Music DVD Review: Roky Erickson & The Black Angels-Night of the Vampire Live DVD

I knew the shopping season was officially in full swing when I drove by my local Best Buy Thanksgiving night and saw people camped out in 22 degree weather. Black Friday can usually be an abysmal time of the year with people freezing their asses off just to get Grandma that perfect sweater or get a blender for $3. However, amidst all the madness, one need look no further than to their local independent record store for the silver lining in that unofficial holiday. The folks behind Record Store Day(a day in April where record collectors are treated to limited edition cd’s/dvd’s/records available only in indie record stores) rolled out a series of limited edition collectibles specifically for Black Friday, and one such release is by none other than the psychedelic horror master himself, Roky Erickson.

For those of you unfamiliar with Roky Erickson, he fronted the Texas based psychedelic rock band 13th Floor Elevators. After spending some time in a mental institution, he emerged as a solo artist backed by a band called The Aliens, and this is when his truly horrific material began to surface. The songs were influenced by the horror films Roky used to watch as a child and included such subjects as vampires and the devil. After a twenty year break of not playing live, Roky finally emerged in 2005 and began playing shows and continues to this day. The particular release we are talking about today is a DVD taken from one of those live shows on Halloween 2008. While seeing one of the legends of horror rock professionally released sounds great on paper, the resulting product is mostly a mixed bag.

When it comes to live music releases, they pretty much run the gamut on quality. I have seen some that range anywhere from a GG Allin release that looks like it was recorded on a pitch black night in the middle of a snowstorm, to other releases that make you feel like you are at the show. That being said, the production quality on this release is superb. The cinematography is great (minus some unnecessary post production effects) and the live performances are intermixed with backstage footage and interviews with his backing band, the Black Angels. The audio mix is perhaps some of the best I have ever heard on a live release, as the levels for all instruments are clearly heard and nothing gets lost. Given that this is a perfectly filmed concert by one of my favorite artists, there should be nothing wrong, but I would say the quality of the performance itself is where this release lacks.

The Black Angels are adequate as far as a backing band goes. They obviously love the material and are well rehearsed, but their style tends to lend itself far more to the early portion of Roky’s career and lacks the garage style energy of much of his later material while he was backed by The Aliens. Roky himself appears to be having some vocal troubles as his voice is much raspier than I have seen on other performances, including his fantastic performance on Austin City Limits. The song selection is great as it has many fan favorites and even includes a haunting rendition of “Bo Diddley.”

All in all I would say that this is a must have for any fan of Roky Erickson but if you are unfamiliar with his work, I would start with his double LP release The Evil Plus One. I am just happy that someone released this at all. Word on the street is that an LP release of the live show was supposed to make it’s way into record stores as well but that it didn’t make it to the press in time. If they release it next year on Black Friday, maybe I’ll be the one camped out in 22 degree weather…..on second thought, I’ll just wait until Saturday.