The Evil One album cover
The Evil One

Roky Erickson

1981
Restless Records

His fragile mental health shattered by stays in the kind of mental health facility Randle McMurphy destroyed himself trying to escape from, former 13th Floor Elevators operator Roky Erickson spent much of the seventies trying to rediscover himself. He pulled it together for this solo joint. Reinterpreting the schlocky fifties horror movies he grew up on through jagged Americana and post-rockabilly ragers, Erickson howls about two-headed dogs and vampires and alligators in some of the most harrowing peeks into a broken brain you’ll ever hear. “Stand for the Fire Demon” comes from someone who’s gone toe-to-toe with Old Scratch… and lost.

Jeff Treppel

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