Producer Profile: David Axelrod (Part 2, 1968-1969) UPDATED

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.

Source Material: James Brown 'Black Caesar' (Part 2)

Welcome to part two of our look at James Brown soundtrack for 'Black Caesar'.

Sure, 'Down and Out...' and 'The Boss' are obvious tracks to sample, but hip-hop's finest have made use of some of 'Black Caesar''s lesser known album cuts too. Large Professor assisted Kool G Rap on the production of 'Play it Again, Polo' which used a sample of 'Black Caesar''s album cut 'Make it Good to Yourself'. James wrote and produced much of Lyn Collins' output, including her vocal contribution to 'Black Caesar' titled 'Mama Feelgood'. The blazing funk of 'Mama Feelgood' was used by Marley Marl for Big Daddy Kane's 1988 track 'Raw' from the album 'Long Live Kane'. Primo dips into James Brown's back catalog again for the beat to Gang Starr's 'I'm The Man' from their classic 'Daily Operation' album. DJ Premier sampled the 'Black Caesar' album cut 'White Lightning (I Mean Moonshine)' for 'I'm the Man'.

The film 'Black Caesar' was a success, as was the soundtrack. The team behind the film quickly started to develop a sequel that was released in late 1973 and titled 'Hell Up in Harlem'. James Brown was originally attached for the score, but (as the legend goes) had his music reject as it was not "funky enough" for the film. The song that was rejected would later be the title track to his 1974 album 'The Payback'. Notably, the soundtrack to 'Hell Up in Harlem' was ably handled by Edwin Starr, Fonce Mizell, and Freddie Perren - look for a future post regarding the 'Hell Up in Harlem' soundtrack.

The Lowdown:
James Brown 'Make it Good to Yourself' and 'White Lightning (I Mean Moonshine)'
from 'Black Caesar' (1973) (MP3/CD)
Kool G Rap and DJ Polo 'Play it Again, Polo'
from 'Wanted: Dead or Alive' (1990) (MP3/CD not available)
Lyn Collins 'Mama Feelgood'
from 'Black Caesar' (1973) (MP3/CD)
Big Daddy Kane 'Raw'
from 'Long Live Kane' (1988) (MP3 not available/CD)
Gang Starr 'I'm the Man'
from 'Daily Operation' (1992) (MP3/CD)

The Breaks: Otis Redding 'Hard to Handle'

'Hard to Handle' is a monumental break track and the source for many of hip-hop's most notable beats. 'Hard to Handle' was released after Otis Redding's tragic 1967 death on the album 'The Immortal Otis Redding'. It was a modestly successful single, but gained more notoriety and attention as time went on via covers and sample usage.

'Hard to Handle' appears in Marley Marl's posse cut 'The Symphony' with verses from Masta Ace, Kool G Rap, and Big Daddy Kane. Five years later, the sample would be used again by Grand Puba's self-produced 'Reel to Reel' cut titled 'Ya Know How it Goes'. 'Reel to Reel' is an often overlooked solid album and will be covered in full in a later post on this blog. The Trackmasters used 'Hard to Handle' as the basis for Nas' own posse cut with future members on the Firm on 'Affirmative Action' on his sophomore album 'It Was Written'.

The Lowdown:
Otis Redding 'Hard to Handle'
from 'The Immortal Otis Redding' (1968) (MP3/CD)
Marley Marl 'The Symphony'
from 'In Control Vol. 1' (1987) (MP3/CD not available)
Grand Puba 'Ya Know How it Goes'
from 'Reel to Reel' (1992) (MP3/CD)
Nas 'Affirmative Action'
from 'It Was Written' (1996) (MP3/CD)
Clean Edit: 'Affirmative Action'

BONUS CUTS:
The most well known cover of 'Hard to Handle' is likely the version by the Black Crowes from 1990. I'm not going to front - the opening drums on their version are equally useful for producers, I wonder who the first producer who uses this break on a hit record will be. An absolutely killer, relatively unknown version of 'Hard to Handle' comes from Patti Drew. Check out the drums on that cut, it's a bombast!