1. Sugar Man 2. Crucify Your Mind 3. Cause 4. I Wonder 5. Like Janis 6. This Is Not A Song, It's An Outburst: Or, The Establishment Blues 7. Can't Get Away 8. I Think Of You 9. Inner City Blues 10. Sandrevan Lullaby - Lifestyles 11. Street Boy 12. A Most Disgusting Song 13. I'll Slip Away 14. Jane S. Piddy
Rodriguez Searching for Sugar Man (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
“Better late than never” is a phrase that seems rather apropos for Rodriguez. Born Sixto Diaz Rodriguez in Detroit, Michigan in 1942, Rodriguez’s socially conscious folk tunes never received much attention in the U.S. for some reason. He did receive some success overseas in South Africa and Australia, and now he has had quite a renaissance in the 21st century in both Europe and the U.S. His classic albums, Cold Fact and Coming from Reality have been re-released over the past few years and a documentary will be released soon.
Searching for Sugar Man is a documentary from Swedish director Malik Bendjelloul documenting two fans efforts to see if Rodriguez’s rumored death was true, and what had come of him if it were not. It won the Audience Award and the Special Jury Prize for World Cinema – Documentary at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. The soundtrack is compilation of songs from the two aforementioned albums and consists of 14 tracks. Both the movie and soundtrack will be released in late July, but you can find a nice trailer for the film if you Google it.
I often wonder why some artists make it and others don’t. There are many different reasons for this of course, and listening to songs by Rodriguez it’s easy to remember that life isn’t always fair.
Before listening to Searching for Sugar Man I already had some familiarity with this artist, and after listening to it, it’s hard to understand why so many more people don’t. In an era of artists like Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel, and Richie Havens, Rodriguez seemed to fit right in. His songs are excellent and speak for an era that never really embraced him. Reading up on him and watching the trailer for this film makes it all even more interesting.
The 14 tracks on Searching for Sugar Man are a nice selection from Rodriguez’s two previous releases. For someone that isn’t willing to purchase those two albums, it certainly gives you a quality “best of” type album, but if you really enjoy Rodriguez you might as well get the two re-releases. Of course you could just get all three and help support an artist who has long deserved it… maybe you want to wait until you see the film for all that though. Either way, do give Rodriguez a listen. For many of you longing to hear music like you did back then, this is a great way to hear songs you likely didn’t.
Key Tracks: Sugar Man, Crucify Your Mind, I Wonder
