Don't Slander Me

Roky Erickson

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 15, 2005)
• Original Release Date: March 15, 2005
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Restless Records
• ASIN: B0007R8F62
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #149,879 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Born Roger Kynard Erickson, Roky sang for the 13th Floor Elevators before going solo. Don't Slander Me should come as a revelation to those only familiar with the Elevators. Recorded during the new wave era, Slander is a rock and roll album, and quite a good one, but it was out of step with the era and found little commercial success. Fortunately, interest in Roky has grown since then and the time is ripe for a reassessment--of his music, not his mental state (notoriously precarious at the time). Roky's interest in blues and garage-rock are part of the equation, there's also some boogie-woogie here, a little surf music there. Although the Elevators never sounded particularly "Texan," the Lone Star State is stamped all over Don't Slander Me, particularly the hard-rocking title track and Buddy Holly-influenced "You Drive Me Crazy." This reissue includes three alternate takes from the original sessions. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Product Description
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.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If You Must By A Record Today, It Must Be This One, September 29, 2006

By	R. N. BAILEY (TACOMA, WA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

With Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath on hiatus, the best album of 1977 is "Don't Slander Me" by the demon-haunted, former singer of the 13th Floor Elevators. And fans of that band will not be disappointed. Roky Erickson comes on like a firestorm with the raw intensity of punk and the ferocious power of a metal band. Lyrically, Erickson produces songs as good as during the `Elevators heyday, albeit withy a more mature edge. Words form into spiraling twists of concentrated savagery that hits the listener like a burst of .50 cal. machine gun bullets. He repeats words and phrases like a devil-mocking mantra. "Don't slander me just, just for you, me and I, I. Don't slander, ma-ma" rolls out like the growl of a freight train. Frenzied and coarse, musically these songs sound like greasy garage tunes taken to a black tie dinner. "You Drive Me Crazy" jingles jauntily like a Bobby Fuller Five tune. "Crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy. I just can't stop lovin' you never" Roky belts out like moon-stricken skip in a record. "Starry Eyes" is sweet melody tune that evokes images of the Seeds' "I Can't Seem to Make You Mine" with a pint less of angst. "Burn In Flames" presents moody, insanity vibe ala Arthur Brown - "Here I sit a vampire at my piano" the song trembles along with its autoharp accompaniment. Every song is gem that a backalley Hollywood sleaze pit would be proud of. But, by far, "Nothing In Return" is the 24-karat jewel in this crown. It invokes the rocking melancholy tunes of a young Ramones. "Don't Slander Me" stands as a triumph of 60s garage rock and a forgotten (if ever known) 70s classic. Roky Erickson is Iggy Pop's daddy. Stop being lame - if you like rock, unpretentious and beautifully savage, you need this record. I think Jesus just bought me a fruit basket. And tell all you friends.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars s'alright, May 30, 2007

By	Kleft "kleft" (dublin) - See all my reviews

starts off great, don't slander me, bermuda, haunt and burn the flames are my favourites
some of it's very bland, crazy crazy mama is so bad it's likable

now i bought it out of curiosity, i really only like half of it but if you are into this kind of thing you'd probably dig it