Roky on the 13th Floor - C or D / S&D

With regards to "Circle" - the differences between the traditional song and the Elevators song is what caused me to say "version" rather than "cover".

Best Elevators cover version - Television doing 'Fire Engine'.

I said i would buy it and tell him. so i have and i think Kate does a good description of both in this thread and I'd say that if you like Easter than get it. both are similar soundwise (but they had a unique sound and that is what's important) and the songwriting is strong on both.

Roky's solo albums are REAL spotty. The compilation "Your Going to Miss Me" is not bad, but the real good album is the one on Trance Syndicate "All That May Do My Rhyme", which has actually has good sound and is put together well, unlike most of those shoddy records.

I also really like that cover of "Baby Blue", his voice fits that song quite well.

the production is really, really lo-fi but the sound of that band! what a feel they had! it's that seemingly lazy and relaxed groove that the early 70s Stones had too. And even the lyrics are great - 'Dear Dr. Doom' , a letter to Bob Dylan, that song about being in a thunderstorm and hearing your name called from an alley..... wow!

Good short podcast episode by Andrew Hickey.

Which alb is 'It's All Over Now Baby Blue' on? 'Cos that's one of the greatest Dylan covers of all time.
Best Elevators cover version - Television doing 'Fire Engine'.

― Andrew L, Friday, July 27, 2001 8:00 PM (twenty-one years ago) bookmarkflaglink

Still think Vince Gillian dropped the ball and should have used that floor the Breaking Bad finale.

'It's All Over Now Baby Blue'

Wish they'd learned the chords before playing it, though. Every other song on Easter Everywhere is great though.

Fuck learning chords, it's brilliant.

^new borad description

Seriously though the fact that they're not sticking slavishly to the original and are kind of winging it is one of things that make it so great. I'm sure Bob would agree!

They play the "yonder stands your orphan" chords over nearly the entire song, it's maddening! A waste of a nice, evocative arrangement.

Thanks, good caveat. This is concise, in-depth roadmap, up through early years of thee final flowering:https://michaelcorcoran.substack.com/p/rokys-return-to-the-river-of-golden
from main Roky thread: Roky Erickson

Yeah I've never been bothered by the liberties they take with the chords on "Baby Blue". Anyway the "yonder stands your orphan" bit of the original chord progression (ii IV I, I believe) is my favorite part of it, so I dig that they "zoomed in" on that part.

Anyway I'd just like to mention how amazing "Postures (Leave Your Body Behind)" is. I guess on the album with "Slip Inside This House", "Postures" has to be considered the "other epic" but it's such a soulful, uplifting song about surrendering your mind to the psychedelic void. That whole album is utter perfection imo

Oh yeah, soulfulness could seep in at any tyme, if you held on through tumult---also in some I mentioned on the xpost main Roky thread:

..the relatively mellow songs on 90s collections All That May Do My Rhyme and Never Say Goodbye, and the 2010 True Love Cast Out All Evil, with material spanning 40 years, and, wiki notes, "members of Okkervil River on most songs as Erickson's backing band"

In 2010, Erickson made his first album in a decade and a half, backed by Austin indie-rock darlings Okkervil River. It seemed an odd musical coupling at first- Austin's mystical madman and its articulate Pitchfork band. Erickson’s triumphant return to performing was based on his ability to rock hard on such setlist exclamations as "Don’t Slander Me," "Two-Headed Dog" and "Slip Inside This House," so it was assumed that his comeback album would be one of screeching vocals and big sonic strokes.

But producer Will Sheff, the Okkervil River guide, had a different idea. True Love Cast Out All Evil (Anti Records) was a record of tattered little songs that had practically been abandoned, brought back in a spiritual whirl of dust and hope.

"I obsessively listened to about 60 songs that Roky had written, that were either never recorded or minimally released," Sheff said. Although he's a fan of Erickson's "horror rock" material, Sheff found himself drawn more to the songs of simple grace. "Roky was in a prison for two years and he had to come to terms with the thought that his musical career could be over," said Sheff. Such freshly recorded songs as the title track, the delicately moving "Forever," the haunting "Goodbye Sweet Dreams" and the album's hinge "Please Judge" were the soundtrack to the years when he went from Austin's golden child to its most notorious recluse. “These songs were written to serve the immediate purpose of keeping him sane,” said Sheff. “They're so powerful."

"Roky's one of the greatest rock 'n' roll singers of all time and a completely unique guitar player,” said Sheff, who earned a Grammy nomination for his liner notes. “But I think the way I've most been influenced by working with him is in his lyrics, the way he puts words together in a totally jarring way. He's created his own private vocabulary.”