ROKY ERICKSON
Don't Knock The Rok (Norton)
Reviewed by Alan Wright

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Now here's a CD that's a real curiosity. In 1978, when Roky and the Aliens were recording what would become the famed The Evil One sessions, tape was run almost constantly as the band played and jammed on oldies from Roky's teen years as a warm-up to recording songs for an actual album. The regular sessions were released as a self-tilted LP on CBS Europe, and with a slightly different track listing in the States as The Evil One on 415 Records. On this are 23 songs, mostly late '50s and early '60s rock and roll songs and teen ballads, as well as a few unreleased Erickson originals. There's a kind of "listening to a band's rehearsal" vibe to this. Some songs are more solid than others, while some sound like the only one who really knows the song is Roky himself. Roky's unmistakable shriek, plus the band's unorthodox use of an electric autoharp make for some pretty strange results as well. A few of these songs include "Teenager In Love," "Angel Baby," "Stand By Me," "One Last Kiss," "Take Good Care Of My Baby," "Money Honey" and "You're The One." It's pretty fun, but probably only appealing to real Roky freaks. Amongst the six unreleased Roky tunes, though, there are a couple of real gems - both "Wake Up To Rock And Roll" and "Can't Be Brought Down" are plenty cooking numbers. I wouldn't really recommend this to someone who's never heard any Roky Erickson, I would suggest the first two 13th Floor Elevators albums, and The Evil One CD reissue for the initiated.

© 2004 - Alan Wright