Planet Notion - 60s/Folk/Rock/Psychedelic

Cold Fact

Rodriguez

Light in the Attic

60s/Folk/Rock/Psychedelic

I ain’t nothing but a failed writer. I ain’t nothing but a failed musician. I ain’t nothing but a god-darn, good for nothing, shit-shoveling construction worker. I ain’t nothing but… a cult icon in South Africa? It must have come as quite a shock to 60s folk musician, Sixto Rodriguez, when he heard that his 1969 debut LP, Cold Fact, had made him one of the biggest names in South Africa. A decade ago Rodriguez was discovered by a fan working on a Detroit building site, having called a halt to his career at the turn of the 70s and taking on a string of menial, life-sucking, shit-steaming jobs. His rebellious anti-establishment views, all too evident on Cold Fact, as well as diatribes on poverty and lost-love, became a beacon of hope for the South African people amid the political and religious persecution afflicting their country. There, Rodriguez went platinum but received very little royalties because, well, he didn’t have a clue just how huge he was. And yet his name was spoken in countries as diverse as Australia and Rhodesia, where rumours abounded that he’d “BURNT TO DEATH ON STAGE, MAN”; was a “WASHED UP DEAD JUNKIE, MAN”; was “IN A MENTAL INSTITUTE” because “HE’S ONE CRAZY CAT, MAN”; and so on and so forth… Of course none of these rumours were true. And so, following his find on a Detroit building site and a sell-out tour of South Africa and blah blah blah, this brings us to a new chapter, nay a reopened one, as Cold Fact is re-released for new audiences to gorge on. Lucky, lucky you. Cold Fact is a magical mystery tour, echoing Love’s ‘AHHH! IT’S THE END OF THE 60s’ theme and ‘THE WORLD’S NO LONGER FULL OF FLOWERS, MAN’ scenario. And the great thing about Cold Fact’s social context, lyrically, is that it could just as easily be applied to ’08 as it was to the oh-so famous ’69. What, with knife crime on the up and the credit crunch and all that bloody woe! Everywhere, everywhere, everywhere woe! Opener, Sugar Man, sounds like the back-burner of an acid trip with its hazy vocals, lazy guitars and warped synth-sounds; not to mention the recurring druggy theme of “jumpers, coke, sweet mary jane”. As opening tracks go, it’s a mighty fine introduction to Rodriguez, and Cold Fact’s pretty much uphill from there. Particular highlights include ‘Only Good for Conversation’, with Dennis Coffey’s electronic guitar as staggering as that on The Doors’ ‘Five to One’ solo and Rodriguez’s lyrics delivered with a love-lorn, love-torn bite. Establishment Blues does what it says on the tin, a lament against the establishment and the state of America circa ’69, Rodriguez’s free-styling delivered with the panache you’d associate with a mid-60s Dylan. In fact, the subject of each and every song on the album makes one view the world around them in all its gritty realism; it makes you realize that life ain’t a bed of roses, baby. And for an album 39 years old to ring that Cold Fact home says more than this grotty hack could ever dream of. You should give this album a chance. You won’t regret it…

Cold Fact is out now on Light in the Attic Records.

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