I Think of Demons for You: the Roky Erickson (solo) Thread

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hey so I didn't see anything in the archives (doesn't mean it's not there), and today I'm listening to The Evil One full-blast in my room. It gives me the chills. I love the Thirteenth Floor Elevators, but there's something about Roky's solo stuff that's more listenable to me, maybe in its blatant sci-fi creepiness and whatnot.

So, uh, my question is, what do y'all think?

― hstencil, Friday, 29 August 2003 15:22 (twenty-two years ago)

"Click Your Fingers Applauding the Play" sounds to me, lyrically, what a (good) David Lynch movie looks like.

― hstencil, Friday, 29 August 2003 15:28 (twenty-two years ago)

I agree. Roky's solo stuff is just so funky-cool-weird. I don't mean "funky" in a slap-bass sort of way, obviously. You hear it and think, This is a neat feeling sound. There should be more of this out there."

There's a double-CD out there that has all his solo stuff plus a radio interview performance. I have it and it's great. (Yeah, yeah, there's the acoustic "field recordings" when he was in the loony bin, too...)

I feel the same way about Helios Creed. Those are probably my 2 favorite musicians at the moment.

― Scaredy Cat, Friday, 29 August 2003 15:35 (twenty-two years ago)

i so need a copy of "the evil one". keep on forgetting. is it very hard to find? out of print i imagine.

― kephm, Friday, 29 August 2003 16:53 (twenty-two years ago)

I think it might be on this double CD that Scaredy Cat mentions.

― hstencil, Friday, 29 August 2003 16:56 (twenty-two years ago)

that makes sense-thanks /dense

― kephm, Friday, 29 August 2003 17:27 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh, I'm stupid. It's not everything he's done. I forget that he's done a bunch of other stuff, even semi-recently.

The Evil One is basically packaged along with a second disc:

Disc: 1

1. Two Headed Dog (Red Temple Prayer)
2. I Think of Demons
3. Creature With the Atom Brain
4. Wind and More
5. Don't Shake Me Lucifer
6. Bloody Hammer
7. Stand for the Fire Demon
8. Click Your Fingers Applauding the Play
9. If You Have Ghosts
10. I Walked With a Zombie
11. Night of the Vampire
12. It's a Cold Night for Alligators
13. Mine Mine Mind
14. Sputnik
15. White Faces
Disc: 2

1. Click Your Fingers Applauding the Play
2. Modern Humans Show
3. It's a Cold Night for Alligators
4. Modern Humans Show
5. Creature With the Atom Brain
6. Modern Humans Show
7. Night of the Vampire
8. Modern Humans Show
9. White Faces
10. Bloody Hammer
11. Modern Humans Show
12. Sputnik
13. Two Headed Dog (Red Temple Prayer)
14. Modern Humans Show
15. Modern Humans Show
16. Modern Humans Show
17. Modern Humans Show
18. Mine Mine Mind
19. Modern Humans Show
20. I Walked With a Zombie
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Editorial Reviews
Album Description
There are many Roky Erickson albums, but The Evil One originally released by CBS Records in Europe in 1980 was the first of them and, many would say the best. This re-issue features 35 tracks including 20 on disc two from The Modern Humans Show August 20, 1979 KSJO Radio.

― Scaredy Cat, Friday, 29 August 2003 18:37 (twenty-two years ago)

roky is my favourite singer & favourite lyric writer in all of rocknroll! pretty much.

― duane, Saturday, 30 August 2003 00:05 (twenty-two years ago)

the evil one is a great album but way too cleanly produced.I saw Roky play several times in the late 70's & it was an unholy marriage of Black Sabbath & CCR.If you listen closely to Bloody Hammer on The Evil One you can hear Roky's rhythm guitar mixed way in the back.Live that sound was on stun volume & the rest of the band just played the songs as fast as they could to keep up.Really mindblowing to witness.Sadly there is little if any recorded evidence of this.Still great songs & memories to be had from the album.There is a semi official Roky cd called Reverend of Karmic Youth which has a partial performance from Rock Island in Houston when he was playing with the Explosives.It's worth seeking out for blistering versions of Night of the Vampire,Stand for the Fire Demon,Bloody Hammer among others.
Speaking of Helios Creed the new album is awesome.Saw him in concert a couple weeks ago & he still can crank up a guitar freakout fest

― evan chronister (evan chronister), Saturday, 30 August 2003 02:48 (twenty-two years ago)

The Evil One, Gremlins Have Pictures, Those Who May Do My Rhyme - these are all great. 'The Interpreter' never fails to raise goosbumps on your's truly. However, I do not fell anything Roky has done solo is better than the Elevators' 'Easter Everywhere'.

― John Bullabaugh (John Bullabaugh), Saturday, 30 August 2003 02:51 (twenty-two years ago)

"If You Have Ghosts" is one of my favorite rock songs by anyone evah!

― Andrew Frye (paul cox), Saturday, 30 August 2003 02:52 (twenty-two years ago)

If you ever see two people walking down the street and there seems to be just enough room between them for another person and you see a faint image of the other person in there and he or she looks a lot like the person on the right and a bit like the person on the left but, floating above, there's this huge grey thing with lots of sprouts and streams coming out of it, you're probably a Roky fan.

― Dock Miles (Dock Miles), Saturday, 30 August 2003 06:52 (twenty-two years ago)

I saw Roky play several times in the late 70's

whoa dawg....me = jealous jealous jealous!

There is a semi official Roky cd called Reverend of Karmic Youth which has a partial performance from Rock Island in Houston when he was playing with the Explosives.

yeah my sister has that shit it is really great.....i've heard a bunch of different live records from late 70s/80s with versions of all the "evil one"/"5 runes" stuff & sounds like as you say, those songs were better live......the studio versions are still pretty fantastic tho...."scream out for murder, scream out for hate, when you click your fingers applauding the play!" - i luv roky more than i can explain, his voice makes hairs stand up in places i havent even got hair

― doorag, Saturday, 30 August 2003 10:08 (twenty-two years ago)

"All That May Do My Rhyme" that came out on Trance Syndicate in the mid 90s is a great record that was put together with some care.

I've got it and the "You're Gonna Miss Me" collection. Everything else I have come across seems pretty ragged, but that new collection looks pretty good.

― earlnash, Saturday, 30 August 2003 14:54 (twenty-two years ago)

"If You Have Ghosts" is one of my favorite rock songs by anyone evah!

yes indeedy. John Wesley Harding does a version on that Roky tribute album that I enjoy greatly. I forget what it's called but it has Primal Scream doing "Slip Inside This House" also.

― Donna Brown (Donna Brown), Saturday, 30 August 2003 18:03 (twenty-two years ago)

Roky is criminally underappreciated these days. "I think of Demons" makes me want to break stuff & set it on fire, it's so good. Don't forget "Don't Slander Me."

― sucka (sucka), Saturday, 30 August 2003 18:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Roky is criminally unknown by lots of younger people. "I think of Demons" makes me want to break stuff & set it on fire, it's so good. Don't forget "Don't Slander Me."

― sucka (sucka), Saturday, 30 August 2003 18:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Dammit.

― sucka (sucka), Saturday, 30 August 2003 18:09 (twenty-two years ago)

four months pass...

Just want to say that Evil One (discs 1 & 2), Demon Angel, and an album with Evilhook Wildlife are all available on EMusic. (as well as Jad Fair/Daniel Johnston "I Met Roky Erickson", and various covers on Sympathy for the Record Industry collections).

― Mike Culpepper, Tuesday, 27 January 2004 01:33 (twenty-two years ago)

ten months pass...

...on "I Walked With A Zombie" Roky sounds exactly, but exactly, like Mick Jagger.
...or maybe i should say he sounds exactly like the honkytonk demon that Jagger tries for when he affects that american twang...

― m0stly clean (m0stly clean), Friday, 3 December 2004 03:13 (twenty-one years ago)

In STAIRWAY TO HELL, Chuck Eddy greatly prefers the CBS UK version to the domestic (on 415 Records). The latter's prob the "too clean" version Evan mentions expost. That's what I've got, but crank it up loud enough and it ain't too clean. YOU'RE GONNA MISS ME: THE BEST OF, also mentioned above, is a great collection. The first couple of Elevators albums (haven't heard the others). And the tribute album, WHERE THE PYRAMID MEETS THE EYE, with ZZ Top, R.E.M., etc. is one I used to like, though can't find my copy now. AllMusic's dicumented his recordings pretty thoroughly; nowadays, I find it easier to access them via the Barnes & Noble site, bn.com (watch for that tiny link:"other titles featuring this artist"). Or if I do an Advanced Search on Google, and put in the domain name as well as Exact Phrase (like title or artist name), can get past AllMusic's still-erratic hime page and gen. pootiness.

― don, Friday, 3 December 2004 04:42 (twenty-one years ago)

i looove gremlins have pictures, especially the acoustic stuff, and especially the unfathomably weird, haunting and great "anthem (i promise)," in which roky makes a big point of satan's arrival on earth on may 9, 1976, and in which he promises his green and blue eyes to you. it's unclear if he means you, satan, or you, christ (who also figures in the song), or you, the earthly apple of roky's eye.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Friday, 3 December 2004 04:49 (twenty-one years ago)

what song do zz top cover?

― m0stly clean (m0stly clean), Friday, 3 December 2004 04:55 (twenty-one years ago)

what's "don't slander me" from? that's the shit right there. "the blues themselves are not excused" is such a great line, the way he sings it anyway. and i love the weird new wavey shit too - "starry eyes" is like telstar crossed with "echo beach"

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Friday, 3 December 2004 05:05 (twenty-one years ago)

Two headed dog
Two headed dog
I've been working in the Kremlin with a two-headed dog.

I've got the same birthday as this dude, but even if I didn't I'd still like him, for writing lines like these.

― Ken L (Ken L), Friday, 3 December 2004 05:13 (twenty-one years ago)

"don't slander me" is on several records, and there are at least a couple different recordings of it if i'm not mistaken. i've got it on a fab 7-inch with "starry eyes" on the other side, and on the clear night for love ep, which has both of those songs and a few others including the beautifully sad folk-pop song "you don't love me yet," which is yet another solid entry in the roky-channeling-fogerty category.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Friday, 3 December 2004 05:15 (twenty-one years ago)

I usually sing that:

I've been working with a gremlin and two-headed dog.

It makes me laugh.

― Tom Tilden, Friday, 3 December 2004 05:15 (twenty-one years ago)

I've seen him perform in Austin. He gets distracted between songs and maybe forgets where he is and the musicians have to gently tell him to go back to the mic. Sounds like it might be creepy but actually it's totally benign and he sounds real good. This was seven years ago, so I don't know what he's doing now.

― Ken L (Ken L), Friday, 3 December 2004 05:24 (twenty-one years ago)

Xpost on WHERE THE PYRAMID, ZZ covers "Reverbration(Doubt)." I blanked on the title, went to bn.com, so naturally, since I just recommended them, they messed up. Only way I coud find "ZZ Top" was to go for album title and click on the link from their name, to find all the other albums they've been on. But you can listen to samples of this tribute album. The review indicates it's fairly uneven, which is also how I remember it (but only paid couple dollars for the Used, and the ZZ, R.E.M., Doug Sahm, and a couple other tracks were well worth that!)

― don, Friday, 3 December 2004 05:26 (twenty-one years ago)

five years pass...

NEW STUFF!!!

Legendary musician Roky Erickson triumphantly returns on April 20th with the Anti Record's release True Love Cast Out All Evil his first new album in fourteen years. Produced by Will Sheff and featuring his band Okkervil River backing Erickson, the record is comprised largely of unreleased songs that Austin, Texas native Erickson wrote throughout his decades-long career - detailing with heart-breaking candor a harrowing life that has included shock treatment, imprisonment, mental illness, and irreversible loss. With a wisdom that can only be marshaled by someone who has been through all of the this, Erickson also interjects the songs with love, hope, and spiritual grace.

While True Love Cast Out All Evil echoes the many musical styles in which Erickson has been a participant or a pioneer - including garage-rock, lo-fi psych, heavy metal, and country-tinged Texas folk - it also moves Erickson into new territory, foregrounding his songwriting skill. In these songs, Erickson addresses his troubled history in his own words, eschewing the metaphors of earlier songs like "I Walked with a Zombie" to speak directly about hardship and the lessons learned from it. Will Sheff's production highlights the songs while interweaving them with found-sound and archival recordings culled from Erickson's home videos and recordings made in the Rusk State Hospital for the Criminally Insane.

― julio caeser soze (M@tt He1ges0n), Monday, 22 February 2010 23:30 (sixteen years ago)

"I think of Demons" makes me want to break stuff & set it on fire, it's so good.

― 69, Monday, 22 February 2010 23:42 (sixteen years ago)

has anyone got that roky lyrics book from the mid-90s??

― eau de humanity (haitch), Monday, 22 February 2010 23:49 (sixteen years ago)

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