Roky Erickson: Never Say Goodbye : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Roky Erickson fronted the extraordinary psychedelic group 13th Floor Elevators some thirty years ago, only to see it consigned to legendary-and-penniless status; in the meantime, he's seen the business ends of excessive drug use and debilitating mental illness. Fortunately, his cult is devout and doting, and its emotional and financial largess has made possible this intriguing collection of unreleased, mostly acoustic songs. Recorded under battle conditions -- some during his hospitalization in the early Seventies -- the tunes nevertheless display Erickson's unique songwriting gifts, and the album's ability to transcend its seeming fan-only status is nothing short of magical. No one else could sing, "Sweet define, I may dream unasleep/Moscow's prayer solid I keep" and make it sound like a standard. One may long to hear fuller versions of "Think of As One" and the wrenching "Be and Bring Me Home," but, really, it's a miracle we've got these songs at all. (RS 807)

JOE GROSS