The Haute Critique

Sometimes artists slip through the cracks. Detroit in the late 60’s was a boom town for music. Motown had affirmatively earned the title of Hitsville, and the burgeoning rock scene (The Stooges, MC5, Ted Nugent) was in its most raw and primordial. One side, the Goliath of African American culture and the other a nebula of the spirited, but decidedly white, Motor City Rock scene.

MC5 is alive!

Rodriquez was raised in a working class Mexican home. Not belonging exactly to either of the parties in the racially charged environment, he appropriated everything. Himself, he was a singer-songwriter type. His subject, in contrast to singer-songwriter peers, was decidedly urban and gritty. By the time he recorded Cold Fact, a truly unique fusion of the swirling influences of MC5 style raw frustrations and Motown’s machined, sophisticated groove, all of these forces collided. The moral equivalent of today’s mashup, Cold Fact represents an unparalleled achievement in 1970, and something of which today’s artists are only beginning to scratch the surface.

Sixto Rodriguez

The full story culminating in the birth of the album, its obscurity and rediscovery are the stuff of music geek fantasy. It’s all in the very long liner notes. They provide an indispensable companion. Alone, couch-locked in your listening chair, with that pamphletized manifesto of historical biography you get transported. It is hard to explain, but let me try.

When new music hits the streets, there is an excitement. It is a magic moment when the world and art crystallize in an unexplainable alignment of planets. It stirs an excitement. OK Computer, Straight Outta Compton, Joy Division. There is an energy that embodies the music, the time, and the place. By the time the next generation hears those tracks, they are so woven into the fabric of today’s music that the sheer newness is unrecoverable.

Few times in the history of music has that planetary alignment been stronger than at the dawning of the age of Aquarius. The late 60’s are a mythic period in music. Not living then, it is hard to imagine what it was like to hear the first MC5 recordings. With the reissue of Cold Fact, that is the exact gift we are given. Not only is it easy to imagine, it is nearly impossible to escape the sensation of smoking a joint in 1970. You drop the needle on the record and open a door on something so fresh and real. Fleshy and sweaty.

The very fact that Rodriguez was lost to Americans for so long, and because no one after him approached the same subjects with the same sensibilities, it is new again. Listening brings back all the colors to your dreams of the 70’s. Tie-dyed blaxploitation Andy Warhol tear gas riot songs. For better or worse you are into some good stuff.

The dated nature of the music and lyrics shakes you loose from the 21st century. You aren’t watching a faded rerun, but instead sharing the same experience as hearing The Velvet Underground when they were new. Cold Fact may never reach the acclaim of The Velvet Underground & Nico or Curtis Mayfield’s catalog. The quality of the production certainly trumps The Velvets and the intimate authenticity of his lyrics cut even deeper than Mayfield. The quality eliminates any chance of classifying the album as a curiosity and places it squarely in the treasure chest. For any self respecting stoner music geek, Cold Fact is a required staple. For those who simply want to blow your mind, drop in. An engrossing blast from a past that never was, and always will be.

But, don’t take my word for it. In the true spirit, the first one is free:

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