Roky Erickson : I Have Always Been Here Before (The Roky Erickson Anthology) 2005

Roger Kynard "Roky" Erickson (July 15, 1947 – May 31, 2019) was an American singer-songwriter, harmonica player, and guitarist from Texas. He was a founding member of The 13th Floor Elevators and a pioneer of the psychedelic rock genre.

Born in Dallas, Texas, Erickson was interested in music from his youth, playing piano from age 5 and taking up guitar at 10. 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 "We Sell Soul"; the song is included as an unlisted bonus track on Erickson's 1995 All That May Do My Rhyme CD and was adapted as "Don't Fall Down" by the 13th Floor Elevators for their first album. The Spades' original version of "You're Gonna Miss Me", later a hit for 13th Floor Elevators, was featured on the compilation album The Best of Pebbles Volume 1.

In 1966 (Erickson was 19 years old) the band released their debut album The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators. The album had the band's only charting single, Erickson's "You're Gonna Miss Me". A stinging 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 positions 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 1968, while performing at HemisFair, Erickson began speaking gibberish. He was soon diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and sent to a Houston psychiatric hospital, where he involuntarily received electroconvulsive therapy.
(Gibberish (sometimes Jibberish) is a language game that is played in the United States and Canada. Similar games are played in many other countries. The name Gibberish refers to the nonsensical sound of words spoken according to the rules of this game.)

The Elevators were vocal proponents of marijuana and psychedelic drug use, and were subject to extra attention from law enforcement agencies. In 1969, Erickson was arrested for possession of a single marijuana joint in Austin. Facing a potential ten-year incarceration, Erickson pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to avoid prison. He was first sent to the Austin State Hospital.

After several escapes, he was sent to the Rusk State Hospital in Rusk, Texas, where he was subjected to more electroconvulsive therapy and Thorazine treatments, ultimately remaining in custody until 1972. Six tracks from the 1999 Erickson collection Never Say Goodbye were recorded during his time there.

In 1974, after having been released from the state hospital, Erickson formed a new band which he called "Bleib alien".
The new band was renamed Roky Erickson and the Aliens. In 1979, after playing with the Reversible Cords on May Day at Raul's, Erickson recorded 15 new songs with producer Stu Cook, former bass player of Creedence Clearwater Revival. These efforts were released in two "overlapping" LPs – "I Think of Demons" (CBS UK, 1980) and "The Evil One" (415 Records, 1981).

I Have Always Been Here Before: The Roky Erickson Anthology confirms what a handful of fans have long known -- that Erickson is a major talent who has created a remarkable body of work -- and this is easily the most comprehensive and satisfying collection of his music assembled to date. If you have any interest at all in Roky Erickson's music, this is easily the best starting point to investigate his work, and unlike many Erickson collections, the artist will actually get royalties for this one.

CD1

1.   We Sell Soul - The Spades (1965)
2.   You're Gonna Miss Me - 13th Floor Elevators (1966)
3.   Reverberation (Doubt) - 13th Floor Elevators (1966)
4.   Tried to Hide - 13th Floor Elevators (1966)
5.   Fire Engine - 13th Floor Elevators (1966)
6.   She Lives (In a Time of Her Own) - 13th Floor Elevators (1967)
7.   Slip Inside This House - 13th Floor Elevators (1968)
8.   Splash 1 - 13th Floor Elevators (1968)
9.   Dust - 13th Floor Elevators (1967)
10. I Had to Tell You - 13th Floor Elevators (1967)
11. Postures (Leave Your Body Behind) - 13th Floor Elevators (1967)
12. Right Track Now - Roky Erickson (1967)
13. Red Temple Prayer (Two Headed Dog) - Roky Erickson (1975)
14. Starry Eyes - Roky Erickson (1975)
15. Bermuda - Roky Erickson (1977)
16. Interpreter - Roky Erickson & the Aliens (1977)
17. Mine Mine Mind - Roky Erickson & the Aliens (1977)
18. I Have Always Been Here Before - Roky Erickson (1977)
19. Click Your Fingers Applauding the Play - Roky Erickson & The Aliens (1977)
20. I Think Up Demons - Roky Erickson & The Aliens (1980)
21. Don't Shake Me Lucifer - Roky Erickson & The Aliens (1980)
22. White Faces - Roky Erickson & The Aliens (1980)

CD 1. Take it HERE



CD2

1.   It's a Cold Night for Alligators - Roky Erickson & The Aliens (1980)
2.   Creature with the Atom Brain - Roky Erickson & The Aliens (1980)
3.   Stand for the Fire Demon - Roky Erickson & The Aliens (1980)
4.   Bloody Hammer - Roky Erickson & The Aliens (1981)
5.   Wind and More - Roky Erickson & The Aliens (1981)
6.   If You Have Ghosts - Roky Erickson & The Aliens (1981)
7.   Song to Abe Lincoln [Live] - Roky Erickson (1986)
8.   Anthem (I Promise) - Roky Erickson (1986)
9.   Warning (Social and Social-Political Injustices) [Live] - Roky Erickson (1986)
10. Beast - Roky Erickson (1985)
11. You Don't Love Me Yet - Roky Erickson (1985)
12. Clear Night for Love - Roky Erickson (1985)
13. Don't Slander Me - Roky Erickson (1985)
14. Nothing in Return - Roky Erickson (1986)
15. Burn the Flames - Roky Erickson (1986)
16. When You Get Delighted - Roky Erickson (1988)
17. True Love Cast Out All Evil - Roky Erickson (1988)
18. For You (I'd Do Anything) - Roky Erickson (1995)
19. Please Judge - Roky Erickson (1995)
20. We Are Never Talking - Roky Erickson (1995)
21. I'm Gonna Free Her - Roky Erickson (1995)

CD 2. Take it HERE 

Roky Erickson and the Aliens : I Think of Demons 1980

Like Syd Barrett, a common point of reference, Roky Erickson rose to cult-hero status as much for his music as for his tragic personal life; in light of his legendary bouts with madness and mythic drug abuse, the influence exerted by his garage-bred psychedelia was often lost in the shuffle. Born Roger Kynard Erickson on July 15, 1947, in Dallas, TX, he began playing the piano at age five; by age 12, he had also taken up the guitar. The child of an architect and would-be opera singer, Erickson dropped out of high school to become a professional musician. In 1965, he penned his most famous composition, "You're Gonna Miss Me," which he first recorded with a group called the Spades. The song and his high, swooping tenor brought him to the attention of another area band, the psychedelia-influenced 13th Floor Elevators, whose lyricist and jug player Tommy Hall invited Erickson to join; the Elevators soon cut their own version of "You're Gonna Miss Me," and took the single to number 56 on the pop charts in 1966. The record's success earned the 13th Floor Elevators a deal with International Artists, but as their fame grew, so did their notoriety with local law enforcement officials, who took exception to the group's heavy experimentation with (and public support of) marijuana and LSD. 

The Elevators became the subject of considerable police harassment, and after Erickson was arrested for the possession of one lone joint in 1969, he pleaded insanity to avoid a prison term. A three-and-a-half year stint in the state's Hospital for the Criminally Insane followed; Erickson was diagnosed as a schizophrenic, and subjected to extensive electroshock therapy, Thorazine, and other psychoactive treatments. Though released from the hospital in 1973, Erickson was never the same person; he returned to performing with a new band, the Aliens, but his songs -- a series of horror film-influenced records including "Red Temple Prayer (Two-Headed Dog)," "Don't Shake Me Lucifer," and "I Walked With a Zombie" -- found little success. He did retain a devoted cult following, however, but his popularity was fully exploited by managers who took advantage of his instability to draw the singer into a series of unfair publishing contracts that resulted in a steady stream of unauthorized releases from which Erickson earned not a cent. In 

1982 he signed a legal affidavit declaring that a Martian had taken residence in his body, and gradually disappeared from music as the decade wore on. By the 1990s, Erickson was struggling to survive on a $200 monthly Social Security stipend; after an arrest on mail theft charges (later dropped), he was re-institutionalized. In 1990, however, artists like R.E.M., ZZ Top, John Wesley Harding, and the Jesus and Mary Chain recorded his songs for the album Where the Pyramid Meets the Eye: A Tribute to Roky Erickson, which brought his work to a wider audience than ever before. In 1993, Erickson performed publicly for the first time in many years at the Austin Music Awards; a few months later, he returned to the studio with guitarists Charlie Sexton and the Butthole Surfers' Paul Leary to record a number of new songs. In 1995, Leary's bandmate King Coffey released Erickson's All That May Do My Rhyme on his Trance Syndicate label; four years later, Trance issued Never Say Goodbye, a collection of rare private recordings or unreleased Erickson compositions. (Coffey claims Erickson told him he was the first person to ever give him a royalty check for his music.) In 2001, Sumner Erickson, Roky's brother and a successful classical musician, obtained custody of Roky, who had fallen into poor health. 

Under Sumner's watch, Roky began receiving proper medical and dental care for the first time in years, as well as more effective treatment for his psychological problems. Sumner also set up a charitable trust to help finance his brother's care, and with the help of sympathetic lawyers attempted to sort out the legal red tape that prevented Roky from being paid for his music. A fit and relatively lucid Roky Erickson began making occasional public appearances in Austin, Texas, and in March 2005 Roky spoke as part of a panel discussion on the 13th Floor Elevators at the South by Southwest Music Conference. Roky also made a brief musical appearance with a reunited lineup of the Explosives, and a documentary on Erickson, You're Gonna Miss Me, premiered at the affiliated South by Southwest Film Festival. This burst of activity coincided with the release of I Have Always Been Here Before: The Roky Erickson Anthology, a two-disc career overview compilation. Halloween, a set of live recordings from 79-81 with the Explosives was released in early 2008.
(all music.com)

Tracks

Side one

1. Two Headed Dog ( Red Temple Prayer )
2. I Think Of Demons
3. I Walked With a Zombie
4. Don' t Shake Me Lucifer
5. Night of The Vampire
6. Bloody Hammer

Side Two

1. White Faces
2. Cold Night For Alligators
3. Creature With The Atom Brain
4. Mine Mine Mind
5. Stand For The Fire Demon
6. The Wind and More

Label : edsel Records . CBS Records
Format : Vinyl LP
Made in England
A Division of Demon Records LTD
Year : 1980

Night Of The Vampire  Lyrics

Tonight.
Is the night of the vampire.


If it's raining and your running dont slip in mud
because if you do you'll slip in blood tonight.
It's the night of the vampire.
Tonight.
Is the night of the vampire.

The moon may be full the moon may be white
all i know is you will feel his bite tonight.
It's the night of the vampire.

He comes from transylvania.
On saint slithers day he was born.
Eyes stare through the darkness with no form.
Padence is by more.

Tonight.
Is the night of the vampire.

He never sleeps in the night.
Comes out when the moon is bright tonight.
It's the night of the vampire.


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