Rodriguez - Cold Fact (1970/2018) [Hi-Res]

First official reissue and mastered from the original tapes, "Cold Fact" is 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", co-produced by BEASTIE BOYS/MOS DEF sample heavy guitarist Dennis Coffey and featuring legendary Motown players THE FUNK BROS. Some songs of this album were covered by Paolo Nutini & David Holmes. This reissue comes in a deluxe Digipak includes 36-pg booklet feat. unseen photos, archival material, and new notes including interviews with RODRIGUEZ, the maker of "Cold Fact". RODRIGUEZ is considered a shadowy figure because he 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...

"There was a mini-genre of singer/songwriters in the late '60s and early '70s that has never gotten a name. They were folky but not exactly folk-rock and certainly not laid-back; sometimes pissed off but not full of rage; alienated but not incoherent; psychedelic-tinged but not that weird; not averse to using orchestration in some cases but not that elaborately produced. And they sold very few records, eluding to a large degree even rediscovery by collectors. Jeff Monn, Paul Martin, John Braheny, and Billy Joe Becoat were some of them, and Sixto Rodriguez was another on his 1970 LP, Cold Fact. Imagine an above-average Dylanesque street busker managing to record an album with fairly full and imaginative arrangements, and you're somewhat close to the atmosphere. Rodriguez projected the image of the aloof, alienated folk-rock songwriter, his songs jammed with gentle, stream-of-consciousness, indirect putdowns of straight society and its tensions. Likewise, he had his problems with romance, simultaneously putting down (again gently) women for their hang-ups and intimating that he could get along without them anyway ("I wonder how many times you had sex, and I wonder do you know who'll be next" he chides in the lilting "I Wonder"). At the same time, the songs were catchy and concise, with dabs of inventive backup: a dancing string section here, odd electronic yelps there, tinkling steel drums elsewhere. It's an album whose lyrics are evocative yet hard to get a handle on even after repeated listenings, with song titles like "Hate Street Dialogue," "Inner City Blues" (not the Marvin Gaye tune), and "Crucify Your Mind" representative of his eccentric, slightly troubled mindset. As it goes with folk-rock-psych singer/songwriters possessing captivating non sequitur turns of the phrase, he's just behind Arthur Lee and Skip Spence, but still worth your consideration." (Richie Unterberger, AMG)

Sixto Rodriguez, vocals, guitar
Mike Theodore, keyboards, string arrangement
Carl Reatz, baritone saxophone, trombone
Dennis Coffey, guitar
Bob Babbitt, bass
Andrew Smith, drums
Bob Pangborn, percussion
Detroit Symphony
Gordon Staples, conductor