Where the Pyramid Meets the Eye | |
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Compilation album by various artists | |
Released | October 31, 1990 [1] |
Recorded | 1990 |
Genre | Rock |
Label | Sire |
Producer | Bill Bentley |
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Where the Pyramid Meets the Eye is a 1990 tribute album to singer-songwriter Roky Erickson, founder of the 13th Floor Elevators and solo artist, whose career was subject to significant periods of challenge from schizophrenia. The album was released by Sire Records in the United States, and by WEA International in Europe. [3] The album was produced by Bill Bentley, who also produced a 1999 tribute album to Moby Grape co-founder Skip Spence, [4] who, like Erickson, was subject to the challenges of schizophrenia. The album's title is said to be Erickson's definition of psychedelic music. [5]
The album was produced with the intention of raising money for Erickson and exposing his music to a wider audience.
In 2017, 2000 copies of a two-LP edition of the album were released exclusively for Record Store Day 2017, which marked its first appearance on vinyl. [6]
The bands on the compilation were a mix of Austin, Texas musicians, Erickson fans or associates, and groups on the roster of major labels Warner Bros. and Sire. Due to the maximum-length difference between compact discs, cassettes, and LPs, several songs had to be left off the original CD release, but were included on the cassette and LP versions: The Mighty Lemon Drops' "Splash #1", Lyres' "We Sell Soul," and Angry Samoans' "White Faces." R.E.M. appears twice: Credited under the band's real name on "I Walked With a Zombie," and under the alias "Vibrating Egg," with their manager Jefferson Holt on vocals, for the song "Bermuda." [7]
Stu Cook, a bassist of the country-rock band Southern Pacific, which covered "It's a Cold Night For Alligators" for the tribute album, had produced more than a dozen of Erickson's songs in 1979, which became Erickson's album The Evil One . [7]
AllMusic reviewer Mark Deming wrote that "there are several moments of very real beauty and power here, especially from the artists who share Erickson's Texas heritage — Doug Sahm and ZZ Top rock out on their contributions, the Butthole Surfers' version of 'Earthquake' is one of their finest moments on wax, and T-Bone Burnett's take on 'Nothing in Return' is a heart-tugging gem." [2] Joe Nick Patoski of Texas Monthly called it "the best rock and roll album I've heard in years," praising the musicians' "unbridled passion" for Erickson's songwriting. [8] The Rolling Stone Album Guide called the album "an eloquent tribute to the enduring strength of Erickson's songwriting." [9]
Tracks 19–21 appear only on the original cassette release and the 2017 double LP reissue.
The 13th Floor Elevators was an American rock band from Austin, Texas, United States, formed by guitarist and vocalist Roky Erickson, electric jug player Tommy Hall, and guitarist Stacy Sutherland. The band was together from 1965 to 1969, and during that period released four albums and seven singles for the International Artists record label.
Roger Kynard "Roky" Erickson was an American musician and singer-songwriter. He was a founding member and the leader of the 13th Floor Elevators and a pioneer of the psychedelic rock genre.
Butthole Surfers is an American rock band formed in San Antonio, Texas, by singer Gibby Haynes and guitarist Paul Leary in 1981. The band has had numerous personnel changes, but its core lineup of Haynes, Leary, and drummer King Coffey has been consistent since 1983. Teresa Nervosa served as second drummer from 1983 to 1985, 1986 to 1989, and 2009. The band has also employed a variety of bass players, most notably Jeff Pinkus.
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Trance Syndicate was an independent record label founded in 1990 by King Coffey, drummer of Austin, Texas band the Butthole Surfers. Its first release was Crust's The Sacred Heart of Crust EP. From 1990 to 1999, when the label closed down, Trance Syndicate released albums by several notable Texan bands and artists, including Pain Teens, Bedhead, Ed Hall, American Analog Set, Furry Things, …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead and Roky Erickson.
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Douglas Wayne Sahm was an American musician, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist born in San Antonio, Texas. Sahm is regarded as one of the main figures of Tex-Mex music, and as an important performer of Texan Music. He gained fame along with his band, the Sir Douglas Quintet, with a top-twenty hit in the United States and the United Kingdom with "She's About a Mover" (1965). Sahm was influenced by the San Antonio music scene that included conjunto and blues, and later by the hippie scene of San Francisco. With his blend of music, he found success performing in Austin, Texas, as the hippie counterculture soared in the 1970s.
Live PCPPEP is a live EP and first official live album by American punk band Butthole Surfers, released in September 1984. All songs were written by the Butthole Surfers, and recorded live at The Meridian in San Antonio, Texas, on March 25, 1984.
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Southern Pacific was an American country rock band that existed from 1983 to 1991. They are best known for hits such as "Any Way the Wind Blows" (1989), which was used in the soundtrack for the film Pink Cadillac starring Clint Eastwood and Bernadette Peters, and "New Shade of Blue". Southern Pacific was named New Country Group of the Year when they debuted and have been honored by having their name added to the Country Music Association's Walkway of Stars in Nashville, Tennessee.
Lynn Perko-Truell is an American musician, best known as the drummer, bass guitarist, and co-singer for the San Francisco indie rock band Imperial Teen. She is also known as the drummer for the San Francisco-based blues grunge band Sister Double Happiness, and the San Francisco version of the hardcore punk band The Dicks. Perko-Truell was an iconic figure and a pioneering female in the American hardcore punk and alternative rock movements of the 1980s and 1990s and remains active.
Native Son is the first studio album by American alternative rock band the Judybats, released in 1991 by Sire Records. The title track peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart.
More Oar: A Tribute to the Skip Spence Album is a 1999 tribute album completed shortly before and released shortly after the death of Moby Grape founding member Skip Spence. The album contains cover versions by various artists of Spence's music from his Oar album, released in 1969, presented in the same order as on the original album. The album also contains a hidden bonus track of Spence's last known recording, "Land of the Sun", which was originally commissioned for the X-Files soundtrack, Songs in the Key of X, but not used.
Bill Bentley is an American music industry executive, particularly notable for having produced tribute albums of the music of significant cult artists Roky Erickson (1990), Skip Spence (1999), Doug Sahm (2009) and Lou Reed, in addition to other recording projects.
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Shandon Sahm is an American drummer, who is a native of San Antonio, Texas and is best known for his two stints as the drummer of the Meat Puppets, from 1999–2002 and 2009–2018.
The Evil One is a 1981 debut album by American psychedelic rock singer Roky Erickson with his band the Aliens, after his time with the band 13th Floor Elevators. The songs were recorded in 1979 with producer Stu Cook, former bass player of Creedence Clearwater Revival. Some material from those sessions was also released on the 1980 CBS UK album Roky Erickson and the Aliens. Cook played bass on two tracks, "Sputnik" and "Bloody Hammer."
May the Circle Remain Unbroken: A Tribute to Roky Erickson is an album by various artists, released July 17, 2021, on indie record label Light in the Attic. It is the first posthumous tribute album for Erickson and is produced by Bill Bentley, who also assembled the 1990 Erickson tribute album Where the Pyramid Meets the Eye for Sire Records.
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