As rock acid casualties go, singer Roky Erickson is luckier than most. He took he-man doses of mind-expanding drugs during his mid-Sixties tenure with the legendary Texas psychedelic rangers the Thirteenth Floor Elevators and spent more than three years locked up in a state mental hospital in the early Seventies. Yet he has survived to see the enormous impact the Elevators' pioneering cosmic garage sound has had on the punk generations of the Seventies and Eighties. Today the Elevators' '66 hit "You're Gonna Miss Me" is to the new paisley breed what "Smoke on the Water" and "Free Bird" were to bar bands ten years ago.

Nor has Roky been vegetating on his laurels. Don't Slander Me, a collection of tracks cut mostly in 1982 but unreleased in the United States until now, is the latest in an extraordinary, if somewhat infrequent, series of harrowing devil-metal solo releases combining grade-Z horror-flick demonology with MC5 laser-fuzz guitars ("Two-Headed Dog," "Creature with the Atom Brain," "Don't Shake Me Lucifer").

The demons that took up residence in Roky's mind during his Twilight Zone excursions had obviously tightened their grip by the time he went into the studio. "Bermuda," his hellfire sermon about one-way trips to the Bermuda Triangle (first issued as a single in 1977), has been re-recorded, and there is an even greater urgency in his chilling vibrato and terrified nasal bark. Roky's manic yap is also cranked up full blast in "Don't Slander Me" (a different take from last year's single release on the indie Mars label), and Duane Aslaksen's creeping guitar figure is tailgated by frenzied double-time drumming.

Unlike The Evil One, Erickson's '81 monster opera, Don't Slander Me has its lighter moments. Like any good Texas rocker, Roky is also possessed by the spirit of Buddy Holly. "You Drive Me Crazy" is a delightful "Peggy Sue"-style gallop, while "Starry Eyes" (another rerecording, this time of a 1975 single) is sweet countrified pop jazzed up with some "Telstar" guitar twang, the kind of thing Freddy Fender could run all the way to the bank with. Most of the time, though, spooks and goblins have Roky running in circles; Ozzy Osbourne's Halloween rock has nothing on the satanic majesty of Roky's "Burn the Flames."

A little more saw-toothed grunge in Duane Aslaksen's smooth metallic production would have gone a long way here. But whether Erickson is going a few rounds with Mephistopheles or just insane about his baby, there is an irrepressible spirit about Don't Slander Me that transcends mere Sixties nostalgia. This is one Roky who deserves a sequel. (RS 477)

DAVID FRICKE