Born Roger Kynard Erickson, Roky sang for the 13th Floor Elevators before going solo. Don't Slander Me should come as a revelation to those only familiar with the Elevators. Recorded during the new wave era, Slander is a rock and roll album, and quite a good one, but it was out of step with the era and found little commercial success. Fortunately, interest in Roky has grown since then and the time is ripe for a reassessment--of his music, not his mental state (notoriously precarious at the time). Roky's interest in blues and garage-rock are part of the equation, there's also some boogie-woogie here, a little surf music there. Although the Elevators never sounded particularly "Texan," the Lone Star State is stamped all over Don't Slander Me, particularly the hard-rocking title track and Buddy Holly-influenced "You Drive Me Crazy." This reissue includes three alternate takes from the original sessions.
Don't Slander Me contains everything that makes Roky the amazingly unique musician he is. From the fiery title track to the last song, this album kicks ass. Roky expresses his tender side on rock ballads such as Nothing In Return and Starry Eyes, but the high point of the album is without a doubt Burn The Flames (from the Return Of The Living Dead soundtrack), a venture into horror as only Roky could tell it. Features Jack Casady on bass.
Roky (pronounced rock-eeh) Erickson was founding member and lead singer of the pioneering psychedelic group, Thirteenth Floor Elevators. Erickson explored the far reaches of musical and personal extremes. Young musicians like Jerry Garcia, Grace Slick, and Janis Joplin jammed with the influential group. Following a nightmarish '70s mental-hospital stint that had a devastating long-term effect on his mental health, Erickson's subsequent solo work with his group The Aliens revealed a brilliant songwriter and performer whose talent was no less impressive for the fact that he was singing about zombies, vampires and aliens. The demons that abound in Roky's songs are all-too-real reflections of his own troubled psyche. The combination of the artist's oddly poetic lyrical constructions and his bracing banshee wail makes it clear that he's not kidding! Don't Slander Me and Gremlins Have Pictures, recorded late '70ís - early '80ís,document Rokyís genius.
01. Don't Slander Me
02. Haunt
03. Crazy Crazy Mama
04. Nothing in Return
05. Burn the Flames
06. Bermuda
07. You Drive Me Crazy
08. Can't Be Brought Down
09. Starry Eyes
10. Damn Thing
11. Hasn't Anyone Told You [Outtake]
12. Realize You're Mine [Outtake]
13. Haunt [Alternate Take]
Post by ChrisGoesRock
His mind may be fried, but Roky's vocal talents are relatively intact on this mid-1990s effort, which turns out be one of his more subdued, folkier outings. (About half of the tracks, however, are actually remixes of sessions from the mid-'80s.) Roky's most excessive traits are mostly absent; he sounds sort of like an eccentric, updated Buddy Holly. It's the kind of roots rock that may well please the more open-minded fans of, for instance, John Fogerty or Van Morrison, although the compositions are more pleasant than inspired. Charlie Sexton and Butthole Surfer Paul Leary make low-key session appearances; Texas singer Lou Ann Barton duets with Roky on "Starry Eyes" (reprised at the end with a version on which Roky handles all the vocals). A significant bonus, not listed on the sleeve, is "We Got Soul," the rare and fine mid-'60s single cut by Roky's first group, the Spades, before Erickson joined the 13th Floor Elevators.
