Search - Roky Erickson & The Aliens :: The Evil One (plus one)

It's Roky, It's Great

hans lundholm | Sweden | 12/16/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Rokys Stu Cook produced studiomaterial. If you like rock at all, just buy it. It's a masterpiece."

The Biggest Casualty of Rock and Roll

A. Woodley | 10/09/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It's hard to quantify someone like Roky Erickson and an album like this. To me, this is his best album, even better than his stuff with the Thirteenth Floor Elevators. Janis Joplin admitted to sealing his yelp and Billy Gibbons was amazed by his ability when they were in competing bands in Texas (The Moving Sidewalks and the Thirteenth Floor Elevators). Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth has cited him as an influence on the disenfranchised noise that would become the brilliance of Sonic Youth. What I'm getting at is that Roky Erickson holds the genuine credentials of a lost musical genius. His sound is much harder to define. Maybe if Ozzy had fronted Sabbath all the way into the 80's when the art of metal was being fined tuned or Captain Beefheart had been interested in proto-metal (it's important to note that I am not comparing their voices).



Roky Erickson was mentally unstable. He was in and out of clinics, experimented with drugs, and received shock treatment as a form of therapy. The man has run the gauntlet and it's amazing that he's still around today to share his music. This album however was cut in 1981. It is the best representation of his work. He sounds like a man trying to hold his fragile world together even though it is ripping at the seams. The album is haunted by vampires, demons, and the devil but that's because Roky himself was haunted by them. I can't say enough about the absolute genius of this album. Buy it and do it now before it is unavailable like many of his other works. Also, do yourself a favor and get the documentary on Roky You're Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone. It's fascinating with some amazing musical clips.

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