Don't Slander Me

Don't Slander Me

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.

Don't Slander Me