The final installment in Charly's exhaustive trove through the morass that is the 13th Floor Elevators' back catalogue, "Bull Of The Woods" is the most straightforward of the bunch. Clearly the product of a band that had lost its original vision and momentum thanks to seemingly endless drug busts, internal squabbling and record company ineptitude, it can only pale in comparison to earlier releases.
This new deluxe edition pairs the original album with its unreleased predecessor, "A Love That's Sound", which, like Buffalo Springfield's much-talked about "Stampede" project, is a collection of demos that their record company assumed was destined for official release. As there was only a stereo mix of "Bull Of The Woods" done, it's nice to have the earlier material in mono (especially considering the weak stereo mix "Bull" received). Some of the "Love" material was given spit and polish in the vocal and overdub departments during work on "Bull", which gives an insightful look into the creative process that brought on the final product.
Lead singer Roky Erickson and electric jug and self-appointed "band guru" Tommy Hall took a back seat on this one, both burned out from extended LSD use and the sheer volume of work they dedicated to the years' previous LP "Easter Everywhere". Lead guitarist Stacy Sutherland takes the reins, and the result veers away from the Elevators' earlier psychedelic eastern-modal polemics, venturing at times into "boogie" territory, then in its infancy as a rock sub-genre. Sutherland's lyrics also concern less lofty and intellectual ideals, concentrating more on the tried and true rock'n'roll subject of love. Three different bass players were also involved over both sets of sessions, including earlier member Ronnie Leatherman, who contributes the sublimely gorgeous penultimate "Bull" track "With You", faintly redolent of Sutherland's "Easter" masterpiece "Nobody To Love". Although not completely flawed as an album - considering the circumstances it was made under, it's amazing anything was put to tape - it does suffer further by having not one but two bona fide classics behind it.
As for the sound, this is one of the scarce Elevators taken from a master dub, which is, unfortunately, as good as it gets. Late single "Livin' On" is a highlight, but almost half of the songs here sound like templates for things the next decade's jam bands would soon be doing in their (and most of our) sleep.
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