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.

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

Welcome to part 2 of our look at David Axelrod's production profile, focusing on his production on his own early albums and the artists that sampled them decades later.

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...' (Shadow would sample Axelrod again during his stint with U.N.K.L.E.). 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 not available/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 not available/Import CD)
DJ Shadow 'Midnight in a Perfect World'
from 'Endtroducing...' (1996) (MP3 not available/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'

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!