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Cold Fact

Rodriguez, Sixto RodriguezAudio CD
4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (389 customer reviews)

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MP3 Music, 12 Songs, 2008 $7.99  
Audio CD, 2008 $10.89  
Vinyl, 2010 --  

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Songs from this album are available to purchase as MP3s. Click on "Buy MP3" or view the MP3 Album.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Samples
Song Title Time Price
listen  1. Sugar Man 3:49$1.19  Buy MP3 
listen  2. Only Good For Conversation 2:24$0.99  Buy MP3 
listen  3. Crucify Your Mind 2:32$0.99  Buy MP3 
listen  4. This Is Not A Song, It's An Outburst: Or, The Establishment Blues 2:06$0.99  Buy MP3 
listen  5. Hate Street Dialogue 2:33$0.99  Buy MP3 
listen  6. Forget It 1:50$0.99  Buy MP3 
listen  7. Inner City Blues 3:26$0.99  Buy MP3 
listen  8. I Wonder 2:34$0.99  Buy MP3 
listen  9. Like Janis 2:35$0.99  Buy MP3 
listen10. Gommorah (A Nursery Rhyme) 2:21$0.99  Buy MP3 
listen11. Rich Folks Hoax 3:05$0.99  Buy MP3 
listen12. Jane S. Piddy 3:02$0.99  Buy MP3 


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Frequently Bought Together

Cold Fact + Coming from Reality + Searching for Sugar Man
Price for all three: $37.38

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Product Details

  • Audio CD (August 19, 2008)
  • Original Release Date: 1970
  • Number of Discs: 1
  • Label: Light In The Attic
  • ASIN: B001BKVWYG
  • Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Music
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (389 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #13 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

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 . 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 itchy-footed songs about life in late 60s inner-city America. Gun sales are soaring/Housewives find life boring/Divorce the only answer/Smoking causes cancer, says the Dylan-esque Establishment Blues. But the album sank without trace, thanks, in part, to some of Rodriguez s more idiosyncratic behavior, 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 counter-cultural 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 rumors 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 multi-platinum, Rodriguez has received not so much as a Rand in royalties), and embarked on a triumphant South African tour followed, filling 5,000 capacity venues across the country. Rodriguez was still largely unknown in the northern hemisphere until 2002, when Sugar Man, the album s extra-terrestrially 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, re-recording the song with Rodriguez for his Free Association project a year later. Now, Light In The Attic is set to commit Cold Fact to CD for audiences in the UK and America, who can finally find out why halfway across the world Rodriguez is spoken of in the same reverent tones as The Doors, Love and Jimi Hendrix.

Customer Reviews

Rodriguez I love you your music your poetry and lyrics! Joy D. Leftow  |  44 reviewers made a similar statement
The story of his life in music. DiAnne Jed  |  41 reviewers made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
113 of 116 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars COLD FACT Is a Hot Album January 10, 2006
First released in 1970 and almost entirely forgotten (at least in North America) over the three and a half decades since, COLD FACT is the first of two albums by Jesus "Sixto" Rodriguez, a gifted singer/songwriter from Detroit whose reputation has apparently fared far better in the southern hemisphere than in his homeland. A latterday Australian compilation, AT HIS BEST (six of whose eleven tracks are taken from this album), is the only other Rodriguez CD currently available; so anyone who owns and likes either of these discs is strongly encouraged to pick up the other, repetitions notwithstanding.

And indeed, withstand they don't, as COLD FACT manages to fit no less than a dozen neat, clever, poignant and musically diverse nuggets into its regrettably brief 31:45 running time. Opening with the bizarre "Sugar Man," a whining ode to a drug dealer which makes surprisingly effective use of an oddball arrangement of bass clarinet, theramined guitar and various sound effects; then segueing into the misogynistic pre-heavy metal of "Only Good for Conversation" and the pretty, lightly orchestrated neo-Biblical folk of "Crucify Your Mind," COLD FACT shows Rodriguez employing a different approach on nearly every track, with consistently strong and intelligent lyrics riding atop the results. Other highlights include "Establishment Blues," with its sly laundry-list of urban woes capped off by the stinging "...and you tell me that this is where it's at"; a tearjerking two-minute ballad, "Forget It"; the lopingly infectious "Inner-City Blues" (no relation to the Marvin Gaye tune of the same title); "Rich Folks Hoax," with its dour and self-explanatory message; and "Like Janis," which closes the album on possibly its strongest note with a beautiful arrangement backing some equally beautiful poetry ("Don't try to impress me; you're just pins and paint. And don't try to charm me with things that you ain't."). Each song is a gem in its own right, even the rare flawed one ("Gomorrah," an appealing straight blues for the most part, has a rather silly chorus with the singer backed by what sounds like a group of children), and the result is a sadly underappreciated collection by a tragically underappreciated talent which holds its own against almost any of its contemporaries - and that's saying a lot. Open your ears for this one, folks; it's more than worth the 31:45 investment.
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50 of 50 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars a prophet is never recognized in his hometown January 6, 2006
Other reviews on this page describe the music. I write to say that this music is drawn from that hidden universal stream from which all truth and great art emanate and from which only they who have transcended the human condition may reach into with their ladle to fill our barren bowls. Humanity has served up many such messengers across the ages, poets, painters artists and musicians. Rodriguez is just such a man. Other reviews have compared him to Dylan especially, and this is understandable I suppose if you're looking for a shortcut to explain in words just what this music may be like, but believe me, this is no Dylanite - Rodrigues is every bit an original..and his songs are very much his own and so too his sound - the imagery of his lyrics is every bit as superb as Dylan at his best perhaps better, the messages powerful and inspired, these songs will move you, and because the themes are so universal and the music itself so honest, this is a timeless album which meets all the criteria of a masterpiece. If this were not enough, the music is infinitely listenable...I've been fortunate enough to have known this music since 1975 and I just never get tired of it because you can't get tired of masterpieces, they have that perfect blend of magic that keeps us forever spellbound and if I could only keep 10 cds, this will always be one of them no matter how many more cds they ever press. This is not Dylan or Young or Cohen.. this is Rodriguez as himself. To Mr. Rodriguez I say thank you on behalf of two generations of South Africans. God bless you.
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110 of 118 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Eva! Why didn't you tell me? January 19, 2005
Rodriquez's daughter Eva, was a good friend of mine when she was in the Army. She mentioned once, almost passingly, that her father was a musician. She diverted my questions so I thought he must have been some studio musician or the like, at best. I'd lost track of Eva and wanted to say hello. While searching for her I ran across web-pages devoted to her father; he's a very big deal overseas (South Africa and Australia especially, it seems).

Curious, I ordered this album and absolutely loved it! So, the question is: Eva, why didn't you tell me what a wonderful singer/songwriter your Dad is?
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars newest favorite
bought this for a family member hope she likes it as much as I do.....very habit forming and relaxing, love it
Published 21 hours ago by Bill Medwig
5.0 out of 5 stars The Best!!!!
This man is the best. I love it. I can't believe I had never heard of him before. The radio plays the same old same old. We need to get over it and play the good stuff. Read more
Published 1 day ago by Greta A. Trigg
4.0 out of 5 stars Rodriguez is amazing
My son mentioned the documentary on Rodriguez to me and I was able to watch it and was absolutely amazed at this kind and talented man. Read more
Published 2 days ago by Darrell Gibson
5.0 out of 5 stars An Unearthed Treasure
I first learned of Rodriguez while visiting New Zealand in March, 2013 and hearing him interviewed on a radio station there. When I returned to the States, I bought this album. Read more
Published 2 days ago by Lindsay R. Barnes, Jr.
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful songs
This is a great poet and musician :)
I also highly recommend watching the documentary of his life story. It's called, "Sugar Man" :)
Published 3 days ago by "Strange Affair"
5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely wonderful!!
Just like many others, I was blown away with the movie Searching For Sugarman. An incredible story, and it's hard to imagine that this great artist was more well-known in South... Read more
Published 3 days ago by Bernard Most
5.0 out of 5 stars Cold Fact
This guy is so incredible. He was beyond his time. He is in his 60s and his music should be on the radio today. It is great that Amazon sells his CDs.......
Published 3 days ago by Cathy Vacca
5.0 out of 5 stars Really amazing music.
After seeing the movie about Rediguez, and being intriqued because I live in southeast Michigan, I purchased this album as well as Coming from Reality. Read more
Published 4 days ago by Renegade
5.0 out of 5 stars great
lost for 40 years selling a very few in the U. S. a time machine of what is happin' today...
Published 4 days ago by Garry O. Logan
5.0 out of 5 stars easy listening
I enjoyed this CD very much. I like his music and his easy going style. And I won't get tired of playing it over and over again. I would recommend it to a friend.
Published 5 days ago by Lila Maine
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Topic From this Discussion
will Sixto Rodriguez get some money finally?
Yes he will. He probably won't keep it though, I remember the movie saying that he gives most of his money away. I went out and bought the "Coming From Reality" LP after watching the documentary, I had bootlegged "Cold Fact" a while ago and wanted to thank this man for the... Read more
2 days ago by Woogie |  See all 2 posts
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