So when do the stereotypical foibles of mismanagement, inept record labels, poor communication within the band, and vulnerability to the irresponsible influence of crazy fans, girlfriends and family members become book-worthy?
In the case of the Elevators; two factors: their unorthodox ambition (to redefine the divine and to discover new dimensions of reality) and the personal dynamic between Tommy Hall, a manipulative educated, philosophist/lyricist with minimal music skills, and Roky Erickson, an easily distracted child-like high school dropout who was the band's musically gifted frontman.
Paul Drummond digs deep into the history of the band via magazine articles and interviews with key players that were done specifically for this book.
Drugs played a significant role in the Elevators (they often recorded and performed while "playing the acid") as did Tommy Hall's esoterical "system" based on the music of Bob Dylan and The Beatles, religious texts, and formal studies of Philosophy (primarily the writings of Gurdijeff/Ouspensky and "Science and Sanity" by Alfred Korzybski).
At their best, (the Easter Everywhere LP) the Elevators' attempts at reaching higher planes of consciousness were counter-balanced by the constraints of basic folk/rock and roll structure and lifestyle (simplicity and generally being fuck-ups).
But even during the timeframe when the bands creativity was stuck in a toxic morass brought on by heroin, dmt, and romilar abuse, creative differences, troubles with the law and Roky's institutionalization, Drummond provides the necessary amount of detail and context to keep the reader turning the pages.
"Eye Mind" is one of those rare music history books that appears to be about a specific group of musicians but ends up being more than just a telling of one band's history.
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