I Have Always Been Here Before: The Roky Erickson Anthology

Disc 1
1	We Sell Soul / The Spades 3:20
2	You're Gonna Miss Me / The 13th Floor Elevators 2:29
3	Reverberation (Doubt) / The 13th Floor Elevators 2:51
4	Tried to Hide / The 13th Floor Elevators 2:49
5	Fire Engine / The 13th Floor Elevators 3:22
6	She Lives (In a Time of Her Own) / The 13th Floor Elevators 2:59
7	Slip Inside This House / The 13th Floor Elevators 8:03
8	Splash 1 / The 13th Floor Elevators 3:57
9	Dust / The 13th Floor Elevators 4:00
10	I Had to Tell You / The 13th Floor Elevators 2:28
11	Postures (Leave Your Body Behind) / The 13th Floor Elevators 6:31
12	Right Track Now / Clementine Hall 3:02
13	Red Temple Prayer (Two Headed Dog) / Roky Erickson & Blieb Alien 3:31
14	Starry Eyes / Roky Erickson & Blieb Alien 3:34
15	Bermuda 3:17
16	The Interpreter / Roky Erickson & the Aliens 2:43
17	Mine Mine Mind / Roky Erickson & the Aliens 2:36
18	I Have Always Been Here Before 2:58
19	Click Your Fingers Applauding the Play / Roky Erickson & the Aliens 3:18
20	I Think Up Demons / Roky Erickson & the Aliens 2:47
21	Don't Shake Me Lucifer / Roky Erickson & the Aliens 2:53
22	White Faces / Roky Erickson & the Aliens 2:34
Disc 2
1	It's a Cold Night for Alligators / Roky Erickson & the Aliens 3:03
2	Creature With the Atom Brain / Roky Erickson & the Aliens 4:13
3	Stand for the Fire Demon / Roky Erickson & the Aliens 5:24
4	Bloody Hammer / Roky Erickson & the Aliens 4:21
5	The Wind and More / Roky Erickson & the Aliens 4:00
6	If You Have Ghosts / Roky Erickson & the Aliens 3:11
7	Song to Abe Lincoln / Roky Erickson & Blieb Alien Live 2:25
8	Anthem (I Promise) 4:24
9	Warning (Social and Social-Political Injustices) Live 2:10
10	The Beast / Roky Erickson & Evilhook Wildlife 5:46
11	You Don't Love Me Yet 4:23
12	Clear Night for Love 2:47
13	Don't Slander Me 3:27
14	Nothing in Return 2:50
15	Burn the Flames 6:08
16	When You Get Delighted 3:07
17	True Love Cast Out All Evil 3:35
18	For You (I'd Do Anything) 2:17
19	Please Judge 4:28
20	We Are Never Talking 3:48
21	I'm Gonna Free Her 3:03

Barnes & Noble

An underground legend on the order of Syd Barrett and Skip Spence, Roky Erickson spearheaded the psychedelic rock movement in the mid-'60s with the 13th Floor Elevators, making music to take drugs to before the boys in Spacemen 3 were out of nappies. Erickson's musical persona and personal life reveal both the colorful upside and dark underbelly of the experimental lifestyle. As his mental instability and drug intake intertwined, his artistic production reached lofty heights with the Elevators' first two albums, and sporadically thereafter as he battled mental demons on both sides of the institution. This carefully assembled two-disc set chronicles the Texan's musical career, from his pre-Elevators outfit the Spades through his mid-'80s rediscovery to his folksy mid'90s incarnation, refocusing attention on his authoritative, spine-tingling howl, demon-obsessed lyrics, and classic garage-rock songmanship. Even his acolytes will be psyched to hear young Roky yowl through the Spades' "We Sell Soul," the original single version of "You're Gonna Miss Me," and the Easter Everywhere acoustic outtake "Right Track Now," which sit alongside such classic, mind-expanding cuts as "Fire Engine" and "Postures (Leave Your Body Behind)." Nearly a decade -- and several antipsychotic drug treatments -- later, Erickson sounds alternately fired up, on the stomping "Red Temple Prayer (Two Headed Dog)," and sweetly tuneful, on the Buddy Holly–esque "Starry Eyes." Roky's increasing obsession with demons and outer space pervades such '70s recordings as the southern rock–tinged "Don't Shake Me Lucifer" and '80s tunes like the haunting rocker "Creature with the Atom Brain." Roky wound up his recording career with the folksy All That May Do My Rhyme in 1995, but not before turning out acoustic ballads like "Anthem (I Promise)" and the winsome "You Don't Love Me Yet," searing rockers like "Don't Slander Me," and the blues-drenched "The Beast." I Have Always Been Here Before reintroduces one of rock 'n' roll's most commanding and influential voices -- you'd be wise to turn an open ear. Lydia Vanderloo

All Music Guide

If Roky Erickson had vanished from the face of the earth after the 13th Floor Elevators released their epochal debut single, "You're Gonna Miss Me," in early 1966, in all likelihood he'd still be regarded as a legend among garage rock fanatics for his primal vocal wailing and feral harmonica work. But while Erickson has become something of an icon among fans of rock at its edgiest, far too many regard the man as some sort of acid casualty who peaked with his first record and has been babbling about movie monsters ever since. Though Erickson's first two albums with the 13th Floor Elevators are watershed works of the early psychedelic movement (especially the wondrous Easter Everywhere), his later solo releases (recorded after a stay in a Texas mental hospital took a fearsome toll on Erickson's psyche) contain many moments of brilliant, bare-wired rock & roll despite their freak-show reputation, and his occasional forays into folk-rock (especially on the lovely All That May Do My Rhyme) possess a gentle wisdom and mesmerizing beauty that are genuinely inspiring. Erickson's body of recorded work has long merited an intelligently assembled critical overview, and thankfully Bill Bentley, a longtime Erickson partisan who assembled the 1990 multi-artist compilation Where the Pyramid Meets the Eye: A Tribute to Roky Erickson, has created just such an album with I Have Always Been Here Before: The Roky Erickson Anthology. Beginning with Erickson's first single (a magnetic 1965 side with his early band the Spades), I Have Always Been Here Before swings into a well-chosen ten-song overview of Erickson's tenure with the Elevators (and while the liner notes claim the version of "Slip Inside This House" is a rare single edit, it's actually the full-length album cut). Even more importantly, the bulk of I Have Always Been Here Before sorts the pearls from a number of poorly assembled collections of Erickson's solo recordings, and the switchblade proto-punk rock of "Click Your Fingers Applauding the Play," the twisted pop of "Creature With the Atom Brain," and the plaintive folk-rock of "You Don't Love Me Yet" make clear that Erickson's talents went in a number of different directions, but his bright, clear vocals, fine songs, and sharp rhythm guitar work shine like a jewel in any context. I Have Always Been Here Before: The Roky Erickson Anthology confirms what a handful of fans have long known -- that Erickson is a major talent who has created a remarkable body of work -- and this is easily the most comprehensive and satisfying collection of his music assembled to date. If you have any interest at all in Roky Erickson's music, this is easily the best starting point to investigate his work, and unlike many Erickson collections, the artist will actually get royalties for this one. Mark Deming