other (after 10 months of doing this, they better all be epic at this point!).
From the highly competitive Texas region we have The 13th Floor Elevators with their debut single, You're Gonna Miss Me c/w Tried To Hide. The single was released, first on the local label, Contact and then on International Artist records in early 1966.
The Sonics are representing the birthplace of American garage records, The Pacific Northwest. They are putting forth with their 5th single, released in the Fall of 1965 on Etiquette Records. We have the original Cinderella on the a-side and Louie Louie on the flip-side.
Go forth judges. Look at both sides of the single and make your call. We don't envy your task.
Until next time, we'll see you On The Flip-Side!
Very tough indeed. Both were revolutionary in their own way. But I'm going with psych-punk over frat-punk today.
ReplyDeleteI cast my vote for The Elevators.
Two absolutely monster records. It hurts to vote one down, but it has to be the Elevators for me in this battle.
ReplyDeleteAHHHHH, I think my head is going to explode! Sonics or the Elevators? Sonics or the Elevators? .... one man or a garage band? OK, that did it, the Sonics are my choice.
ReplyDeleteOne man!?? Stacy? Tommy?...
DeleteJohn Ike!
DeleteHim too! All of em!
DeleteI'm going with the 13th Floor Elevators. Agreed that both 45s are monsters so I'll have to rationalize this away. The Sonics do straight up rock 'n roll better than any other band I've ever heard, and their originals are awesome - full of energy but not derivative. They do lack the psychedelic experimentation that we see in the Elevators, so I'll choose the Texans for their use of dynamics and jug and slightly more adventurous sound. I know I risk going to hell for voting against the Sonics but if that's the case I'll see some of you there.
ReplyDeleteWell put!
ReplyDeleteI'll echo Mike Stax here. It hurts to kick one of these fine records to the proverbial curb. But that is what we are doing here this week.
ReplyDeleteAlas I will go with the 13th Floor Elevators. Really for all the reasons that our PNW area judge, Steve Lafolette, articulated so well while voting against his own region's interest. The Elevators have so much going on in You're Gonna Miss Me with the jug, the countryesque guitar, Roky's howling vocals all to create a whole new sound. And the bridge never fails to make my internal metronome start ticking.
The 13th Floor Elevators over a true love of mine, The Sonics.
You might think since I already kicked the Sonics to the curb in favor of the moody, eccentric Phil and the Frantics, that it would come easy this time around with the Elevators doing battle. Not true. I love this release on Etiquette. It has some of the most rawsome sounds around. And their reinterpretation of Louie Louie inspires me (really, you're going to change the chord progression altogether??!). In fact, I love it so much, it's one of the first things I taught my son on piano, the Sonic's version of Louie Louie! But we have a hard choice here. And I’ve grown to consider You’re Gonna Miss Me as a masterpiece. Like a masterpiece, it just keeps giving, even when I’m not listening to it. So, I’m gonna give some love back. Elevators.
ReplyDeleteTwo very different bands. Tough to pick. I vote 13th Floor Elevators, because You're Gonna Miss Me is one of my favorite songs, and is so awesome in uniqueness.
ReplyDelete