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PREMESSA: LA SUPERIORITA’ DELLA MUSICA SU VINILE E’ ANCOR OGGI SANCITA, NOTORIA ED EVIDENTE. NON TANTO DA UN PUNTO DI VISTA DI RESA, QUALITA’ E PULIZIA DEL SUONO, TANTOMENO DA QUELLO DEL RIMPIANTO RETROSPETTIVO E NOSTALGICO , MA SOPRATTUTTO DA QUELLO PIU’ PALPABILE ED INOPPUGNABILE DELL’ ESSENZA, DELL’ ANIMA E DELLA SUBLIMAZIONE CREATIVA. IL DISCO IN VINILE HA PULSAZIONE ARTISTICA, PASSIONE ARMONICA E SPLENDORE GRAFICO , E’ PIACEVOLE DA OSSERVARE E DA TENERE IN MANO, RISPLENDE, PROFUMA E VIBRA DI VITA, DI EMOZIONE E  DI SENSIBILITA’. E’ TUTTO QUELLO CHE NON E’ E NON POTRA’ MAI ESSERE IL CD, CHE AL CONTRARIO E’ SOLO UN OGGETTO MERAMENTE COMMERCIALE, POVERO, ARIDO, CINICO, STERILE ED ORWELLIANO,  UNA DEGENERAZIONE INDUSTRIALE SCHIZOFRENICA E NECROFILA, LA DESOLANTE SOLUZIONE FINALE DELL’ AVIDITA’ DEL MERCATO E DELL’ ARROGANZA DEI DISCOGRAFICI .

ROKY ERICKSON
live at ritz 1987

Disco LP 33 giri , 1988, fan club records , FC 046,  France, red vinyl

OTTIME CONDIZIONI, vinyl ex++/NM , cover ex++.

Roger Kynard Erickson , meglio noto come Roky Erickson (Texas, 15 luglio 1947) è un cantante, compositore, chitarrista e armonicista statunitense, membro fondatore dei 13th Floor Elevators.

• Etichetta: Fan Club
• Catalogo: FC 046   NR 335
• Data di pubblicazione: 1988

• Supporto:vinile 33 giri
• Tipo audio: stereo
• Dimensioni: 30 cm.
• Facciate: 2
• Original picture inner sleeve, red vinyl

Live At The Ritz 1987,  despite its bootleggish fidelity, boasts
a ferocious performance. This document of an Austin show, which begins
with ‘You’re Gonna Miss Me’ and runs through ‘Bloody Hammer’ has
bracing guitar work by Will Sexton and is worth hearing, especially for
the incidental stage remarks.

Bootleg “ufficiale” francese su vinile color rosso mestruo come il berretto frigio dei sanculotti e come il sangue che sgorgava a fiotti dalle teste ghigliottinate di nobili e aristocratici,  contiene la registrazione abbastanza decente di un imponente show live tutto texano, dalla location ai performers ai tecnici alla crew fino al personale addetto alle pulizie, che celebra il ritorno di Roky Erickson sulla ribalta della psichedelia rock con un sound particolarmente elettrico, epidermico e nervoso

Tracce

Personnel

Rocky Erickson – lead Vocals and Guitar

Will Sexton – Guitar
Chris Holyhaus – Guitar
Freddie Krc – Drums
Cam King – Guitar

Roky Erickson (born Roger Kynard Erickson on July 15, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter, harmonica player and guitarist from Texas. He was a founding member of the 13th Floor Elevators and pioneer of the psychedelic rock genre.

Roky Erickson performing at the 2007 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival

Biography

Early life and career

Erickson was interested in music from his youth: he played piano from age 5 and took up guitar at 12. He attended school in Austin and dropped out of Travis High School in 1965, one month before graduating, rather than cut his hair to conform to the school dress code. His first notable group was The Spades, who scored a regional hit with Erickson’s song “We Sell Soul“; this song is included on the compilation album Highs in the Mid-Sixties, Volume 17 (although the songwriter is identified as Emil Schwartze on the track listing on this album).

13th Floor Elevators years

Main article: 13th Floor Elevators

Erickson co-founded the 13th Floor Elevators in late 1965. He and bandmate Tommy Hall were the main songwriters. Early in her career, singer Janis Joplin considered joining the Elevators, but Family Dog’s Chet Helms persuaded her to go to San Francisco, California instead, where she found major fame.

In 1966 (Erickson was 19 years old) the band released their debut album The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators. Psychedelic Sounds
had the band’s only charting single, Erickson’s “You’re Gonna Miss Me.”
A stinging post-romantic breakup song, the single remains probably
Erickson’s best-known work: it was a major hit on local charts in the
U.S. southwest, and appeared at lower position on national singles
charts as well. Critic Mark Deming writes that “If Roky Erickson had vanished from the face of the earth after The 13th Floor Elevators released their epochal debut single, ‘You’re Gonna Miss Me,’ in early 1966, in all likelihood he’d still be regarded as a legend among garage rock fanatics for his primal vocal wailing and feral harmonica work.”

In 1967, the band followed up with Easter Everywhere, perhaps the band’s most focused effort, featuring the epic track “Slip Inside This House“, and a noted cover of Bob Dylan‘s “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue.”

After the band’s third album, Live, which featured audience applause dubbed over studio recordings of cover versions and older material, The 13th Floor Elevators released their fourth and final album Bull of the Woods in 1968. Due to Erickson’s health and legal problems, his contribution to the album is limited, with guitarist Stacy Sutherland taking more of a leading role.

Mental illness and legal problems

In 1968, while doing a stint at Hemisfair, Erickson started speaking nonsense. He was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and sent to a Houston psychiatric hospital, where he involuntarily received electroconvulsive therapy.

The Elevators were vocal proponents of mescaline (peyote), LSD, and marijuana use, and were subject to extra attention from police. In 1969, Erickson was arrested for possession of one marijuana joint in Austin. Facing a ten-year prison term, Erickson pled not guilty by reason of insanity. He was first sent to the Austin State Hospital. After several escapes, he was sent to the Rusk State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, where he was subjected to more electroconvulsive therapy and Thorazine treatments, ultimately remaining in custody until 1972.

Bleib Alien years

When released from the state hospital, Erickson’s mental outlook had changed. In 1974, he formed a new band which he called Bleib Alien, Bleib being an anagram of Bible and/or German
for Stay, and “Alien” being a pun on the German word “Allein” (“alone”)
– the phrase in German therefore being “Remain alone”. His new band
exchanged the psychedelic sounds of The 13th Floor Elevators for a more heavy metal sound that featured lyrics on old horror film and science fiction themes. “Two Headed Dog (Red Temple Prayer)” (produced by The Sir Douglas Quintet‘s Doug Sahm) was released as a single.

The new band renamed itself Roky Erickson and the Aliens. In 1979, Erickson recorded 15 new songs with producer Stu Cook, former bass player of Creedence Clearwater Revival.
These efforts were released in two “overlapping” LPs – TEO/CBS UK, and
The Evil One/415 records. Cook also played bass on two tracks,
“Sputnik” and “Bloody Hammer.” Roky also performed with The Nervebreakers as his backup band at The Palladium in Dallas in 1979. A recording was issued on the French label New Rose and was recently re-issued elsewhere. In 1982, Erickson asserted that a Martian
had inhabited his body. He later reported to friends that aliens were
coming to Earth to harm him, and asked a Notary Public to witness an
official declaration that he was himself an alien, hoping that this
would convince the aliens to leave him alone.

Creative decline and renewed interest

In an unmedicated state, Erickson began a years-long obsession with
the mail, often spending hours poring over random junk mail, writing to
solicitors and celebrities (dead or living). He was arrested in 1989 on
charges of mail theft. Erickson picked up mail from neighbors who had
moved and taped it to the walls of his room. He insisted that he never
opened any of the mail, and the charges were ultimately dropped.

Several live albums of his older material have been released since then, and in 1990 Sire Records/Warner Bros. Records released a tribute album, Where The Pyramid Meets The Eye produced by WB executive Bill Bentley. It featured versions of Erickson’s songs performed by The Jesus and Mary Chain, R.E.M., ZZ Top, Julian Cope, Bongwater, John Wesley Harding, Doug Sahm and Primal Scream.
According to the liner notes, the title of the album came from a remark
Erickson made to a friend who asked him to define psychedelic music, to
which Erickson reportedly replied “It’s where the pyramid meets the
eye, man!” (the quote is also a reference to the Eye of Providence).

Return to music

Roky Erickson and the Explosives play at the 2007 Bumbershoot festival.

In 1995, Erickson released All That May Do My Rhyme on Butthole Surfers drummer King Coffey‘s label Trance Syndicate Records. Produced by Texas Tornado bassist Speedy Sparks, Austin recording legend Stuart Sullivan and Texas Music Office director Casey Monahan, the release coincided with the publication of Openers II, a complete collection of Erickson’s lyrics. Published by Henry Rollins‘s 2.13.61 Publications, it was compiled and edited by Casey Monahan with assistance from Rollins and Erickson’s youngest brother Sumner Erickson, a classical tuba player.

Sumner was granted legal custody of Roky in 2001, and established a
legal trust to aid his brother. As a result, Roky received some of the
most effective medical and legal aid of his life, the latter useful in
helping sort out the complicated tangle of contracts, which had reduced
royalty payments to all but nothing for his recorded works. He also started taking medication to control his schizophrenia.

A documentary film on the life of Roky Erickson titled You’re Gonna Miss Me was made by director Keven McAlester and screened at the 2005 SXSW film festival. In September of the same year, Erickson performed his first full-length concert in 20 years at the annual Austin City Limits Music Festival with The Explosives.

In the December 30, 2005 issue of the Austin Chronicle, an alternative weekly newspaper in Austin, Texas, Margaret Moser
brings up to date the story of Erickson’s recovery with the aid of his
brother Sumner. According to the article, Roky weaned himself off his
medication, played at 11 gigs in Austin that year, obtained a driver’s
license, owns a car (a Volvo), voted the previous year, and planned to do more concerts with The Explosives in 2006.

In 2007, Erickson played his first ever gigs in New York City, as well as California‘s Coachella Festival and made a stunning debut performance in England to a capacity audience at the Royal Festival Hall, London. Roky continued to play in Europe, performing for the first time in Finland at Ruisrock festival. According to the article in Helsingin Sanomat 8 June 2007, the performance was widely considered the highlight of the festival day.

According to an interview on Sound Opinions on Chicago Public Radio with You’re Gonna Miss Me director Kevin McAlester (7/24/07), Erickson is currently working on a new album with Billy Gibbons, singer and guitarist of ZZ Top, and a longtime admirer of Erickson; Gibbons’ earlier band The Moving Sidewalks had a hit with “99th floor”, which was a tribute of sorts to the Elevators.

O

In 8th September 2008, Scottish post-rock band Mogwai released the ‘The Batcat EP’. Erickson is featured on one of the tracks, ‘Devil Rides’.

Roky Erickson : Un Buddy Holly venuto da Marte!
Finalmente è stato ristampato Don’t Slander Me, il mitico disco di Roky Erickson che era ormai da un’eternità fuori catalogo!
Don’t Slander Me è un disco di rock’n’roll psichedelico straordinario
(a mio parere il più bello che sia mai stato realizzato nel suo
genere!). La dirompente vivacità dei suoni e della voce di Erickson
sono cose che non appartengono a questo mondo! Non a caso era proprio
il periodo che Roky, appena rilasciato dal manicomio criminale, aveva
dichiarato di essere un marziano!
E se i marziani fanno questa musica, allora sono molto meglio di noi terrestri!

Questo
disco, infatti, contiene alcune delle più belle rock-song che siano
state mai scritte, canzoni come la travolgente title-track, come
l’ossessiva Haunt e la ballata psichedelica Starry Eyes (tutte e tre
andranno a finire in quello che per ora è l’ultimo lavoro di Erickson,
lo struggente All May Do My Rhyme!), poi ci sono anche Nothing In Retun
che è costruita tutta su una melodia proveniente probabilmente da
un’altra dimensione, Burn The Flames invece mette in risalto la
bellezza della voce di Erickson che si cimenta anche in una inquietante
risata satanica… che dire poi del dinamismo di Bermuda, un pezzo che
potrebbe far risvegliare pure i morti, mentre Damn Thing… no di
questa è meglio non dire niente!

Roky Erickson è un pazzo, questo è chiaro, ma anche tutto il mondo è pazzo,
i sentimenti e le passioni lo sono, l’arte e la musica e Roky di questo
n’è perfettamente consapevole, infatti la parola “Crazy” ricorre spesso
nelle sue composizioni, come nella buddyhollyana You Drive Me Crazy o
nello scatenato r’n’r di Crazy Crazy Mama, che canta come se fosse uno
Jerry Lee Lewis sotto l’effetto del LSD!
Questo disco mi consuma e
mi fa impazzire, si sono un pazzo anche io perché credo a quello che
Roky Erickson aveva dichiarato. Roky Erickson è un marziano… sì è il
Buddy Holly venuto da Marte!

Legendary rock n roll pioneer Roger Kynard “Roky” Erickson hails
from Austin, Texas. He is, in the words of music writer Richie
Unterberger, one of “the unknown heroes of rock and roll.” As singer,
songwriter, and guitar player for the legendary Austin, TX band The
13th Floor Elevators, the first rock and roll band to describe their
music as “psychedelic”, Roky had a profound impact on the San Francisco
scene when the group traveled there in 1966.

While bands such as The Grateful Dead and The Jefferson Airplane had
the their roots in traditional acoustic folk music, the Elevators
unique brand of heavy, hard-rocking electric blues pointed to a new
direction for the music of the hippie generation. The Elevators only
had one chart hit, the Roky-penned You’re Gonna Miss Me, but their
influence was far reaching. R.E.M., ZZ Top, Poi Dog Pondering, The
Judybats, T-Bone Burnett, Julian Cope, The Jesus and Mary Chain, The
Cramps, The Minutemen, Television, The Cynics, The Lyres, Teisco Del
Rey, The Fuzztones and Radio Birdman have all either recorded or played
live versions of Roky’s songs.

In addition to these performers, Roky is an acknowledged influence on such diverse musicians as Robert Plant, Janis Joplin, Patti Smith, Henry Rollins, Mike Watt, Sonic Youth, The Butthole Surfers, Jon Spencer, The Damned, Red Krayola, Pere Ubu, and current indie hit-makers The White Stripes. His songs have appeared on the soundtracks to the movies High Fidelity, Drugstore Cowboy, Boys Don’t Cry, Hamlet (2000), and Return of the Living Dead. While he may not be a household name, Roky has enjoyed the support of a small but fiercely loyal cult following throughout his career.

Unfortunately, Roky’s struggles with drug abuse and mental illness
took a serious toll. His 1969 arrest in Texas for possession of a
single marijuana cigarette led to his being committed for three years
to Rusk State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, where he was
reportedly subjected to Thorazine, electroshock therapy, and other
experimental treatments. Most agree he was never the same after his
release. Roky has had prolific periods of creativity in the intervening
years, but unscrupulous managers and record label executives often took
advantage of his condition, leaving Roky to live in poverty while
others profit from his music.

Happily, today we find Roky in the process of being his own miracle
and making an astounding recovery from nearly a two-decade long period
of almost total tragedy. His youngest brother, singer/songwriter and
former Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Principal Tubaist Sumner Erickson,
was appointed Roky’s legal guardian in June, 2001. Sumner has
established The Roger Kynard Erickson Trust to address Roky’s living
expenses, medical bills, and other financial needs. From June, 2001
until July, 2002, Roky lived with his brother in Pittsburgh, where he
finally began to receive the treatment and care he needs.

Roky is now back in Austin, where his health continues to improve
dramatically. In March, 2005, Roky made his first public performance in
10 years performing 3 songs at the Roky Erickson Psychedelic Ice Cream
Social at Threadgills in Austin. He was backed by the Explosives. In
September, he is scheduled to play the Austin City Limits Festival
(again with the Explosives) which will mark his first full concert
appearance in almost two decades! Celebrate as the miracle continues!
More information is available at the trust’s official web site:
http://www.rokyerickson.net

As rock acid casualties go, singer Roky
Erickson is luckier than most. He took he-man doses of mind-expanding
drugs during his mid-Sixties tenure with the legendary Texas
psychedelic rangers the Thirteenth Floor Elevators and spent more than
three years locked up in a state mental hospital in the early
Seventies. Yet he has survived to see the enormous impact the
Elevators’ pioneering cosmic garage sound has had on the punk
generations of the Seventies and Eighties. Today the Elevators’ ’66 hit
“You’re Gonna Miss Me” is to the new paisley breed what “Smoke on the
Water” and “Free Bird” were to bar bands ten years ago.

Nor has Roky been vegetating on his laurels. Don’t Slander Me,
a collection of tracks cut mostly in 1982 but unreleased in the United
States until now, is the latest in an extraordinary, if somewhat
infrequent, series of harrowing devil-metal solo releases combining
grade-Z horror-flick demonology with MC5 laser-fuzz guitars
(“Two-Headed Dog,” “Creature with the Atom Brain,” “Don’t Shake Me
Lucifer”).

The demons that took up residence in Roky’s mind
during his Twilight Zone excursions had obviously tightened their grip
by the time he went into the studio. “Bermuda,” his hellfire sermon
about one-way trips to the Bermuda Triangle (first issued as a single
in 1977), has been re-recorded, and there is an even greater urgency in
his chilling vibrato and terrified nasal bark. Roky’s manic yap is also
cranked up full blast in “Don’t Slander Me” (a different take from last
year’s single release on the indie Mars label), and Duane Aslaksen’s
creeping guitar figure is tailgated by frenzied double-time drumming.

Unlike The Evil One, Erickson’s ’81 monster opera, Don’t Slander Me
has its lighter moments. Like any good Texas rocker, Roky is also
possessed by the spirit of Buddy Holly. “You Drive Me Crazy” is a
delightful “Peggy Sue”-style gallop, while “Starry Eyes” (another
rerecording, this time of a 1975 single) is sweet countrified pop
jazzed up with some “Telstar” guitar twang, the kind of thing Freddy
Fender could run all the way to the bank with. Most of the time,
though, spooks and goblins have Roky running in circles; Ozzy
Osbourne’s Halloween rock has nothing on the satanic majesty of Roky’s
“Burn the Flames.”