Background
Recorded on September 11, 1967 (Stromberg session at Universal) and August 9, 1968 (overdubs) - (Van Nuys studio session (August 8)), 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" replaced with the word "Lie".
In 1968, Phil Kaufman, who had met Manson in prison, moved in briefly with Manson and his "Family". Kaufman continually urged Manson to record some of his (Manson's) songs.
While Manson was being held on the Tate-LaBianca charges, he told Kaufman "please put out my music." According to Kaufman, Manson phoned him five days a week, even though he was allowed only three phone calls per day. Manson was "very anxious for his music to be heard."
After established record companies declined to become involved, Kaufman raised $3000 and pressed 2000 copies of an album entitled Lie: The Love & Terror Cult. Consisting of recordings made from 1967 to 1969, the album contained thirteen songs. These included "Cease to Exist", a song the Beach Boys had recorded in modified form as "Never Learn Not to Love". Each of the original 2000 copies came with a poster that was put out by "A Joint Venture" and that bore signatures of many prisoners and inmates, all supporting Manson and the Family.
The album was released March 6, 1970. It was distributed on the West Coast, by the same people who did the first underground album, Great White Wonder, a collection of pirated Bob Dylan tapes. Over the next couple of months, only about three hundred copies were sold. Having supposedly failed to recover his investment, Kaufman signed an agreement with New-York-based ESP-Disk to distribute the album nationally.
During the 1991 Ron Reagon Jr. interview with Charles Manson, Manson stated that "That particular album was made off a little old $7 tape recorder, and it was put together as a promotion angle and the guy made 6 or 7 hundred dollars for that. My music is not on tape." Reagan commented to Manson that "This isn't you singing. Sandra Good spoke to our producer yesterday and told us that this is actually someone named 'Steve Grogan'. Nevertheless, it is Manson singing.
Read more about this topic: Lie: The Love And Terror Cult
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