zosodude13 Posted August 9, 2009 Share Posted August 9, 2009 Flash-The Moving Sidewalks For anyone who hasn't heard of the band, The Moving Sidewalks were a short-lived band from the Texas psychedelic scene. Their significance is this is Billy Gibbons' band before he was in ZZ Top. Their one album is a great mix of blues and psychedelic, with a touch of garage rock, but not to the extent of the Texas legends The 13th Floor Elevators. They released a hand full of singles including their biggest hit "99th Floor" (A tribute of sorts to their contemporaries The 13th Floor Elevators) as well as a trippy, sub-sonic sludge cover of "I Wanna Hold Your Hand". The band didn't have much success, but was a opening act for The Doors, The 13th Floor Elevators and The Jimi Hendrix Experience. Jimi Hendrix was a big fan of Billy, and the story is Billy taught Jimi how to play slide while they toured together. If anyone is interested in hearing their album, its pretty hard to find it. Their single album was released on CD, including their 5 singles as bonus tracks in 2001 and from the information I know, there were at most 3,000 pressings of the album at the time and it is not currently being sold in digital music stores. I was able to get the album in a swap with some friends. So if you are interested, please send me a PM and we can work something out. Youtube doesn't offer much, but I found these songs: The Moving Sidewalks- Every Night A New Surprise If anyone else knows anything else about them, or is interested by all means feel free to discuss here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jahfin Posted August 9, 2009 Share Posted August 9, 2009 The band didn't have much success, but was a opening act for The Doors, The 13th Floor Elevators and The Jimi Hendrix Experience. Jimi Hendrix was a big fan of Billy, and the story is Billy taught Jimi how to play slide while they toured together. During an appearance on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson Hendrix also named Billy Gibbons as his favorite guitarist at the time. I don't have the entire record but I do have a few Moving Sidewalks tracks that were included on the Chrome, Smoke and BBQ ZZ Top box set. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rock N' Rollin' Man Posted August 9, 2009 Share Posted August 9, 2009 Yeah its a really good album. Its been re-issued by Akarma on CD and LP. Check out the album Dead Man from another psych rock band from Houston, TX around the same time called Josefus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beatbo Posted August 10, 2009 Share Posted August 10, 2009 gibbons also told the story of he and hendrix doing some tripping and tying paintbrushes to the end of their guitars and painting the walls while they jammed.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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