Rise

Format

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  LITA036CDCD  £10.00

Label

Light In The Attic

Rodriguez

Cold Fact

60s 70s reissued the cd comes housed in an embossed digipack with a deluxe 36 page booklet with new essays interviews and full lyrics it's one of the lost classics of the '60s a psychedelic masterpiece drenched in colour and inspired by life love poverty rebellion and of course 'jumpers coke sweet mary jane' it was the real deal he was compared to dylan billboard gave the album 4 stars and then it sunk without trace the album is 'cold fact' and what's more intriguing is that its maker a shadowy figure known as rodriguez was for many years lost too a decade ago he was rediscovered working on a detroit building site unaware that his defining album had become not only a cult classic but for the people of south africa a beacon of revolution sixto diaz rodriguez was born in 1942 to mexican immigrant parents in detroit michigan he recorded 'cold fact' his debut album in 1969 and released it in march 1970 it's crushingly good stuff filled with tales of bad drugs lost love and itchyfooted songs about life in late '60s innercity america but the album sank without trace thanks in part to some of rodriguez's more idiosyncratic behaviour like performing at an industry showcase with his back to the audience throughout as his music career became a memory rodriguez's legend was growing on the other side of the world in south africa and to a lesser extent rhodesia australia and new zealand 'cold fact' had become a major word of mouth success particularly among young people in the south african armed forces who identified with its countercultural bent but rodriguez was an enigma not even the label knew where to find him and his demise became the subject of debate and conjecture some rumours said he'd died of a heroin overdose or burned to death on stage but the tide began to turn in 1996 when journalist craig bartholemew set out to get to the bottom of the mystery after many dead ends he found rodriguez alive well free and perfectly sane in detroit ending years of speculation rodriguez himself had no idea about his fame in south africa the album had gone multiplatinum rodriguez has received not so much as a rand in royalties and embarked on a triumphant south african tour followed filling 5000 capacity venues across the country rodriguez was still largely unknown in the northern hemisphere until 2002 when 'sugar man' the album's extraterrestrially wonderful lead track was picked up by david holmes the dj discovered the album in a new york record store and included it on his 'come get it i got it' compilation rerecording the song with rodriguez for his free association project a year later