Lie: The Love and Terror Cult

Lie: The Love and Terror Cult
Studio album by Charles Manson
Released	March 6, 1970
Recorded	September 11, 1967 and August 9, 1968 (overdubs)
Genre	Folk rock, psychedelic rock, outsider
Length	31:53
Label	ESP-Disk Awareness Records (reissue)
Producer	Phil Kaufman
Charles Manson chronology
Lie: The Love and Terror Cult (1970) The Family Jams (1997)

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Allmusic

Lie: The Love and Terror Cult is the debut album by Charles Manson, originally released by ESP-Disk.

The album

Recorded on September 11, 1967 and August 9, 1968 (overdubs), its distribution began during the Manson murder trial by Phil Kaufman who initially pressed a run of 2,000 copies, of which only 300 sold. He later approached ESP-Disk about putting out the album in hopes for a wider circulation, which they agreed to.

The cover is a copy of the December 19, 1969 Time Life front cover, on which Manson had appeared, only with "LIFE" substituted with "LIE."

Reissues

All proceeds from one reissue of the album, released by Awareness Records, were donated to a California fund for victims of violent crime, as California law prohibited Manson himself from collecting any money or royalties for his work.

In 2006, the album was reissued by the revived ESP-Disk label. This version included twelve bonus tracks. A label employee confirmed that all artist royalties would go to the family of Wojciech Frykowski, whom the Manson Family was convicted of having murdered.

Covers and sampling

"Cease to Exist" had been previously recorded by The Beach Boys under the name "Never Learn Not to Love," and it appears both on their 1969 album, 20/20, and as the B-side of the single of "Bluebirds over the Mountain." Manson was not given co-writing credit. The Beach Boys's version includes such significant changes as the inclusion of a bridge that was not part of Manson's version, and the change of the line "Cease to exist" to "Cease to resist," which alters the meaning of the song.

Portions of the album have been sampled or covered by many other artists, such as Front Line Assembly. Many of the songs have also been re-recorded; a version of "Look at Your Game, Girl" appears as a hidden track on the Guns N' Roses cover album "The Spaghetti Incident?", while GG Allin covered "Garbage Dump" for his 1987 album You Give Love a Bad Name and Redd Kross and The Lemonheads have both covered "Cease To Exist." The Lemonheads recorded two other songs from the album, a version of "Home is Where You're Happy" appeared on the 1988 album Creator and Evan Dando reappropriated some of the lyrics and melody of "Big Iron Door" into his song "Left For Dead," which appears on the group's 1990 album, Lovey.

The Brian Jonestown Massacre does a slightly reworked cover of "Arkansas" (called "Arkansas Revisited") on their 1999 album Bringing It All Back Home – Again. The band's leader, Anton Newcombe, has expressed interest in Manson's songwriting.

An acoustic version of the song "Sick City" was recorded by Marilyn Manson, but this has never been officially released. The Marilyn Manson song "My Monkey," from the album Portrait of an American Family, contains samples of Charles Manson speaking, as well as lyrics from the track "Mechanical Man."

Devendra Banhart does a version of "Home Is Where You're Happy".

The 1995 computer game Command & Conquer featured a remix of "Mechanical Man."

Track listing

• All Songs Written By Charles Manson. (Copyright Charles Manson)

1. "Look at Your Game, Girl" – 2:03
2. "Ego" – 2:27
3. "Mechanical Man" – 3:18
4. "People Say I'm No Good" – 3:20
5. "Home Is Where You're Happy" – 1:29
6. "Arkansas" – 3:03
7. "I'll Never Say Never to Always" – 0:41
8. "Garbage Dump" – 2:34
9. "Don't Do Anything Illegal" – 2:52
10. "Sick City" – 1:36
11. "Cease to Exist" – 2:12
12. "Big Iron Door" – 1:10
13. "I Once Knew a Man" – 2:33
14. "Eyes of a Dreamer" – 2:35

2006 ESP-Disk CD bonus tracks

1. Devil Man (3:15)
2. The More You Love (1:41)
3. Two Pairs Of Shoes (1:56)
4. Maiden With Green Eyes (Remember Me) (1:24)
5. Swamp Girl (1:58)
6. Bet You Think I Care (2:12)
7. Look At Your Game, Girl (Alternate Version) (1:45)
8. Interview (3:17)
9. Who To Blame (2:26)
10. True Love You Will Find (2:52)
11. My World (1:45)
12. Invisible Tears (1:33)