Roky Erickson - Gremlins Have Pictures

1986. Tremenda colección de inéditas y directos del otrora líder de 13th Floor Elevators grabadas durante el periodo 1975-1982. Fue publicado por primera vez en 1986, aunque esta que tengo yo es la reedición de 2005 de Rykodisc. Sencillamente impresionante. ¡Salud! (también mental, que a Roky no le sobra)

Cobbled together from live tapes, studio outtakes, and casually recorded demos, Gremlins Have Pictures was the lesser of the two albums Roky Erickson recorded for the Restless-distributed Pink Dust label, though it still captured the psychedelic pioneer in potent and hard rocking form. Several different backing bands appear on these tracks -- ranging from the tight and empathetic the Aliens to Texas proto-punk also-rans the Explosives -- but Erickson was in strong voice when this stuff was put on tape (no dates are included, but most of this probably dates from the early '80s), and even the lesser musicians at least try to match him for energy (and often succeed). Gremlins Have Pictures also preserves some of the less well-known titles in the Roky Erickson songbook; while "I Have Always Been Here Before" is once again recycled here, the oddball ballads "Anthem (I Promise)" and "Song to Abe Lincoln" and potent rockers "The Interpreter" and "Cold Night for Alligators" rank with Erickson's more memorable tunes, and the into-the-wind cover of the Velvet Underground's "Heroin" certainly ups the frenzy factor of the original. Gremlins Have Pictures is a patch job, but at least it's a patch job done with care and concern for the material, and musically it has a lot more going for it than the wealth of semi-authorized Erickson sets floating around. [Rykodisc's 2005 reissue adds four songs to the original 12-track American edition -- "Bermuda," "Burn the Flames," "I'm a Demon," and "The Beast."] ~ Mark Deming, Rovi All Music Guide

Roky (pronounce rock-eeh) Erickson was founding member and lead singer of psychedelic band, Texas’ infamous Thirteenth Floor Elevators. Erickson explored the far reaches of musical and personal extremes. Young musicians like Jerry Garcia, Grace Slick, and Janis Joplin jammed with the influential group. Following a nightmarish '70s mental-hospital stint that had a devastating long-term effect on his mental health, Erickson's subsequent solo work with his group The Aliens revealed a singularly brilliant songwriter and performer whose talent was no less impressive for the fact that he was singing about zombies, vampires and aliens. The demons that abound in Roky's songs are all-too-real reflections of his own troubled psyche, and the combination of the artist's oddly poetic lyrical constructions and his bracing banshee wail makes it clear, as it wasn't always, that he's not kidding! Don’t Slander Me and Gremlins Have Pictures, recorded 1975 -1982, document Roky’s genius.

The hodgepodge of outtakes and odds 'n' ends that makes up Gremlins Have Pictures is culled from the period between 1975 and 1982, and features Erickson solo as well as backed by three different groups -- the Explosives, the Aliens and Blieb Alien. Only the Explosives are remotely competent, although Roky himself is surprisingly together for many of these recordings, especially those cut in San Francisco in 1982 with guitarist Jack Johnson; the best of them is "I Have Always Been Here Before," on which Erickson acknowledges a connection between himself and fellow walking casualty Syd Barrett. Also included: a cover of the Velvets' "Heroin," ~ Jason Ankeny