Charles Manson album released

Charles Manson album released
Last updated 12:29 05/09/2012

An album by convicted murderer and cult leader Charles Manson is making waves.

The record of Manson's bluesy guitar songs from prison is the brainchild of Manuel Vasquez, the co-owner of a small independent music store in Los Angeles.

The 26-year-old Vasquez became pen pals with the 77-year-old Manson a few months ago and was "encouraged" by the infamous mass murderer and cult leader to produce the record, the LA Times reports.

He then turned to funding website Kickstarter to raise several thousand dollars, got the album pressed on vinyl and is selling it now in his LA store.

Manson orchestrated the "Helter Skelter" killing spree, a series of gruesome murders on consecutive nights in Los Angeles 40 years ago. His trial with three women acolytes was an international spectacle. Manson and his followers were convicted in the 1969 slaying of actress Sharon Tate and four others.

Vasquez says he wanted to produce the album because he believes Manson's Sixth Amendment right to a fair trial was violated. "I wouldn't say [he's] innocent, but he was denied his constitutional rights in court," Vasquez told ABC News.

A YouTube video encouraging fans to support the project is showcasing one of Mason's song. The lyrics include the lines: If this prison yard could talk/ What a story could be told / Of the things I'd seen that would make / A strong man's blood run cold.

Vasquez states on his Kickstater page that the project was "not about death, drugs,1969, etc... It is about MUSIC." and a girl in the video adds "It's all about spreading awesome music to the world that's never been heard."

Vasquez's album is hardly the first to feature Manson's music. Over the years about 20 vinyl or CD compilations have been produced including releases by the Beach Boys, Guns 'N Roses and Marilyn Manson. The songs on the new album have never been released, however, Vasquez said.