Charles Manson - LIE: The Love and Terror Cult
Yeah, Charles Manson... sorry, blog's credibility. The thing is, it's a kind of cool freak folk album. Although back when Charlie recorded these songs freak folk wasn't a thing, so it's basically folk music filtered through the mind of a maniac. That's got to be worth something.
Before Manson was a wiry spectre haunting the Hollywood Hills, before he was one of the most notorious cult leaders of all time, he was a struggling musician trying to make it big. There was one problem: everyone thought his music was terrible. I don't see why, either - I mean, this was the late 60s, where tons of terrible music thrived in the acid-fueled music scene of the time, and Manson's stuff was good, if not a little dark and vague. Those bands got record deals, they got to play Woodstock, Charlie didn't. I'm guessing that didn't sit well with Charlie.
Am I saying that his music getting cold-shouldered is what led to Sharon Tate and others getting brutally slain years later? No, his crippling paranoia and psychosis are to blame for that.
These songs only saw the light of day once Manson was accused of planning multiple murders. Friends of his pressed 2000 copies of the album, of which only 300 sold, to help fund his defense. Charles Manson may be a horrific human being, but once upon a time, he wrote some pretty good songs. The sound may be familiar to some, since the 'new weird america' folk scene is catching up to the insanity Manson recorded decades ago - basically, Charles Manson was Devendra Banhart before Devendra Banhart was Devendra Banhart.
-Thom
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