We've already seen a couple of acoustic performances by Roky Erickson, now we are going to know the electric and wild side of his music. Like Demon Angel, Meeting With An Alien is a low budget movie about Roky, produced by the University Of Texas in Austin, Roky's hometown, and broadcasted by a local cable TV channel. 1980 is the year on which his first solo LP had finally been released. The seventies had been a very troubled period on which he had been even interned in a state mental hospital. A terrible experience, but also a very creative period during which he wrote a lot of songs, about the evil creatures that seem to obsess his mind: zombies, aliens, demons, vampires...
The fact that he has some mental health problems makes his music probably even more attractive to many of his fans, but the simple truth is that he has a very special talent as a songwriter and a magnetic charisma as a performer. Am I the only one who prefers his solo works to the 13th Floor Elevators' records?
On Meeting With An Alien Roky is interviewed and plays some acoustic stuff in a studio, but the movie also offers parts of a compelling concert with his band, the Explosives, in a club called The Lone Star. I've read somewhere on the web that this was a place in New York City...but isn't Texas the Lone Star state?
One years ago he re-appeared for a short but amazing concert in Austin, he looked in great shape. It seems that there is a group of fans/friends that takes care of him there and helps him to pay the bills. Now that Syd Barrett and Arthur Lee have just died, is somehow a comfort to know that Roky is still with us, and maybe his life is not so bad.
I wish the quality of these clips was a little better, but here they are anyway.
Password: http://musicforyoureyes.blogspot.com/
Ciao
Mirco
0 comments:
Post a Comment