Evil One

Roky Erickson | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 1, 1993)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Restless Records
• ASIN: B000003BFQ
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #334,150 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Two Headed Dog (Red Temple Prayer)

2. I Think of Demons

3. Creature with the Atom Brain

4. The Wind and More

5. Don't Shake Me Lucifer

6. Bloody Hammer

7. Stand for the Fire Demon

8. Cluck Your Fingers Applauding the Play

9. If You Have Ghosts

10. I Walked With a Zombie

11. Night of the Vampire

12. It's a Cold Night for Alligators

13. Mine Mine Mind

14. Sputnick

15. White Faces

Editorial Reviews

There are many Roky Erickson albums, but The Evil One originally released by CBS Records in Europe in 1980 was the first of them and, many would say the best. This re-issue features 35 tracks including 20 on disc two from The Modern Humans Show August 20, --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great, great, did I mention great?, August 2, 2006

By 

Ron Heck - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Evil One (plus one) (Audio CD)

This album is absolutely fantastic. I don't know why this isn't more popular than it already is. Every song is memorable, even from the first listen. From the unnerving opening riff of "Two Headed Dog" to the loud pleas of "Mine Mine Mind", this disc never bores (with the possible exception of the slightly long "Stand for the Fire Demon"). The guitar playing and backing band are superb and fit the material like a glove. The lyrics cover everything from Satan to zombies and are delivered with the best vocal performance I've ever heard on a rock album. All of these elements gel to make an album somewhere between punk, metal, and novelty '50's songs. However, never do any of these songs come off as gimmicky because Roky sounds like he believes every word he sings. As great as this all is, it's not short either, finishing at over fifty minutes.

The first disc by itself is a must have, but the second disc is a great little bonus. It's a radio show from 1979. While it seems some parts of it may have been edited out, the material that's there is quite good. The show intersperses interview segments with early versions of songs from the record. The interview parts are interesting as Roky talks about the chilling inspirations for some of the songs, while weirdos call in and ask odd questions. Roky handles the calls with tact seeming to know exactly what to say to his audience.

The alternate versions of the songs follow a pattern in which the stronger songs from the album sound weaker and the weaker songs sound better. Plus, the sound quality is nearly as good as what was on the first disc. I'm tired of typing, so just buy this.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Biggest Casualty of Rock and Roll, October 9, 2008

By 

A. Woodley "A Stooge" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Evil One (plus one) (Audio CD)

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.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Does Satan better then anybody because he's objective., May 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Evil One (Audio CD)

Roky lives behind a porno store and next to a trailer park in Austin,Texas. He needs your help!This is his best most cohesive peice of work.It puts the whole human and sub human experience to the Bo Diddley beat and has an aural sheen that will remind you of anything good you've heard in music.He uses the same mythology as Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath but, can summon the fury of both those bands with just his voice. Some albums don't gain a wide audience because they blow.That is not the case here. This is the best album you have never heard or heard of.But it and cry.Buy it and boogie.Buy it and hide in the closet so the cops don't find you.