Cold Fact

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Rodriguez

Cold Fact

Light in the Attic

AGS-025LP

Cassette Tape	$12
CD	$12
LP Black	$18

First Official re-release
Includes the classic cut “Sugar Man,” as featured in the award-winning documentary film Searching For Sugar Man
Produced by fuzz guitar god Dennis Coffey & Mike Theodore
CD & LP includes unseen photos, lyrics, and detailed liner notes interviewing Rodriguez
LP features old-school tip on jacket, insert w/ liner notes
Cassettes are hand-numbered and housed in a custom made Stoughton tip-on box. This type of box hasn’t been used since the 70s! Deluxe all the way!

Description

It’s one of the lost classics of the ‘60s, a psychedelic masterpiece drenched in colour and inspired by life, love, poverty, rebellion. 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 as a day laborer in Detroit, Michigan. He was unaware that his defining album had become not only a cult classic, but for the people of South Africa, a beacon of revolution

First Official re-release
Includes the classic cut “Sugar Man,” as featured in the award-winning documentary film Searching For Sugar Man
Produced by fuzz guitar god Dennis Coffey & Mike Theodore
CD & LP includes unseen photos, lyrics, and detailed liner notes interviewing Rodriguez
LP features old-school tip-on jacket, insert w/ liner notes
Cassettes are hand-numbered and housed in a custom-made Stoughton tip-on box. This type of box hasn’t been used since the 70s! Deluxe all the way!

“****” – MOJO

“One of those rare lost albums that turns out to be a genuine classic” – Joe Tangari, Pitchfork

“A buried treasure worth its weight in gold” – AllMusic

It’s one of the lost classics of the ‘60s, a psychedelic masterpiece drenched in colour and inspired by life, love, poverty, rebellion. 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 as a day laborer in Detroit, Michigan. He was unaware that his defining album had become not only a cult classic, but for the people of South Africa, a beacon of revolution.

Rodriguez 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. When the follow-up, 1972’s Coming From Reality, also sold poorly, Rodriguez called an end to his recording career. He’d never even played a proper gig. And he got on with life. Over the years, he turned his hand to local politics, gaining a degree in philosophy, factory work and eventually, hard labour.

As his music career became a memory, Rodriguez’s legend was growing – on the other side of the world. In South Africa, 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 rumours said he’d died of a drug overdose or burned to death on stage. Others said he was in a mental institution, or in prison for murdering his girlfriend. Barring a couple of sold out Australian tours in 1979 and 1981, nothing had been heard of him for almost 30 years.

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.

Now, Light In The Attic is set to commit Cold Fact and Coming From Reality to CD for an entire new audience, 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.

Rodriguez receives royalties from the sale of this release

Artist Bio

*Audio and/or tracklist may very slightly from the vinyl version.
1 Sugar Man
2 Only Good For Conversation
3 Crucify Your Mind
4 This Is Not A Song, It's An Outburst Or, The Establishment Blues
5 Hate Street Dialogue
6 Forget It
7 Inner City Blues
8 I Wonder
9 Like Janis
10 Gommorah (A Nursery Rhyme)
11 Rich Folks Hoax
12 Jane S. Piddy
13 I'll Slip Away (Digital-Only Album Bundle)
14 You'd Like To Admit It (Digital-Only Album Bundle)

Rodriguez

Cold Fact

Preview Tracklist

1 Sugar Man Sorry, but your browser is out dated and can't play audio.

2 Only Good For Conversation Sorry, but your browser is out dated and can't play audio.

3 Crucify Your Mind Sorry, but your browser is out dated and can't play audio.

4 This Is Not A Song, It's An Outburst Or, The Establishment Blues Sorry, but your browser is out dated and can't play audio.

5 Hate Street Dialogue Sorry, but your browser is out dated and can't play audio.

6 Forget It Sorry, but your browser is out dated and can't play audio.

7 Inner City Blues Sorry, but your browser is out dated and can't play audio.

8 I Wonder Sorry, but your browser is out dated and can't play audio.

9 Like Janis Sorry, but your browser is out dated and can't play audio.

10 Gommorah (A Nursery Rhyme) Sorry, but your browser is out dated and can't play audio.

11 Rich Folks Hoax Sorry, but your browser is out dated and can't play audio.

12 Jane S. Piddy Sorry, but your browser is out dated and can't play audio.

13 I'll Slip Away (Digital-Only Album Bundle) Sorry, but your browser is out dated and can't play audio.

14 You'd Like To Admit It (Digital-Only Album Bundle) Sorry, but your browser is out dated and can't play audio.

1 Sugar Man

2 Only Good For Conversation

3 Crucify Your Mind

4 This Is Not A Song, It's An Outburst Or, The Establishment Blues

5 Hate Street Dialogue

6 Forget It

7 Inner City Blues

8 I Wonder

9 Like Janis

10 Gommorah (A Nursery Rhyme)

11 Rich Folks Hoax

12 Jane S. Piddy

13 I'll Slip Away (Digital-Only Album Bundle)

14 You'd Like To Admit It (Digital-Only Album Bundle)