"Coming From Reality" by RODRIGUEZ [Sixto] - November 1971 US Second LP on Sussex Records featuring Producer Steve Rowland, Keyboardist Phil Dennys and Bassist Gary Taylor - All Of The Family Dogg - With Andrew Steele of The Herd and Stealers Wheel and Guitarist Chris Spedding (August 2019 UK Universal/Sussex 'Expanded Edition' CD Reissue and Remaster - Based On The May 2009 Light in The Attic Records Reissue) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 This Review Along With 347 Others Is Available In My

SOUNDS GOOD E-Book on all Amazon sites

GET IT ON - 1971

Your All-Genres Guide To

Exceptional CD Reissues and Remasters  

50th Anniversary Issue for 2021

Over 2,600 E-Pages 

All Details and In-Depth Reviews From Discs 

(No Cut and Paste Crap)

Just Click Below To Purchase

<iframe style="width:120px;height:240px;" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" src="//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=mabasreofcdbl-21&language=en_GB&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B06XFXCG47&asins=B06XFXCG47&linkId=6b6b550334019077ff7a777cb9cf83a4&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true"></iframe>

<iframe style="width:120px;height:240px;" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" src="//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=mabasreofcdbl-21&language=en_GB&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B07SDH92N1&asins=B07SDH92N1&linkId=9acf3b77daabf126405ababfdff49f65&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true"></iframe>

"...I Think Of You..."

From the early to late Sixties, Motown’s R&B and Soul had put the Motor City of Detroit on the musical map big time. Emerging singer-songwriters flocked there and cut their teeth in bars and cafes, soaked up the campus and street politics and hoped to get noticed or even a record-deal. Amongst these hopefuls was Folk-Soul hero Sixto Rodriguez (pronounced Sees Toe) - born in Detroit, Michigan in 1942 to recently emigrated Mexican parents. 

The career resurrection miracle of Rodriguez and his two forgotten American albums – the debut "Cold Fact" from March 1970 on Sussex SXBS 7000 followed the next year by "Coming From Reality" in November 1971 on Sussex SXBS 7012 – are the subject of the fabulous movie/documentary "Searching For Sugar Man" – a project that has received more universal positive reviews than you can shake a stick at (see separate review). Here we want to concentrate on the music – specifically that second album and some tracks from an aborted third. To the details...

UK released 30 August 2019 - "Coming From Reality" by RODRIGUEZ on Universal/Sussex 00602577896354 (Barcode 602577896354) is a CD Reissue and Remaster with Three Bonus Tracks (originally done by Light In The Attic Records of the USA in 'Expanded Edition' form in May 2009) that plays out as follows (50:15 minutes): 

1. Climb Up On My Music [Side 1]

2. A Most Disgusting Song 

3. I Think Of You 

4. Heikki's Suburbia Bus Tour 

5. Silver Words 

6. Sandrevan Lullaby - Lifestyles [Side 2]

7. To Whom It May Concern 

8. It Started Out So Nice 

9. Halfway Up The Stairs 

10. Cause 

Tracks 1 to 10 are his second and last studio album of the period "Coming From Reality" – released November 1971 in the USA on Sussex Records SXBS-7012 and December 1971 in the UK on A&M Records AMLS 68073 – both in a die-cut gatefold sleeve. Produced by STEVE ROWLAND and recorded at Lansdowne Studios in London – it didn't chart in either country. 

BONUS TRACKS: 

11. Can't Get Away 

12. Street Boy 

13. I'll Slip Away 

MUSICIANS were:

SIXTO RODRIGUEZ – Lead Vocals and Acoustic Guitar 

CHRIS SPEDDING – Lead Electric Guitar 

PHIL DENNYS – Keyboards 

GARY TAYLOR – Bass

ANDREW STEELE – Drums 

JIMMY HOROWITZ – Violin on "Sandrevan Lullaby -Lifestyles"

Strings and Additional Musicians - Unknown

NOTE: Producer Steve Rowland, Keyboardist Phil Dennys and Bassist Gary Taylor were all in a band called The Family Dogg. Andrew Steele had been with The Herd and would join Stealers Wheel. 

What you have here is technically a reissue of a reissue. One of America's finest reissue labels 'Light In The Attic' Records championed the two Rodriguez albums by releasing them back in August 2008 and May 2009 – both CDs coming in lavish digipak book packaging. "Cold Fact" was Light in The Attic LITA 036 (Barcode 826853003629) while "Coming From Reality" was on LITA 038 (Barcode 826853003827). Light In The Attic also issued VINYL variants too. Fans of Rodriguez and the film "Searching For Sugar Man" have been purchasing those American releases ever since. 

But after years of clambering, Universal Music (or UM as its often abbreviated to) licensed those reissues and on 30 August 2019, we finally got British reissues housed this time in a jewel case and pitched at mid-price with a 16-page lyric booklet but minus the liner notes. There is also an August 2019 UK VINYL LP variant for "Coming From Reality" on Universal/Sussex 00602577077388 (Barcode 602577077388). The liner notes advise that the same 2009 LITA Remaster is used and it features the same three Bonus Tracks from his aborted third album "Can't Get Away" - a trio that shows just how well his songwriting had progressed. To the music...

The extraordinarily strong cut "To Whom It Concerns" b/w the equally impressive "I Think Of You" was issued as a lone Stateside 45-single in June 1972 on Sussex SUX 234 and promptly got lost in a sea of seven-inch singles. What's worse is that despite a British recorded and pressed LP by A&M Records – the Blighty side of A&M didn't give the LP a 45-single push at all - which seems odd given the strength of both those sides. The LP was at least issued in other territories during 1972 (Rhodesia, Australia and as far away as Japan) - hardly surprising given the huge popularity of "Cold Fact" in South Africa where Rodriguez became a superstar. The English LP even sported the same die-cut image gatefold sleeve that the US Sussex Records had – but no one seemed to notice. 

It opens with "Climb Up On My Music" where Sixto urges the listener to dive into his melodies and avoid calamities such as Christmas, Midnight and swans that turn into geese. Strummed acoustic guitars and his nasal voice feel like a Jose Feliciano album that's buzzing - electric guitar flicking notes out of your left speaker. Immediately I feel that "Coming From Reality" the album is a huge progression musically over the (admittedly) much more popular debut "Cold Fact". But better comes in "A Most Disgusting Song" - one they used to real effect in the movie. A stream-of-consciousness set of lyrics spoken-word and float out of your speakers like Dylan getting all Soulful. Odd bod characters like Jimmy "Bad Luck" Butts, Mr. Flood, Tiny Tim and Uncle Tom smooze around a party where everyone is drinking detergents that cannot (alas) remove the hurt. 

But then genuine magic slinks out of your speakers in the form of the utterly gorgeous "I Think Of You" - an acoustic ballad akin to Labi Siffre or Gilbert O'Sullivan in his better moments - lovely string arrangements lifting up the lyrics about love melting like snowflakes in the sun (with thoughts of you). Surely this would have been maybe a Duncan Browne "Journey" moment in 1972 for him – but A&M definitely missed a trick there. We rock-out with the guitar-riffage of the excellent "Heikki's Suburbia Bus Tour" – a sort of angry Bill Withers vibe where picture-taking tourists rub shoulders with itchy trigger-finger natives in someone else's war. Side 1 ends with another acoustic ballad – the short but of so sweet "Silver Words?" – cello notes floating over lyrics about a woman he likes (and it's not just because he's smoking something other than Gauloises). 

There is a fair amount of hiss at the start of "Sandrevan Lullaby – Lifestyles" that opens Side 2 with a gorgeous 'Musical Theme'. I'm reminded of Clifford T. Ward string quartet sadness or Al Stewart getting historical as Rodriguez goes into a fabulous set of lyrics. Judges with meter maid hearts order supermarket justice starts – night rains stabbing at his window – clouds that pierce the illusion...very cool stuff and again beautifully layered string arrangements. You can hear why Sussex tried the easy-on-the-ear jaunt in "To Whom It May Concern" as the A-side of a single, but for me it's one of the occasions on the album where the strings feel intrusive and not helpful. "Concern..." is good, but had they lead with "I Think Of You" – things might have been so different. 

The home run features another Spanish Acoustic strum - "It Started Out So Nice" – a long string of poetic images that play out a failed union - where even the ocean laughed. An electric keyboard run opens "Halfway Up The Stairs" – a very bop-moment on an otherwise mellow LP. Far better is the epic "Cause" – our man talking to Jesus at the sewer as the Pope assures Sixto that it's none of the deity's Goddamn business. There is very apparent hiss again, but it doesn't take away too much from your enjoyment as he wallops you with lyrics like "...I make sixteen solid half-hour friendships every evening..." or "...they told me everybody's got to pay their dues...and I explained that I had overpaid them..." What an end to a great album – epic strings and strummed acoustic guitar making him sound like a South American Bob Dylan hitting a sweet spot. 

Of the three Bonus cuts, "Street Boy" has Sixto sounding like Nick Drake with a Tabla backing band – but the gem is "I'll Slip Away" – as good as a melody as anything on the two albums that preceded it. A nice touch is that UM have printed the lyrics to the three extras too in the final pages of the booklet. 

Thank God someone rescued this music and his albums – Sugar Man finally home and happy – his silver magic ships back in our lives. "...I won't be down anymore" - Rodriguez sang in "Sandrevan Lullaby - Lifestyles". Amen brother... 

PS: 30 August 2019 has also seen "Cold Fact" reissued in the UK on both CD and LP - Universal/Sussex 00602577896255 (Barcode 602577896255) for the CD and Universal/Sussex 00602577077371 (Barcode 602577077371) for the "Cold Fact" LP.

"HQ" by ROY HARPER - August 1975 UK LP on Harvest Records (August 2013 and February 2018 Science Friction CD Remaster in 'Hardback Book' Packaging) - A Review by Mark Barry...

This Review and 199 More Like It Are Available In My

Amazon e-Book 

BLOW BY BLOW - 1975

Your All-Genres Guide To

Exceptional CD Reissues & Remasters 

All Reviews From The Discs Themselves 

(No Cut And Paste Crap) 

<iframe style="width:120px;height:240px;" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" src="//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=mabasreofcdbl-21&language=en_GB&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B08RDVQJXV&asins=B08RDVQJXV&linkId=e28b896c81e7bebf30e2101a666e021f&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true"></iframe>

"...Stand In This Light And See..."

Roy Harper's back catalogue is not surprisingly undergoing constant rediscovery by generations hungry for Seventies Classic Rock and frankly (Frank) by those who were there but simply left his albums in the racks when such things were plentiful in second-hand stores. Somehow our Roy has always remained a bit of a cult – an acquired taste really – like Bovril or Cliff Richard calendars (I like both unadorned myself).

Not unavailable anymore - at least for the purposes of CD reissue that is. Harper owns/controls his own back-catalogue now and this is reflected by the 'Science Friction' label that offers a whopping 27 albums of his for sale on CD – 50-years of original material including obscure sets like the "Flashes From The Archives Of Oblivion" live/studio double album on Harvest Records in 1974. He may no longer walk on water, but you can at least buy something that looks and sounds like he does - which by way of beefy beverages, bare-chested Julys and whiffy underarms brings us to Roy Harper's eight studio set…

1975's "HQ" featured heavy-hitters like Pink Floyd's Dave Gilmour and Zeppelin's Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones - whilst the core band accompanying multi-instrumentalist Harper was ace-axeman Chris Spedding and his Bassist Dave Cochran playing a storm alongside the Yes/King Crimson drummer Bill Bruford. David Bedford of ELP fame also did some of the arrangements especially the gorgeous brass of The Grimethorpe Colliery Band on "When An Old Cricketer Leaves The Crease". The album is also only the second of two Roy Harper reissues to receive a packaging upgrade into a 'hardback 'book' set on CD (the other is 1971's "Stormcock" - see separate review). "HQ" comes with a 28-page booklet attached within and a new 2012 'digital remix and re-sculpt' by JOHN FITZPATRICK.

In truth (like so much of his catalogue) "HQ" is all but forgotten now and of course screams out not to be. Time to rectify this heinous anomaly - ye Gods of taste and twisty beards. Let's get back to an England joining the EU with a smile instead of leaving it in a strop...

UK released August 2013 (reissued February 2018) - "HQ" by ROY HARPER on Science Friction HUCD048 (Barcode 679076770485) is a straightforward 7-track remaster of his eighth UK album from August 1975 on Harvest Records SHSP 4086. This reissue CD comes in specialist 'hardback book' packaging and it plays out as follows (40:54 minutes):

1. The Game (Parts 1-5) [Side 1]

2. The Spirit Lives

3. Grown Ups Are Just Silly Children

4. Referendum (Legend) [Side 2]

5. Forget Me Not

6. Hallucinating Light

7. When An Old Cricketer Leaves The Crease

The 28-page colour booklet designed by HARRY PEARCE is attached to the inner hardback and reflects the Hipgnosis artwork of the original album complete with the James Edgar sketch of RH on the inner sleeve. Like "Stormcock" this reissue also contains pages and pages of new cryptic almost-poetry-like liner notes from RH, black and white photos of the boys in their bare-chested cricket outfits and some shots of RH playing live, the lyrics to all six songs typed out instead of being in the illegible scrawl they were on the original inner sleeve (repro’d as they were would make reading the words all but impossible), recording and reissue credits and a sheet-card offering all of his albums from 1967's crudely-recorded "Sophisticated Beggar" through to 2005's "The Death Of God" (DVDs, Lyric Books and Tee-shirts too) from Science Friction Ltd in Clonakilty, Cork in Ireland. They're also directions to Roy Harper's own website.

Like "Stormcock" in 1971 – Master Producer PETER JENNER returns at the knobs helm (John Leckie this time as his Engineer) and delivers a gorgeously deep and rich sound yet again. But the big news is that the album has been Digitally Re-mixed and Re-sculpted in 2012 for CD by Irish Musician and Audio Engineer JOHN FITZGERALD at Lettercollum Recording Studios in Ireland (Produced by Roy Harper). This team has produced stupendous Audio - all those clean instruments swirling around your speakers like "Wish You Were Here"-period Pink Floyd on an Acoustic tip (John Fitzgerald recorded Ireland’s own Brian Kennedy and played on Harper's 2005 set "The Death Of God"). Like "Stormcock" (which he prepared also) - this CD is a sonic winner. Now let's get to the music...

Re-listening to this simple yet somehow dense album in 2018 - "HQ" remains alarmingly up-to-date what with its very own referendum song on joining the EU in 1974 as Britain now prepares to leave it 44-years later for exactly the same cultural reasons Harper mentions (amongst other things).  In fact his whole soundscape of huge Acoustic Guitars and echoed swirling treated vocals has surely been a secret stepping point for so many new writers and bands (you can 'so' hear how Fleet Foxes, Elbow and Vetiver got their sound - whilst Kate Bush and others have name-checked RH too and of course Zeppelin had the song "Hats Off To Roy Harper" as the last track on Side 2 of Zep III in 1970).

The brilliant and lyrically acidic five-parter "The Game" is nearly fourteen minutes long and features a bevy of famous types adding hugely to the riffage and chop/change musical ins and outs. Steve Broughton of The Edgar Broughton Band is in there as is Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin, Dave Gilmore of Pink Floyd, Bill Bruford of King Crimson and Chris Spedding doubling-up with Page on Guitars. You can even sense the spirit of 1976 Punk creeping into "The Spirit Lives" where an angry Harper still wants to believe that 'love prevails'. Side 1 ends with a fun Rock 'n' Roll pastiche to heroes of old in the witty "Grown Ups Are Just Silly Children" - Spedding letting rip on Guitar as he channels Eddie Cochran via T. Rex.

Although it doesn't say so in the liner notes or credits - I'd swear that's Page again on guitar in the 'join the EU' tune "Referendum (Legend)". Whether it is or not my fave-rave on Side 2 is the gorgeous "Forget Me Not" - a love song bathed in swirling guitar-romance and flanged voices - a sort of emotional floating tank for the ears. Hearing it again like this is a total blast and brings me back too to the fabulous soundscapes of 1971's "Stormcock" - always good news in my book. The six-and-a-half minutes of "Hallucinating Light" is a deceptive slow Blues - a sad song with hurt rumbling beneath - organ notes adding poignancy to the beautiful production values and echoed vocals. "HQ" ends on a total winner - the deeply moving "When An Old Cricketer Leaves The Crease" where David Bedford organises Saxophonist Ray Warleigh and the brass hum of The Grimethorpe Colliery Band into the song which such a deftness of arranging touch. You can envisage the scene, smell the grass and hear his shoes shuffling as he leaves something he loves deep down in his DNA.

The 1995 2nd CD Reissue of "HQ" on Science Friction HUCD019 (Barcode 5020522393522) actually included early mixes and a single version from the 1974 double-LP "Flashes From The Archives Of Oblivion" as three bonus tracks ("The Spirit Lives", "When An Old Cricketer Leaves The Crease" and "Hallucinating Light") and I suppose you could argue that their absence here is a bit of a reissue steal rather than a gift - but I'm still loving this 'upgrade' anyway - especially with this upgraded audio.

Whatever way you spin the ball "HQ" on this CD is a classy affair - reigniting my love of Roy Harper's criminally forgotten contributions to England's mighty musical repertoire. Brill my son and bowled for a six. Just keep the shirt on next time old bean...