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Lie: The Love and Terror Cult is the debut studio album by American musician and convicted murderer Charles Manson. It was released on vinyl on March 6, 1970, by Phil Kaufman, through a record label branded Awareness Records. Although not a commercial success, it retains a following among those interested in the Manson case, inspiring many cover versions and samples. Over the summer of 1968, Manson attempted to construct an album with members of the Beach Boys. Carl and Brian Wilson co-produced about ten songs by Manson that he recorded at the Beach Boys' personal studio. These tapes remain unreleased, though the songs themselves may overlap with the material present on Lie: The Love and Terror Cult. In December 1968, the Beach Boys released their version of Manson's "Cease to Exist" as a single B-side, except the lyrics were changed and the title was altered to "Never Learn Not to Love", which angered Manson.

In August 1969, members of the Manson Family committed several murders and were apprehended three months later. While Manson was being held on the 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". Two tracks from the album, "Look at Your Game, Girl" and "Eyes of a Dreamer", were recorded in June 1967 at a demo session for Uni Records (a subsidiary of MCA). These 2 songs appeared on a privately pressed 45 rpm single credited to "Silverhorn". When Phil Kaufman was mastering the Lie LP, he had to take these 2 tracks from a copy of the 45, as the master tapes were already lost.

Release

After established record companies declined to become involved, Kaufman raised $3,000 and pressed 2,000 copies of an album entitled Lie: The Love and Terror Cult on March 6, 1970 Having supposedly failed to recover his investment, Kaufman signed an agreement with New York-based ESP-Disk to distribute the album nationally.

<!-- "Devo are alleged to have plagiarized their song "Mechanical Man" from Manson's composition of the same name." Allegations of plagiarism are serious. Uncited allegations of plagiarism shouldn't be in the article. -->

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 did a version of "Home Is Where You're Happy".

Musician Travis Miller, under his alias Lil Ugly Mane, released a song called "Iron Door" on his 2013 album Three Sided Tape Volume One, which features vocals samples from Manson's "Big Iron Door".

In the 2018 film Her Smell, the character of Becky Something, played by Elisabeth Moss, plays and sings a few lines from "Garbage Dump."

The 2023 videogame The Texas Chain Saw Massacre features several of Manson's songs including "I'll Never Say Never to Always", sung by Kristina Klebe as the voice of Sissy. In the game, Sissy is a former Manson Family member whose character concept was made for the original 1974 film, yet scrapped and never saw the light of day until Kim Henkel, the licenseholder and writer of the first film, recommended her character be added to the game.

Reception

Retrospective reviews of the album have been largely positive, though critics have noted the difficulty of separating Manson's music from his subsequent crimes.

AllMusic described the best material on Lie as reminiscent of other folksingers of the era, particularly Jim Croce and José Feliciano. This version included twelve bonus tracks. A label employee confirmed that all artist royalties would go to the family of Wojciech Frykowski, whom members of the Manson Family was convicted of having murdered.

{| class ="wikitable" style="text-align: center; "

|-

!|Year

! style="width:230px; "|Album details

!|Additional information

|-

| 1970

| align="left"|LIE. The Love and Terror Cult

  • Released: 1970, U.S.
  • Label: Awareness Records
  • Formats: LP

| (official and first release, no. A-2144 & B-22145 (on disc labels))

|-

| 1970

| align="left"|LIE. The Love and Terror Cult

  • Released: 1970, U.S.
  • Label: ESP-DISK
  • Formats: LP

| 13 Songs Composed and Performed by Charles Manson Accompanied by the Family. ' (official release, no. ESP-2003 (on cover); ESP-2003 (2144) & ESP-2003 (2145) (on disc labels))

|-

| 1970

| align="left"|LIE. The Love and Terror Cult

  • Released: 1970, U.S.
  • Label: ESP-DISK
  • Formats: MC

| 13 Songs Composed and Performed by Charles Manson With Vocal & Instrumental Accompaniment by the Family. ' (official release, no. 2003-C)

|-

| 1971

| align="left"|12 Canciones. Compuestas y Cantadas por Charles Manson

  • Released: 1971, Spain
  • Label: Movieplay
  • Formats: LP

| '12 Canciones. Compuestas y Cantadas por Charles Manson' (official, produced in license from ESP-DISK, no. M-24025).

|-

| 1981

| align="left"|LIE

  • Released: 1981, UK
  • Label: Come Organisation
  • Formats: MC

| (semi-official rerelease, no. wdc883008 - two different cover releases)

|-

| 1987

| align="left"|LIE. The Love and Terror Cult

  • Released: 1987, U.S.
  • Label: Awareness Records
  • Formats: LP

| (official, no. 08903-0156 (on cover) Aware 1 (on disk label)

|-

| 1987

| align="left"|LIE. The Love and Terror Cult

  • Released: 1987, U.S.
  • Label: Awareness Records
  • Formats: CD

| (official, no. Aware1CD; 08903=0156)

|-

| 1987

| align="left"|LIE. The Love and Terror Cult

  • Released: 1987, U.S.
  • Label: Awareness Records
  • Formats: MC

| (official, no. Aware1C; 08903=0156)

|-

| 1993

| align="left"|Charles Manson

  • Released: 1993, UK
  • Label: Grey Matter
  • Formats: CD

| (official, no. GM05CD - also includes the songs from the album 'The Manson Family Sings the Songs of Charles Manson' recorded in 1970, originally released on LP in 1992 by Commodity.)

|-

| 2006

| align="left"|Sings / LIE. The Love and Terror Cult

  • Released: 2006, U.S.
  • Label: ESP-DISK
  • Formats: CD

| This is the LIE album but released as 'Sings' on the back cover. The front cover is the traditional cover but with a red background behind the word LIE but the rest of the cover is the same with 'The Love and Terror Cult'(official release, no. ESP 2003)

|-

| 2006

| align="left"|LIE: The 1967 LP

  • Released: 2006, U.S.
  • Label: White Devil Records
  • Formats: CD-R

| (official release, no number)

|-

| 2008

| align="left"|Sings / LIE. The Love and Terror Cult

  • Released: 2008, U.S.
  • Label: ESP-DISK
  • Formats: CD

| (official release, new version of the 2006 edition by ESP-DISK issued as a digipack - 26 tracks). This is the LIE album but released as 'Sings' on the back cover. The front cover is the traditional cover but with a red background behind the word LIE but the rest of the cover is the same with 'The Love and Terror Cult'

|-

| 2023

| align="left"|LIE: The Love and Terror Cult (Remastered)

  • Released: 2023, U.S.
  • Formats: Digital streaming

| (official release, remastered, alternate cover art, no catalog number)

|-

|}

source:

Personnel

  • Charles Manson: lead vocals, rhythm guitar, timpani
  • Bobby Beausoleil: electric guitar
  • Steve "Clem" Grogan: electric bass
  • Paul Watkins: French horn
  • Catherine Share: violin, backup vocals
  • Dianne Lake: recorder
  • Mary Brunner: flute, vocals on Track 4
  • Nancy Pitman: vocals on Track 6
  • Sandra Good, Lynette Fromme, Nancy Pitman: backup vocals
  • Producer – Phil Kaufman

References

; Sources