Sings by Charles Manson
LABEL: ESP-Disk
"...just listen to his music while blocking out what the media has plastered across the walls of your memory, there is a huge amount of talent found on this album. "
His name alone stirs a pot of emotions in most people, ranging from disgust, doom, anger, fear, embarrassment for humanity—and in extreme cases, maniacal pride and praise for horrible, ignorant reasons. Thanks to the spectacular job provided by a mind numbing media, these natural feelings and expected reactions attached to the name Charles Manson, flow through the veins of many people. But when you’re exposed to a bombardment of countless images of murderous headlines, clips of interviews that are loaded with rants, swastikas, Satanism and an overall sense of lunacy, it is not difficult to understand how his musical talent and recordings are overlooked, if looked at all.
Say what?! Charles Manson was a recording artist? Indeed, he was. According to numerous interviews and biographies, the story began in 1967, when after being released from one of his many prison sentences, Manson headed to San Francisco with a guitar in hand, slowly beginning to gain a following as a musician. Not long after his new life of music and love in the hippie scene, he met Dennis Wilson of The Beach Boys when Wilson picked up and brought home two female hitchhikers, who had happened to be members of Manson’s “family.” That night, Wilson left to a recording session, only returning to find Charlie and over a dozen other “family” members, occupying his house. This had sparked intrigue in Wilson, who not only befriended Manson, but he also allowed Charlie and the rest of his “family” to live with Wilson for a short time, at his own expense.
By 1970, after the conspired killings of a number of people, including actress Sharron Tate, had become mainstream news, Charles Manson’s album, LIE, was released. The album’s artwork depicted Life magazine’s infamous black and white cover photo of Manson, with their logo altered to read “LIE.” Now if you can just close your eyes to all of the noise and clutter attached to Manson, and just listen to his music while blocking out what the media has plastered across the walls of your memory, there is a huge amount of talent found on this album.
"Look at Your Game, Girl," the opening track to this album, is a perfect example of this talent. Accompanied by Bobby Beausoleil on acoustic guitar, Manson’s lyrics tell a classic tale of the card pulling and mask removal of an unknown female. The sound of this track can only be described as authentic, in the sense that the loudness and recording quality of this song, which can be found throughout this album, has that gritty, old cassette, sound recorder feel to it. This song is one of the most popular and well known songs recorded by Manson, and it was eventually covered by Guns N’ Roses in 1993, when it was featured on one of their less popular releases, "The Spaghetti Incident?"
Another song that stands out in this collection of rarities, "People Say I’m No Good," is a reflective piece in which Manson expresses his frustration with those who point their fingers in blame, shifting their attention outwards, focusing on distraction, instead of attending to their own internal issues. The guitars and mood of this song are depressingly dreary, and the overall tempo is appropriately slow; not necessarily a bad thing if you’re going through your own state of mind loss.
There are other notable tracks on this 1967 recording, including the catchy, childlike and semi-psychotic "I’ll Never Say Never to Always" and my personal favorite, "Garbage Dump." While the high paced lyrics of "I’ll Never Say Never To Always", sang exclusively by women (at times heard laughing in the background), has a profound effect, one that can be described as eerily innocent and equally disturbing, "Garbage Dump" on the other hand, plays like a dumpster diver’s dream. Booming with pride and joyous energy, this dedication to the “garbage pickers of America” makes a few good, unorthodox points regarding living a hungry and broke life on the streets, being forced to “get in those cans and start carving,” and the subtle jab at this country’s fascination with excess and waste, heard through the echoing message “We can feed the world with my garbage dump”¦and that sums it up in one big lump.”
REVIEWED BY DONSENSE aka SPACE JANITOR
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