Rodriguez - Coming From Reality

Rodriguez was one of the bigger surprises of last year for me. There was a lot of hype behind the re-release of Cold Fact, both from the press and indie rock players of the moment. To keep it 100, there are only so many bands full of twenty-year olds extolling the virtues of obscure 60's crap that I can take without wanting to go Ted Nugent on various Foxes, Bears of the Grizzly and Panda varieties, and/or any other Collectives of Animals that I might be able to get in my sights, but eventually I threw it on and was really taken with it.

Rodriguez is a Mexican-American from the Detroit area who released his debut full-length Cold Fact in 1970 to find it received as sort of a Mexican What's Going On. Light In The Attic re-released it last year in a deluxe form that's well worth checking out. Coming From Reality was the second record he did for the UK label Sussex. This record was supposed to be his version of the perfect pop record and features some of the heavy hitters of the day, including Chris Spedding. The record was meant to be the paradigm of contemporary 70's pop, but it holds up well in this millenium. Rodriguez always had a sharp eye for social commentary and he shows the same Mayfieldian consciousness on Coming From Reality. There are a couple moments, like the Shel Silverstein influenced stream of consciousness A Most Disgusting Song that get a little grating for me, but for the most part Coming From Reality is a nice slice of genuine Terry Callier-eque soul-folk. Pick it up soon here from the good folk of Light In The Attic.