Where the Pyramid Meets the Eye: A Tribute to Roky Erickson

Various Artists - Alternative

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 19, 1990)
• Original Release Date: October 30, 1990
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sire / London/Rhino
• ASIN: B000005JB5
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #17,431 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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  #26 in	Music > Alternative Rock > New Wave & Post-Punk > Urban Folk
  #57 in	Music > Pop > Tributes
  #66 in	Music > Pop > By Decade > 1990s

Track Listings

1. Reverberation (Doubt) - ZZ Top

2. If You Have Ghosts - John Wesley Harding

3. I Had to Tell You - Poi Dog Pondering

4. She Lives (In a Time of Her Own) - The Judybats

5. Slip Inside This House - Primal Scream

6. You Don't Love Me Yet - Bongwater

7. I Have Always Been Here Before - Julian Cope

8. You're Gonna Miss Me - Doug Sahm

9. It's a Cold Night for Alligators - Southern Pacific

10. Fire Engine - Richard Lloyd

11. Bermuda - Vibrating Egg

12. I Walked With a Zombie - R.E.M.

13. Earthquake - Butthole Surfers

14. Don't Slander Me - Lou Ann Barton

15. Red Temple Prayer (Two Headed Dog) - Sister Double Happiness

16. Burn the Flames - Thin White Rope

17. Postures (Leave Your Body Behind) - Chris Thomas, Tabby Thomas

18. Nothing in Return - T Bone Burnett

19. Reverberation (Doubt) - The Jesus and Mary Chain

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning tribute album of tribute albums, March 24, 2008

By	lexo1941 (Edinburgh, Scotland) - See all my reviews

Roky Erickson was one of the 13th Floor Elevators, a legendary and very strange psychedelic garage band from Texas in the 1960s. He subsequently went solo and, rather famously, went a bit mad, resulting in his incarceration in a psychiatric hospital where he was given electroconvulsive treatment.

He struggled through the 70s and 80s and it was, oddly enough, with the production and release of this album that his fortunes began to revive. He had had little idea of how many people admired his music, but this album is a treasure trove of great alternative 80s bands - people like Thin White Rope, Bongwater, Angry Samoans, The Jesus and Mary Chain and Sister Double Happiness rub shoulders with 70s heroes like Doug Sahm, T-Bone Burnett, Richard Lloyd and ZZ Top. There is not a duff track on this album; every song is given loving and imaginative treatment, and the result is one of the weirdest, most tuneful and most invigorating albums of that particularly uninspiring period in pop music history (1980-1992 or so).

I am glad to see that this album is still available. So is Roky Erickson. In 2001, his younger brother Sumner was given legal custody of him, and he saw to it that Roky was (for perhaps the first time in his life) given appropriate medical and legal treatment, including medication to control his schizophrenia - which he has since succeeded in weaning himself off. As a result, Roky Erickson is now able to look after himself, drive his own car, play live, tour and even, it's said, record; he was last heard of as being in the studio with fan and fellow Texan Billy Gibbons. Cheers to him, and to his family. The Roky Erickson story is not yet over.

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the dark side of psychedelia, November 4, 1998

By	Owen "semi-pro amateur" (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

People tend to forget that not everything about the late sixties was peace and love there was a movement of musicians who saw themselves more as enraptured prophets. The prolific Roky Erikson of Austin was to the hippies what screamin Jay Hawkins was to the Blues. He roiled rambling tales of two headed dogs, spaceships, retrieved past life memory, and that might have been all fine and good except those were his love songs. And they thought Sid Barret was a tad off! Sadly, Roky succumbed to his demons and was commited to a mental home in the early 80's. That having been said, open yourself to a rare treat of hearing something more than just a run of the mill tribute from a roster of fasionable-nows and future one hit one wonders in their own right. If it weren't for the Obviously modern prescence of R.E.M. and ZZ Top, you'd swear this was a lost tape dug up from the late 60's. Everyone here is having a good time, even the Jesus and Mary Chain...how did that happen? I recommend this tape whole-heartedly to all my friends and people i run into on the street. It is that pervasive. Groovy, man...

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Music Magic, September 20, 2008

By	The Sharpened Quill (Sacramento, CA USA) - See all my reviews

Roky Erickson is one of those artists that are few in number. Roky is a genius there is just no other way to put it.

When you listen to this album the evidence of that genius is that each song sounds like it was written by or for the artist covering it. That songs can be that malleable have that much space to them that you would think that Julian Cope or the Judybats were playing their own music is testament to how timeless true art is. You hear that same beauty when listening to Roky just playing guitar and singing by himself on one of his own albums. True quality is always evident no matter what the wrappings.

Though Roky has had troubled times his brother stepped up and took things over in order to protect Roky's interests and has guided him back to the world of performing and a rebirth of his career. He got a great reception at the 2007 Coachella festival and that's from a crowd of teenagers and twenty somethings who have never heard of him.

I normally can not stand tribute albums but I can't recommend this one enough.