By Chris Ziegler

[OUT OF PRINT]
ROKY ERICKSON
NEVER SAY GOODBYE CD (EMPEROR JONES)

Ever since I heard that Minutemen song I wondered: Who would be Bob Dylan to me? Well, it was Roky Erickson, always and forever—but especially here with these almost-unreleased acoustic songs, the first batch even recorded in the Texas insane asylum that almost put him down forever. “I am a hero!” he sang years later, blown past his own head on a VU cover, and he was right, and this is why: after these eleven-ish love songs, everything else sounds like a lie or a lecture. I could be funny and tell you this is my favorite record recorded behind bars, or I could tell you the truth that this is my favorite record.