Customer Reviews: Read 4 more reviews...
  Music Magic September 21, 2008
Roky Erickson is one of those artists that are few in number. Roky is a genius there is just no other way to put it.
When you listen to this album the evidence of that genius is that each song sounds like it was written by or for the artist covering it. That songs can be that malleable have that much space to them that you would think that Julian Cope or the Judybats were playing their own music is testament to how timeless true art is. You hear that same beauty when listening to Roky just playing guitar and singing by himself on one of his own albums. True quality is always evident no matter what the wrappings.
Though Roky has had troubled times his brother stepped up and took things over in order to protect Roky's interests and has guided him back to the world of performing and a rebirth of his career. He got a great reception at the 2007 Coachella festival and that's from a crowd of teenagers and twenty somethings who have never heard of him.
I normally can not stand tribute albums but I can't recommend this one enough.
Stunning tribute album of tribute albums March 24, 2008
Roky Erickson was one of the 13th Floor Elevators, a legendary and very strange psychedelic garage band from Texas in the 1960s. He subsequently went solo and, rather famously, went a bit mad, resulting in his incarceration in a psychiatric hospital where he was given electroconvulsive treatment.
He struggled through the 70s and 80s and it was, oddly enough, with the production and release of this album that his fortunes began to revive. He had had little idea of how many people admired his music, but this album is a treasure trove of great alternative 80s bands - people like Thin White Rope, Bongwater, Angry Samoans, The Jesus and Mary Chain and Sister Double Happiness rub shoulders with 70s heroes like Doug Sahm, T-Bone Burnett, Richard Lloyd and ZZ Top. There is not a duff track on this album; every song is given loving and imaginative treatment, and the result is one of the weirdest, most tuneful and most invigorating albums of that particularly uninspiring period in pop music history (1980-1992 or so).
I am glad to see that this album is still available. So is Roky Erickson. In 2001, his younger brother Sumner was given legal custody of him, and he saw to it that Roky was (for perhaps the first time in his life) given appropriate medical and legal treatment, including medication to control his schizophrenia - which he has since succeeded in weaning himself off. As a result, Roky Erickson is now able to look after himself, drive his own car, play live, tour and even, it's said, record; he was last heard of as being in the studio with fan and fellow Texan Billy Gibbons. Cheers to him, and to his family. The Roky Erickson story is not yet over.
Psychedelic! March 26, 2007
This has got to be one of the best tribute albums I have ever heard. Before it, I had never even heard of Roky Erickson (who is credited with coining the term "psychedelic" to describe the type of music his band was playing) or the Thirteenth Floor Elevators. But after listening to it, I was inspired to go out and find most of the original versions of these songs. The bands offering their interpretation of Erickson's songs include big name groups like REM and ZZ Top as well as many lesser new wave groups. (Incidentally, in addition to the tracks listed above from the CD, the cassette contains bonus tracks We Sell Souls by Lyres and White Faces by the Angry Samoans.)
Roky tribute March 29, 2006
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I hate to admit this but this was my first exposure the width of Roky Erickson's talent. To hear these songs done by bands/musicians that I liked, was to open a whole new door of music to me. Roky deserves better than he has gotten. Hopefully people will keep finding this and going on the discover Roky and other unsung heroes of music.
 Lightning never stikes anymore, but I can't make it rain. May 19, 2005
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
This is a tribute album to Roky Erickson. Erickson was the lead singer of the 13th Floor Elevator and later performed solo. Roky was (and is) a mentally disturbed individual, who wrote very strange songs. Here, 19 artists perform 18 of his songs ("Reverberation" is covered twice). Most of the performances are good and this album will hopefully bring attention to this cult hero.
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