Cargo Records

Air

"Why come to me... with all this dying and all this fear and all this bullshit? I'm not into dying and fear. I'm into music. I play music." Charles Manson c. 1988

Long before the fear, the media fixation, and cult of personality surrounding what we've come to know publicly as CHARLES MANSON, a 27- year old inmate at McNeil Island Penitentiary found true respite and solace in the form of a six string guitar. Taught by fellow inmate and legendary Ma Barker Gang heavy Alvin "Creepy" Karpis, MANSON was a quick study.

By the time of his release in 1967 (some 6 years after his first lesson from Karpis), MANSON wandered into the streets of San Francisco already quite the accomplished singer and songwriter. No less than a year later, MANSON found himself both on the radar of major producers and in front of the boards of a legendary studio session funded by BEACH BOYS drummer Dennis Wilson.

That recording would be titled LIE and serves as MANSON's only formal studio session between his parole from prison in 1967 and the historic death-penalty-turned-life-sentence ruling handed down in 1970. 2010 marks a solid 40-year stint of incarceration for CHARLES MANSON under his life sentence. Through all that time, MANSON has been by all accounts almost monk-like in his commitment and continued work toward both his music and a personal environmental philosophy he coined "ATWA" (an acronym for "Air, Trees, Water, Animals") specifically.

Air is part 1 in a seasonal album series by CHARLES MANSON on Magic Bullet Records. Each installment features previously-unheard, authorized, and exclusive songs. The recordings span numerous sessions and are presented in their raw, natural, and unadulterated form. Each installment also features striking artwork and careful presentation centered around the tenets and philosophies of ATWA (including exclusive paintings rendered by MANSON himself).

When all of the sensationalism, fear, projection, and knee-jerk response is stripped away, all that remains is a man named Charlie, strumming and picking away on his guitar and sending his passions into the ether.