Cold Fact - Rodriguez - Music - MFSL - 0821797250115 - September 30, 2026
In case cover and title do not match, the title is correct

Rodriguez
Cold Fact

Price
£ 65.99
Expected ready for shipment on release
Get notified about new Rodriguez releases

Our customers say:

14-day return policy in accordance with European consumer protection law
Top ranking on Trustpilot
Add to your iMusic wish list
or

Also available as:

However, decades would pass before Sixto Rodriguez achieved international recognition for the album Cold Fact. The singer-songwriter's debut album, originally released in 1970 on Sussex Records, quickly faded into obscurity, forcing the Detroit-born musician back to a life as a construction worker. But as is often the case with great art, the album's melodic psychedelic folk and thematic depth eventually found a large audience – and became the starting point for one of the 21st century's most fascinating music stories. For many years, rumors circulated that Rodriguez had died, and only almost half a century later did the truth emerge. Thus began the journey that culminated with the Oscar-winning documentary Searching for Sugar Man – the film that completed the circle of Rodriguez's career and gave the singer-songwriter the recognition he deserved in his home country. After Cold Fact had sold more than a quarter of a million copies in the USA, Rodriguez's debut was considered among classics alongside albums by Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Love, and Curtis Mayfield. As they say: Better late than never.

Rodriguez was discovered by Motown's legendary "Funk Brother" Dennis Coffey and Mike Theodore, after they had heard him perform at a bar in Detroit in the late 1960s. Coffey described him as a "Mexican Bob Dylan". Shortly after, Rodriguez entered the studio, where he collaborated with acclaimed musicians such as bassist Bob Babbitt and drummer Andrew Smith. Additionally, strings from the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and a horn section participated. The recordings for Cold Fact were completed in just two months. Although the album was generally well-received by critics, hopes for a breakthrough quickly faded: The album flopped, and the LP slipped into obscurity. The follow-up, Coming From Reality, did not change the situation either, and Rodriguez largely disappeared from the music scene. Sussex Records also went bankrupt in 1975. By that time, Rodriguez had already given up music and supported himself with low-wage jobs in demolition and construction. He bought a house in Detroit at a government auction for just 50 dollars and engaged in the local community as an activist, spokesperson, and political candidate. Only a very few outside his immediate circle knew about his musical past. In Australia and South Africa, however, he was regarded as a star. In the late 1970s, his popularity in Australia led to a series of sold-out concerts, and in 1981 he returned as an opening act for Midnight Oil. At the same time, his almost mythical status grew in South Africa. Many young people, disillusioned with apartheid, censorship, and conscription, embraced the messages on Cold Fact as a symbol of resistance and freedom. It is believed that an American woman brought the album to South Africa, played it for her friends, after which copies of copies spread like wildfire. No one knows how many thousands of pirated copies were sold, but Cold Fact is said to have sold better than albums by both The Beatles and Elvis Presley.

MFSL now presents Cold Fact for the first time in audiophile reference quality. Mastered from the original master tapes at MoFi Studio in California, pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing, individually numbered and limited to 4,000 copies, this 2LP is released on 180g vinyl at 45 RPM in an exclusive gatefold cover from Stoughton Printing. The edition offers the best sound quality the album has ever had on vinyl. This collector's release sets new standards for depth, transparency, and dynamics. No previous edition has reproduced the instrument separation, the tight bass, and the other sonic qualities of Dennis Coffey's production with the same precision. From the melodramatic strings and short horn passages in "Sugar Man" to the fuzz-distorted guitar lines in the somber "Only Good For Conversation" and the intimate atmosphere in "Inner City Blues" – every single detail benefits from the new proximity and clarity in MoFi's remastering.

Media Music     VINYL     LP   (Vinyl)
Number of records 2
To be released September 30, 2026
EAN/UPC 0821797250115
Label MOBILE FIDELITY SOUND LAB MFSL2-501
Genre Singer-songwriter
Dimensions 320 × 325 × 7 mm   ·   225 g

Track list

  1. 1.   LP  

    1. Sugar Man
    2. Only Good For Conversation
    3. Crucify Your Mind
    4. This Is Not a Song, It's an Outburst: Or, The Establishment Blues
    5. Hate Street Dialogue
    6. Forget It

  2. 2.   LP  

    1. Inner City Blues
    2. I Wonder
    3. Like Janis
    4. Gommorah (A Nursery Rhyme)
    5. Rich Folks Hoax
    6. Jane S. Piddy

More by Rodriguez

Show all

More from this series

More from the same publisher

Others have also bought

Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab | LPs & SACDs

Show all

Audiophile Vinyl

Show all

Mobile Fidelity LPs

Show all

New LPs and upcoming vinyl releases

Show all

See all of Rodriguez ( e.g. Book , LP , CD , Paperback Book and Hardcover Book )