Cold Fact

Sixto Rodriguez, Rodriguez

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 19, 2008)
• Original Release Date: 1970
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Light In The Attic
• ASIN: B001BKVWYG
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #37,989 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

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

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars COLD FACT Is a Hot Album, January 10, 2006

By	Richard B. Luhrs (Jackson Heights, NY United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Eva! Why didn't you tell me?, January 19, 2005

By	M. Scheller (Fort Hood, Texas) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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?

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rodriguez - The Cold FAQs (facts), September 10, 1999

By	Brian Currin (Cape Town, Western Cape South Africa) - See all my reviews

Rodriguez has been a household name in South Africa since the early 70's. The album Cold Fact has become a cult classic in South Africa, but unbelievably Rodriguez is still unknown elsewhere (except maybe in Australia, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, and now Sweden!). He is never mentioned in any music magazines, rock encyclopedias or any other publications on the history of Rock. As one news headline said during the 1998 South African tour: "American Zero, South African Hero".