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Apr 28, 2009 Rodriguez By Nate Daly

Sixto Diaz Rodriguez recorded two albums in the early ’70s that went nowhere and when he was subsequently dropped from his label (Sussex), he returned to Detroit and gave up his career in music. Little did he know, but both albums grew in popularity in South Africa and Australia. This fact was discovered by Rodriguez’s oldest daughter when she stumbled on a pair of websites run by a South African fan searching for the missing singer. Rodriguez’s career was revitalized by the discovery although he still never caught in his home country where Cold Fact and its follow-up Coming From Reality remained virtually unheard.

Light in the Attic reissued Cold Fact in the fall of 2008 and is now presenting Coming From Reality with a trio of bonus tracks from the same era as the original records. Much more subdued than his funky folk-rock debut, Coming From Reality retains Rodriguez’s street busking Dylanesque stream-of-consciousness ramblings and his gift for a well-written pop gem. Some of these songs suffer from strings laid on to the point of distraction (“Can’t Get Away” and “To Whom It May Concern”), but Rodriguez’s strong voice and sharp wit shine through even when the production threatens to crush a song. “Heikki’s Suburbian Bus Tour” recalls a trip Rodriguez and some friends took from Detroit to the suburbs to strike back against the rich folks who made fun of the inner city hippies. “A Most Disgusting Song” is a long narrative recalling all the cruddy gigs he had played and the dive bar characters he encountered.

Coming From Reality is an interesting peek into the work of a “vanished” artist and certainly does contain some great songwriting and clever lyrics. Rodriguez seems to relish the low life and the hippie slums, but many of these songs would have played better and retained more authenticity without the elaborate production, which feels tacked on and unnecessary. (www.lightintheattic.net)

Author rating: 5/10