Sep 20 2025
4
Rating: 8/10 Best songs: Sugar man, Only God for conversation, Crucify your mind, I wonder
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From the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
Cold Fact
Rodríguez
1970
Album Summary
Note: This album has been submitted by a user and is not included in any edition of the book.
Cold Fact is the debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Rodriguez, released in the United States by Sussex Records in March 1970. The album sold poorly in the United States, but performed better in South Africa and Australia, with Rodriguez touring Australia in 1979. In 1971 the album was released in South Africa by A&M Records. In 1976, several thousand copies of Cold Fact were found in a New York warehouse and sold out in Australia in a few weeks. It went to No. 23 on the Australian album charts in 1978, staying on the charts for fifty-five weeks. In 1998 Cold Fact was awarded a platinum disc in South Africa, and was five-times platinum in Australia. Rodriguez has since toured South Africa and Australia with much success, but remained relatively unknown in his native country of the US. This began to change after the reissues of his albums in the US by Light in the Attic Records in 2008 and 2009, and even further in 2012 with the Academy Award winning documentary film Searching for Sugar Man, which soon led to appearances on major American television shows like 60 Minutes and The Late Show with David Letterman. Cold Fact has sold 201,000 since Nielsen SoundScan started tracking in 1991, 173,000 of those after the film opened, 98,000 in the wake of the Oscar win. Coming from Reality has moved 105,000 albums, 99,000 since the movie hit, 60,000 post-Academy Awards. The film's soundtrack album (which was picked up by Sony's Legacy catalog division) boasts 152,000 in sales.
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Sep 20 2025
4
Interesting. I liked it and it seems like something g I should have encountered before now.
Sep 21 2025
4
A legendary album from a mythic artist. Fascinating story and a great psych folk record. The comparisons to Bob Dylan mentioned in Searching For Sugar Man are a bit generous, and although Rodriguez didn’t bring anything visionary to the genre, he showed a great understanding of how to write a catchy, thoughtful song.
Sep 22 2025
4
What a stunning LP, completely distinct and original compared to the rest of the 1001. Rodríguez shows what a singer-songwriter album can be – not just a threadbare collection of acoustic guitar and ho-hum lyricism, but a striking diatribe wrapped in warm, crisp instrumentation. The lo-fi 70s' recording definitely adds to the air of grounded mysticism that permeates the LP, each track rich in varied instrumentation that uplifts and intertwines with Rodríguez's firm but emotional delivery. Every song tackles a distinct (still relevant) social ill, yet even the sparser tracks still feel hopeful and upbeat as Rodríguez spins the hard facts of the matter into lines you can bop your head along to. The best part of this LP is how genuine and human it feels – seems like the guy walked into the studio, picked up a guitar, and laid his woes straight to tape. It's a living artistic statement, and a musical triumph that many albums on this list could only hope to be.