Charles Manson
Lie: The Love and Terror Cult

After being responsible for the Bel Air massacre, Charles Manson, evidently unsatisfied, decides to kill music as well.

The first track is actually pleasant, vaguely reminiscent, in the atmospheres and singing style (not to mention the vocal tone) of Israel Kamakawiwo'ole. Nothing special, but I think it's passable, especially considering the fact that our guy is only accompanying himself with an acoustic guitar.
The second track seems like something by the Doors fused with Bob Dylan. There are even some percussion instruments here! The third track is very similar to the second but is much more psychedelic, and particularly less convincing (at a certain point I can safely say that what is heard is just noise). The fourth track? Too slow and dispersive, extremely boring! And he doesn't seem to handle the guitar well, in my opinion.

Manson talks more than sings, and only in some parts does he hint at a melody (which is sometimes very beautiful, eh! But he needs to talk less and sing more!). The fifth track is a Weezer-like chord progression over which Manson emits the usual whines. This track is also very short.
The sixth track stands out for some guitar phrases that, if nothing else, show a willingness to make good music (no, because one might think that Manson deliberately makes bad music, who knows!). The seventh track starts with a woman (with reverberated voice) singing a lullaby. All this serves to introduce Manson who sings a kind of slower Obladì Obladà (ok, we all know he loved the Beatles to CRAZINESS, why should we be surprised?). At some point in the chorus, a double voice also overlaps! Well, I would say let's stop here!

There are 14 songs in total, and all very similar to each other, with their psychedelic attempts and their country influences. The biggest problem of the album is the level of recording! I know the guy was in prison, but I'm evaluating the level of the result and not Manson's validity as a musician. Earlier I made a long list of flaws but, even if it may seem strange, if it weren't for the very low recording level, I might have even given him a passing grade. The tracks are not anything genius, but some are peculiar, and the singing melody is sometimes even very interesting. However, there are too many tracks where he is undecided whether to sing or talk. And in the end, the songs, even if some stand out for some ideas, are more or less all similar. The "orchestration" is poor! The sound is always weak and confused, always empty. And then at some moments, his voice is unbearable. Actually, it deserved a rating between 2 and 3, but I decided on a 2 rather than a 3 because the recording is really too poor!

CONCLUSION: I expected a crazy killer with a guitar talking about the devil with blood in his mouth and inciting sex with animals and instead, I find a stoned hippie who doesn't know how to play the guitar well! However, I don't want to be too harsh, so I'll briefly summarize the few good things about the album: in the rare melodic moments, the singing offers some good trials (apart from some fragments of unbearable whining), the psychedelic moments are quite engaging and... that's it.

The rest is insignificant. However, I read somewhere that Neil Young likes this album a lot, who knows...