 |  |
This may seem like a rehash of a previous post, but it's much more than that. Amazon is now offering downloads of David Axelrod's difficult to find albums 'Song of Innocence' and 'Songs of Experience'. When I found out that these are now available, I decided to reboot this entire post with new up-to-date links so all you beat heads could get your hands on two of Axelrod's most influential works. The following is the original post with two new bonus cuts. Enjoy the newly updated part 2 of Axelrod's producer profile.
After Axelrod's success as a producer for others, he was encouraged to produce his own instrumental albums. In 1968, he released his first album 'Song of Innocence', an concept album that was loosely based on the writings of 18th century artist William Blake. The album would also contain some of the most sought-after beats by crate diggers worldwide. 'Holy Thursday' was one of the many samples used by Madlib on the Quasimoto track 'Return of the Loop Digga', but most recently it emerged (to my astonishment) as the backing to Lil Wayne's 'Dr. Carter' from the hugely popular 'Tha Carter III'. Swizz Beatz delivered Weezy with an unusually simple looped up 'Holy Thursday' bassline - it's a step out of the norm for both the artist and the producer. 'The Mental Traveller' from 'Song of Innocence' was used by Ras Kass on 'Soul on Ice' from his 1996 debut album also titled 'Soul on Ice'.
 |  |
Axelrod followed 'Song of Innocence' with another Blake themed album, the instrumental 'Songs of Experience'. Axelrod's 'The Human Abstract' would be sampled heavily for DJ Shadow's moody single 'Midnight in a Perfect World' from his outstanding debut album 'Endtroducing...'. Kool G Rap would sample the 'Songs of Experience' track 'A Divine Image' on his track 'Take 'em to War' from his first solo album '4, 5, 6'. 'A Divine Image' was sampled again three years later by DJ Muggs on Cypress Hill's '16 Men Till There's No Men Left'.
Axelrod would only release one more album through Capitol, 1970's 'Earth Rot', before splitting with the label. Through the 70s, he recorded several more albums for RCA, Decca, Polydor, and MCA.
The Lowdown:
David Axelrod 'Holy Thursday' and 'The Mental Traveler'
from 'Song of Innocence' (1968) (MP3/CD not available)
Quasimoto 'Return of the Loop Digga'
from 'The Unseen' (2000) (MP3/CD)
Lil Wayne 'Dr. Carter'
from 'Tha Carter III' (2008) (MP3/CD)
Ras Kass 'Soul On Ice'
from 'Soul on Ice' (1996) (MP3/CD not available)
David Axelrod 'The Human Abstract' and 'A Divine Image'
from 'Songs of Experience' (1969) (MP3/CD)
DJ Shadow 'Midnight in a Perfect World'
from 'Endtroducing...' (1996) (MP3/CD)
Kool G Rap 'Take 'em to War'
from '4, 5, 6' (1995) (MP3/CD)
Cypress Hill '16 Men 'til There's No Men Left'
from 'Cypress Hill IV' (1998) (MP3/CD)
Clean Edit: '16 Men 'til There's No Men Left'
BONUS CUTS:
Now that I can offer a download of it, here is another 'Song of Innocence' cut that got sampled. The album's opening cut 'Urizen' was sampled for the Jurassic 5 / Big Daddy Kane posse cut 'A Day at the Races' produced by Cut Chemist.
2 comments:
One of my favorites. There's a couple good pieces on David Axelrod over at Stones Throw's website (Madlib/Quasimoto's home).
IN THE STUDIO WITH AXELROD from about 2001
ABOUT DAVID AXELROD'S THE EDGE COMP, WHICH WAS PUT TOGETHER BY A COUPLE OF THE GUYS AT STONES THROW
Stones Throw's 'The Edge' compilation is a great way to get into Axelrod - Egon laced it with some early highlights from Axelrod's solo career in addition to some hard to find tracks. The Letta Mbulu track is a stunner.
Thanks for checking out the blog.
Post a Comment