''All That May Do My Rhyme'' is an album by the American musician Roky Erickson, released in 1995. It was released at the same time as a book, ''Openers II: The Lyrics of Roky Erickson'', that collected Erickson's poems and lyrics. The album was a packaging of new songs with ones issued on the 1985 ''Clear Night for Love'' EP. An unlisted track, "We Sell Soul", is a 1965 song by Erickson's band the Spades. ''All That May Do My Rhyme'' was Erickson's first studio album in almost a decade.

Production

The album was produced by

Speedy Sparks Texas Tornados is a Tejano music, Tejano Supergroup (music), supergroup, composed of some of country music's biggest artists who modernized the Tex-Mex style including Flaco Jiménez, Augie Meyers, Doug Sahm, and Freddy Fender. Its music is a fu ...

, Stuart Sullivan, and Casey Monahan.

Paul Leary Paul Leary Walthall (born May 7, 1957), known as Paul Leary, is an American musician and music producer from Austin, Texas, best known as the lead guitarist and occasional lead vocalist for the American rock band Butthole Surfers. He is also th ...

, Barry "Frosty" Smith, and

Charlie Sexton Charles Wayne Sexton (born August 11, 1968) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Sexton is best known for his years as a guitarist in Bob Dylan's band, though also has become well known as a music producer. Sexton co-founded the Ar ...

contributed to ''All That May Do My Rhyme''.

Lou Ann Barton Lou Ann Barton (born February 17, 1954) is an American blues singer based in Austin, Texas since the 1970s. AllMusic noted that "The grace, poise, and confidence she projects on-stage is part of a long tradition for women blues singers". Biogr ...

sang on one of the two versions of "Starry Eyes". Sumner Erickson, Roky's brother, played tuba on the album. It was released on

Trance Syndicate Records Trance Syndicate was an independent record label founded in 1990 by King Coffey, drummer of Austin, Texas band the Butthole Surfers.Larkin, Colin (1999) "Trance Syndicate Records" in ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Heavy Rock'', Virgin Books, , p. 4 ...

, an independent record label founded in 1990 by

King Coffey King Coffey (born Jeffrey Coffey; 1964) is an American drummer, known for being the drummer of the psychedelic/noise rock band Butthole Surfers. He began drumming in a Fort Worth hardcore punk band called The Hugh Beaumont Experience in high ...

, drummer of

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

band the Butthole Surfers.Larkin, Colin (1999) "Trance Syndicate Records" in ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Heavy Rock'', Virgin Books, , p. 454

Critical reception

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' determined that "if Erickson covers a lot of territory, it is because his music has always functioned as a living archive of musical form, exploring the seams between supposedly incongruous genres." ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'' wrote that "Erickson looks at loves lost and sought in ballads given a light, melodic touch." The '' Austin American-Statesman'' deemed the album "arguably his most accessible and listener-friendly to date, with the sort of buoyant melodicism, lyrical invention and shimmering jangle that the R.E.M. generation can accept as a kindred musical spirit." The '' Philadelphia Daily News'' stated that "the psychedelic pioneer brings his Bob Dylanesque phrasing and charmingly vulnerable voice to a mixed bag of old and new material that focuses more on love than on his past themes of demons and aliens." ''

The Santa Fe New Mexican ''The Santa Fe New Mexican'' or simply ''The New Mexican'' is a daily newspaper published in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Dubbed "the West's oldest newspaper," its first issue was printed on November 28, 1849. Background The downtown offices for '' ...

'' concluded that "We Are Never Talking" "could almost be mistaken for a long-lost ''Blood on the Tracks'' outtake." The ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...

'' determined that "best of all is the plaintive 'Please Judge', in which Erickson pleads, 'Don't send or keep the boy away'."

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

wrote that "Roky's most excessive traits are mostly absent; he sounds sort of like an eccentric, updated Buddy Holly." ''

Record Collector ''Record Collector'' is a British monthly music magazine. It was founded in 1980 and distributes worldwide. History The early years The first standalone issue of ''Record Collector'' was published in March 1980, though its history stretches ba ...

'' thought that his "dishevelled yowl elevates

he songs He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

into the otherworldly realm, spookily channelling both his fractured mind and convincingly extra-terrestrial soul."

Track listing

References

{{13th Floor Elevators Roky Erickson albums 1995 albums