On Cold Fact, his forgotten 1970 debut, this working-class Mexican-American hippie from Detroit suggested a Dylan superfan who liked to drop acid before his shift at the Ford plant. A reissue of Fact last year fueled a hipster rediscovery and, now, the release of this softly dystopian 1971 follow-up. Coming From Reality is a mix of ride-my-rainbow trippiness and laid-back sensitive-maleness fueled by rage rather than good vibes. When Rodriguez gripes, “I see my people tryin’ to drown the sun in weekends of whiskey sours,” it’s hard to know who his people are, because he’s ticked at everyone (“there’s the militant with his store-bought soul,” “judges with meter maid hearts,” “the local ditty-bop pimp”). An elegiac string section and a parade of mind-mellowing women soften the bite, but Rodriguez’s supple soul-jazz misanthropy 
is testament to a Me Decade he found a unique way of hating.

Download “Cause,” “A Most Disgusting Song”