Home    The Evil One

Roky Erickson

The Evil One
Cassette $12
CD $12
2LP Black $33
2LP Purple $35
Digital Download $10.99
  • 2xLP housed in gatefold jackets with 20pg book-deep liner notes by Joe Nick Patoski
  • Originally released in the UK as the 10 song album Five Symbols in 1980 and as The Evil One in 1981 (with 5 songs replaced), this definitive CD gathers all 15 songs from the Stu Cook (Creedence Clearwater Revival) late 1977-79 produced sessions
  • Rare / unseen archive photos and ephemera
  • Available on black or purple haze colored vinyl

Description

Produced over a period of two years by Stu Cook (Creedence Clearwater Revival), The Evil One was released in 1981 and is a masterful collection of songs about zombies, demons, vampires and, yes, even the ‘Creature With The Atom Brain’. These tracks, inspired by schlock sci-fi and horror movies and colored by Roky’s distinctive, high-pitched vocal and squealing guitar, are among the maverick performer’s best.

Celebrating a creative purple patch by a singular performer, Light In The Attic is to reissue the three albums issued by Roky Erickson in the 1980s: The Evil One (LITA 097), Don’t Slander Me (LITA 098) and Gremlins Have Pictures (LITA 099). Together, they’re a chance to pick up a missing jigsaw piece in the history of American rock ‘n’ roll in deluxe packages.

As the core member of the 13th Floor Elevators and an undisputed pioneer of psychedelic rock, the ’60s were thrilling times for Erickson. His band riding high in their native Texas and beyond, the howling single ‘You’re Gonna Miss Me’ was his calling card, but Erickson’s ‘60s ended in the stuff of nightmares. Under sharp scrutiny by the authorities due to the band’s well-expounded fondness for psychedelic drugs, Erickson was found with a single joint on his person....

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Artist Bio

His band was riding high in their native Texas and beyond and the howling single ‘You’re Gonna Miss Me’ was his calling card, but Erickson’s ‘60s ended in the stuff of nightmares. Under sharp scrutiny by the authorities due to the band’s well-expounded fondness for psychedelic drugs, Erickson was found with a single joint on his person. Pleading not guilty by reason of insanity to avoid prison, he was sent to the Rusk State Hospital for the criminally insane, where he was ‘treated’ with electroconvulsive therapy and Thorazine treatment. Erickson pulled through his three and a half years at Rusk, and even put together a band while incarcerated. That band, The Missing Links, contained Roky plus two murderers and a rapist.

Released from the institution in 1974, Roky found his legend had grown while he’d been away – not least because...

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Preview Tracklist

  • 1 Two Headed Dog (Red Temple Prayer)
    3:17
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  • 2 I Walked with a Zombie
    2:46
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  • 3 Night of the Vampire
    4:17
    Buy
  • 4 It's a Cold Night for Alligators
    3:02
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  • 5 Mine Mine Mind
    2:33
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  • 6 Sputnik
    4:33
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  • 7 White Faces
    2:36
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  • 8 I Think of Demons
    2:46
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  • 9 Creature with the Atom Brain
    4:14
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  • 10 The Wind and More
    4:00
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  • 11 Don't Shake Me Lucifer
    2:53
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  • 12 Bloody Hammer
    4:21
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  • 13 Stand for the Fire Demon
    5:26
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  • 14 Click Your Fingers Applauding the Play
    2:34
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  • 15 If You Have Ghosts
    3:10
    Buy