the following article was written by Stephen "Sugar" Segerman in mid - 1996 |
Rodriguez --- Cult or Crap?
The Cold Facts
During November 1996 the third in the trilogy of Rodriguez LPs "The
Best of Rodriguez" will be released in South Africa on CD for the
first time. Earlier in `96 the previously unavailable "After the Fact/Coming From Reality" joined "Cold Fact" on the CD shelves after Polygram, recognising the huge demand for this LP, launched a search to fund a usable copy of what proved to be an extremely rare record. "Cold Fact" has sold steadily through the years and "After the Fact" has proved equally successful, hence the release of the "Best" CD. Now if you grew up in S.A. during the 70s then this could be major news especially if you now live overseas because with the exception of a few sightings in Zimbabwe, Australia and New Zealand, these three LPs have been almost totally unknown and unavailable anywhere else in the world. There are no references to
Rodriguez or his work in any of the rock (or general music) reference books
Originally released on Buddah Records in the U.S.A., the masters of the
three LPs became the property of A & M Records when they bought Buddah
Records. The three LPs were subsequently pressed and released in S.A. For
an assortment of reasons, of the three, "Cold Fact" achieved
the most success and sold like the proverbial bushfire. When "Cold Fact"
first appeared on CD,it found many of the S.A. Baby Boomers living in a
multitude of new (adopted ) countries where Rodriguez was as well known
as Bles Bridges; so the locally pressed CD was soon on the list of things
to be sent to family and friends overseas, that were `unavailable anywhere`
like fishpaste and biltong. . To them I say "Well
I wonder how many times you`ve been had,and I wonder if all your dreams
have gone bad…." There is something in these records that resists
analysis and objectivity, you just had to be there! "After the Fact"
is mostly as unknown as "Cold Fact" is known, so it should be
interesting to see how it`s judged by `The old fans`. It is a strong L.P.
and bears close comparison with "Cold Fact". "The Best of
Rodriguez" contains songs mostly from the two 'Fact' LPs with a few
rarities thrown in. |
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