by osmosis

With his career resurrected by last year’s re-issue of Cold Fact, Rodriguez and In the Light have undergone a campaign to get that disc’s follow up, 1971’s Coming from Reality, a bit of attention as well. It seems to have worked thus far. With a spate of national and international dates set up and underway, Rodriguez, who’s gettin’ near 70 at this point, is obviously pleased to have undergone a revival of sorts. And as the guitarist and songwriter hails from the rust belt berg of Detroit, he’s seen fit to enlist former Gories’ guitarist Dan Kroha in his band - as if there wasn’t enough reason to see the show in the first place.

On that first disc, Cold Fact, Rodriguez, accompanied by more than a few of the Funk Brothers worked in a supped up Dylan mode while the lyrics focused on an oddly misogynistic series of questions and figurings. Despite that, though, the singer was able to turn in one of the unheralded classics of the early ‘70s folk scene. That being said, Coming from Reality, falls flat even if it’s not compared to its predecessor.

Being recorded in England at the behest Steve Rowland, who was and remains a respected behind the boards guy, this album simply didn’t have the teeth it needed to impact music on either side of the Atlantic. Even with this sort of excitement prior to recording – and perhaps due to it – songs are doused with pervasive and unsettling strings in an overproduced menagerie of clumped up sounds. The inclusion of Chris Spedding on guitar, who played on Here Come the Warm Jets by Eno and even mixed the first Teenage Head album, wasn’t able to bring this offering up to an acceptable level quality.

While Coming from Reality might rightly be seen as a let down, there are still shimmering glimpses of Rodriguez’s writing ability - even if these couplets aren’t joined with any sort of befitting music accompaniment. “Cause,” one of the more listenable tracks here spits up “My heart’s become a crooked hotel full of rumors/But it’s I who pays the rent for these finger faced outta tuners.” That’s a bit hard to decipher, but it’s an unmitigated slew of artful poetics.

Originally, this disc sported ten tracks, but on the re-do a few get tacked on representing a number of Rodriguez’s pre-album singles. “I’ll Slip Away,” and its reworked re-issue “Can’t Get Away,” constitute two of the most enjoyable tracks here. Even if the former is splashed with some European sounding flute workouts, the strength of the singer’s performance easily lifts it beyond anything else here.

Light in the Attic may have culled the entire back catalog of this man in a short few years. But what’s been unloosed on the public – even this disc – should entertain them for a good while to come.