GREMLINS HAVE PICTURES by ROKY ERICKSON

Celebrating a creative purple patch by a singular performer, Light In The Attic is to reissue the three albums issued by Roky Erickson in the 1980s. Together, they�re a chance to pick up a missing jigsaw piece in the history of American rock �n� roll in deluxe packages !The Evil One (LITA 097) broke him out of the indie underground and Don�t Slander Me showed off his rock �n� roll sensibilities. But Erickson was difficult to manage � and patience was running out. "I�d given up after the second album,� Erickson�s then-manager, Craig Luckin, has said. �I had enough.� Yet a third album � arguably his best � was to be found, if not created. Gremlins Have Pictures is an anthology of Erickson�s solo work following his extended incarceration at the Rusk State Hospital for the criminally insane, beginning with his first live performance (opening for a screening of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre in Austin) all the way to Don�t Slander Me (LITA 098). The core member of 13th Floor Elevators, and an undisputed pioneer of psychedelic rock, Erickson struck big with the howling single �You�re Gonna Miss Me�. �Any kid that played music in the Houston area would tell you the Elevators ruled,� says Erickson�s future drummer Freddie Krc in the liner notes. �Unlike the West Coast groups, they were our band.� But Erickson�s �60s dream came to an abrupt end when he was caught with a single marijuana joint on his person. Pleading not guilty by reason of insanity to avoid prison, he was sent to the Rusk State Hospital, where he was �treated� with electroconvulsive therapy and Thorazine treatment. Released from the institution in 1974, Roky found his legend had grown while he�d been away � not least because �You�re Gonna Miss Me� was included on 1972�s Nuggets compilation. He formed a band, the Aliens, and set about honing a hard rock sound that placed the psychedelic garage blues of the Elevators firmly in the last decade. It wasn�t just the sound that had changed: Roky�s lyrics spoke of vampires, demons, beasts and even presidents � his �Song To Abe Lincoln�. Collected here, the odds and ends of Erickson�s post-incarceration work tell a story of a man finding his musical feet, ranging from Dylan-like folk strumming to the big, Neil Young-like rock of the unparalleled �Anthem (I Promise)�. The span of time is great � from The Ritz Theatre tracks, recorded in Austin in 1975, at the debut performance by The Aliens, to those troubledDon�t Slander Me off-cuts. Other tracks were cut with the Explosives, the band Roky started working with at Raul�s punk club in Austin after he�d returned to Austin in 1979, following the departure of the Aliens. Together the various tracks deftly summarize Roky Erickson�s recording career. Following reissues of The Evil One and Don�t Slander Me, Gremlins is now brought back to life by Light In The Attic Records. This is a chance to pick up a missing jigsaw piece in the history of American rock �n� roll in deluxe packages. Don�t let it pass you by.