Roky Erickson And The Aliens - I Think Of Demons (Reissue) (1980/1997)

This first solo album from Roky Erickson is chilling in its imagery, whether songs are about a zombie, vampire, sci-fi creature, 2 headed dog, or serial killer. Any or all of these characters could be Roky himself, trying to figure out his own reality.

Roky Erickson was already a psychedelic cultural icon by the time he got busted with his band mates in Austin Texas with some joints in 1969. Nowadays, he would be sent away with a warning or a small ticket, but in 1969 in Texas, it was a huge deal. The Texas law enforcement agency were after the 13th Floor Elevators for quite a while due to their reputation as users of drugs. This was part of the reason that they left their home in Texas for the much greener pastures of San Francisco. They released 3 genre defining albums from 1966-1969 with the best of them being Easter Everywhere which at least in my book is a 5 all day. After a great run in San Francisco they decided to make their way home to Texas, where the police were waiting for them. They were busted with small amounts of pot, which at the time was a federal crime and carried with it a long prison stay. Roky’s lawyers thought it would be a good idea to go with an insanity plea, that was a huge mistake.

The insanity plea landed Roky in an insane asylum in Texas. I am guessing that insane asylum’s in Texas in the 60’s were not exactly glorified resorts. The asylum was occupied with murderers, rapist, severely mentally impaired men, and Roky Erickson a shy sensitive man who just just wanted to play music. However, while inside Roky received ”treatments” for his mental impairments. It was not till the word of his treatments made it to the outside that somebody came to his rescue and eventually got his release. It was too late however, the damage had been done.

Roky Erickson came out of the asylum a very changed man. He went in as a pot smoker but came out a severely mentally challenged man. He was scared of people, highly paranoid, thinking that he either was an alien or was abducted by aliens, depending on the day, and could no longer be relied on to be responsible or take care of himself, some say it was all the acid he took, but most settled on the combination of the the 2, the acid and the treatments.

The album in question is many things, and high on the list is genius and disturbing. It opens with a pretty hard rocker, Two Headed Dog, which has some dark imagery. The next 4 songs in order are: I Think of Demons, I Walk with a Zombie, Don’t Shake Me Lucifer, and Night of the Vampire. From these song titles on side 1 you get the picture of the lyrical basis and thought going on in his mind and you might think you have a good idea of the sound of the musical accompaniment that comes with songs with these types of titles. Yes, very disturbing dark lyrics but upbeat popish music, that is catchy as hell, with great hooks. He was a rock star after all, a very accomplished one, he was not looking to make a statement, this was what was going on in his brain. Roky knew how to write a song and did it very well, but the gremlins were in his head and making him think of disturbing imagery. But he still wanted to tell a story and have it sound like rock music. One of my favorite songs on this album is The Creature with the Atom Brain, a sci-fi lovers dream, he knows how to paint pictures with his lyrics and does so incredibly on this song. He tells a story that could be a 50's low budget drive in movie, but it was happening in real time in his head. I encourage anybody that is a lover of horror or science fiction to give this a spin, it is fantastic. Many could think of passing it off a cheesy attempt to hit a market in the early eighties, however if you know the story, you know this is Roky’s reality, and should be appreciated for the realness and emotion he puts into it. There is love, betrayal, hope, longing, and hopelessness abound, just in the setting of zombies, vampires, creatures, and 1 bloody hammer.