Get Up Off Your Hands - Music

David Axelrod April 17 1933 – February 5 2017 Was An American Musician Composer Arranger And Producer. After Starting Out As A Staff Producer For Record Companies Specializing In Jazz Axelrod Became Known By The Mid-1960s In Soul And Jazz Circles For His Recording Skills. In 1968 He Embarked On A Solo Career And Released Several Eccentric Albums During The 1970s That Showcased His Characteristic Sound Which Combined Heavily Microphoned Drums And Baroque Orchestration And Avant Garde Themes Ranging From The Environment To Heightened Mental Awareness. With His Early Solo Projects Axelrod Was One Of The First Recording Artists To Fuse Elements Of Jazz Rock And R&B. Born In Los Angeles California David Axelrod Was Raised In Its South Central Neighborhood Where He Grew Up Listening To R&B And Jazz. His Father Was Active In Radical Labour Union Politics. After A Stint As A Boxer Axelrod Found Studio Work In The Film And Television Industry And Was Soon In Demand As A Drummer Producer And Arranger. He Produced His First Album In 1959 Saxophonist Harold Land’s The Fox. In Late 1963 Axelrod Joined Capitol Records As A Producer And A&R Man. He Encouraged The Label To Develop Their Black Musicians. He Began Working With Lou Rawls Producing His Successful Live Album And A Succession Of Gold Albums And Hit Singles Including "Love Is A Hurtin' Thing" "Your Good Thing Is About To End " And "Dead End Street" Which Axelrod Wrote And Produced. He Also Began Working With Julian "Cannonball" Adderley One Of The Most Successful Jazz Crossover Artists Of The 1960s. Axelrod Produced Adderley’s 1967 Album Mercy Mercy Mercy! Live At 'The Club' Which Spawned The Jazz Hit "Mercy Mercy Mercy” Written By The Band’s Pianist Joe Zawinul Which Reached No. 11 In The US Pop Charts. Around This Time Axelrod Also Began Working With A Regular Group Of Leading Session Musicians Including Howard Roberts Guitar Carol Kaye Bass And Earl Palmer Drums . In 1968 Axelrod Wrote Mass In F Minor And Release Of An Oath In A Contemporary Rock Vein For The Electric Prunes They Were Released Under The Band's Name But Because Of Their Complexity Were Recorded By Other Musicians. The Electric Prunes Disbanded During The Recording Sessions And Axelrod's Team Completed The Albums. Axelrod’s Success Also Encouraged Capitol To Allow Him To Produce Solo Albums The First Two Of Which Song Of Innocence 1968 And Songs Of Experience 1969 Were Homages To The Mystical Poetry And Paintings Of William Blake. These Used Sweeping Strings Booming Sound And Heavy Beats In A Way That Was Unique For The Time And Became Highly Influential Many Years Later. His Third Solo Album Earth Rot 1970 Warned Of The Impact Of Environmental Pollution And Degradation. At The Same Time Axelrod Continued To Work With Adderley And Rawls And With The South African Singer Letta Mbulu Bandleader David Rose And Unsuccessful Psychedelic Groups The Common People And Hardwater. In 1970 He Left Capitol And Over The Next Few Years Issued A Rock Version Of Händel's Oratorio Messiah And Further Solo Albums As Well As Continuing To Work With Adderley On Several Albums Until The Latter’s Death In 1975. His Approach Fell Out Of Fashion For A While And Three Solo Albums He Recorded In The 1980s Went Unreleased. His Work As Arranger And Composer Began To Be Rediscovered In The Early 1990s And To Be Sampled By Artists Such As DJ Shadow And Lauryn Hill. In 1993 He Released His First Album For Over A Decade Requiem Holocaust. Several Compilations Of His Earlier Work Were Also Released. In 2000 He Released David Axelrod Which Used Rhythm Tracks Originally Recorded For A Proposed Third Electric Prunes Album With New Arrangements. Dr. Dre Used A David McCallum Cut "The Edge" For "The Next Episode" From 1999's 2001. Masta Ace Also Used A Cut From "The Edge" In His Song "No Regrets" From The 2001 Album Disposable Arts. In Addition "The Edge" Was Heavily Sampled On The Emperor Penguin Track "Burnt Sienna And Avocado". Axelrod Appeared At The Royal Festival Hall London On 17 March 2004 As Part Of The Ether Festival Where He Conducted A Performance Of His Solo Work. He Was Joined Onstage By Richard Ashcroft Who Sang "Holy Are You" Originally Recorded By The Electric Prunes. At The End Of This Rare Concert He Informed The Audience That He Was Suffering From Ill Health. In 2006 Live At Royal Festival Hall Was Released As A DVD And CD. Axelrod Signed With Blue Note Records In 2005. Axelrod's Music Has Been Sampled Many Times By Hip Hop Musicians In 1993 De La Soul Sampled Lou Rawls's Axelrod-Produced "You've Made Me So Very Happy" On Their Track "I Am I Be" From The Buhloone Mindstate Album.
In 1994 The Beatnuts Became The First Musicians To Sample One Of Axelrod's Own Pieces "Holy Thursday" For Their Track "Hit Me With That" From The Street Level Album And Again In 1997 Where They Sampled The Axelrod Written Electric Prunes Songs "The Adoration" For Their "World Famous Intro" And "General Confessional" For "Niggaz Know" As Well As Axelrod's "Life Time Monologue" For Lou Rawls Particularly The Song "Thinkin 'Bout Cash".
In 1995 Producer T-Ray Sampled Axelrod's "A Divine Image" For Kool G Rap's "Take 'Em To War" From His 4 5 6 Album.
Also In 1995 Producer Joe Fatal On The Fat Joe Album Jealous One's Envy Samples The Axelrod Written Electric Prunes Song "Holy Are You" In "Respect Mine" And Axelrod's "Holy Thursday" For "Bronx Keeps Creating It".
In 1996 DJ Shadow In His Entroducing Album Sampled Axelrod's "The Human Abstract" For His "Midnight In A Perfect World".
In 1999 And 2000 Wu-Tang Clan Members Inspectah Deck And Ghostface Killah Both Sampled "Terri's Tune" By Axelrod For The Songs "Elevation" And "Stay True" For The Albums Uncontrolled Substance And Supreme Clientele.
Rap Producer Swizz Beatz Looped "Holy Thursday" For The Track "Dr. Carter" Which Is On Lil Wayne's Album Tha Carter III. "Holy Thursday" Was Also Sampled In Part On Sublime's Self-Titled Album In The Song "Doin' Time". It Was Also Sampled In InI - "Think Twice" Produced By Pete Rock. It Was Sampled In Its Entirety By Skyzoo For The Track "The Definitive Prayer" On His Mixtape The Great Debaters.
DJ Premier Sampled “The Smile” For The Track “Shake This” From Royce Da 5'9"’s Album Street Hop.
Los Angeles Producer Nameles A.K.A. Nahm Produced "Substance Abuse" With Samples From Several Different Tracks Off The Songs Of Experience Album.
Producer Diamond D Sampled The Riff At 1 20 Of "The Warning Talk Part II " To Create The Basic Beat For "Hip Hop" Off Mos Def's Black On Both Sides. In 1996 Diamond D Also Sampled Axelrod Where He Uses A Portion Of "The Mental Traveler" For His Remix Of Ras Kass's "Soul On Ice".
Quasimoto Or Madlib Sampled "The Signs Pt. II' For The Track "The Unseen" Of His 2000 Album The Unseen.
Optical Illusion A South African-Based Crew Sampled "The Edge" In 2005 For The Track "Pure Service " Produced By BATTLEKAT On Their Album The Offering.
In 2013 Manic Street Preachers Used "A Little Girl Lost" For The Title Track Of Their Album Rewind The Film.
Madlib Covered "A Divine Image" As Part Of His Sound Directions Project. Cypress Hill Used Parts Of The Same Song For The Track "16 Men Till There's No Men Left" On Their Album IV. In 2008 Two Tracks By Axelrod "Holy Thursday" And "The Edge" Were Included In The Soundtrack To The Video Game Grand Theft Auto IV. Discography
YearAlbum Details
1968Song Of Innocence
Released 1968
Label Capitol
Formats CD LP 1969Songs Of Experience
Released 1969
Label Capitol
Formats CD LP 1970Earth Rot
Released 1970
Label Capitol
Formats CD LP 1971Rock Messiah
Released 1971
Label RCA
Formats LP 1972The Auction
Released 1972
Label Decca
Formats LP 1974Heavy Axe
Released 1974
Label Fantasy
Formats LP CD 1975Seriously Deep
Released 1975
Label Polydor
Formats LP CD 1977Strange Ladies
Released 1977
Label MCA
Formats LP 1980Marchin'
Released 1980
Label MCA
Formats LP 1993Requiem The Holocaust
Released 1993
Label Stateside
Formats CD 1995The Big Country
Released 1995
Label Stateside
Formats CD 2001David Axelrod
Released 2001
Label Mo' Wax
Formats CD 2004David Axelrod Live At Royal Festival Hall
Released 2004
Label Formats CD/DVD As Arranger With Hampton Hawes Northern Windows Prestige 1974 - Also Producer With The Electric Prunes Mass In F Minor Reprise 1968 Release Of An Oath Reprise 1968 With Gene Ammons Brasswind Prestige 1974 As Producer With David McCallum Music...A Part Of Me Capitol ST 2432 1966 Music...A Bit More Of Me Capitol ST 2498 1966 Music...It's Happening Now! Capitol ST 2651 1967 McCallum Capitol ST 2748 1968 With Donna Loren Beach Blanket Bingo Capitol T-2323 ST-2323 1965 "Blowing Out The Candles" B/w "Just A Little Girl" Capitol 5250 1964 "Ten Good Reasons" B/w "Ninety Day Guarantee" Capitol 5337 1964 "New Love" B/w "So Do The Zonk" Capitol 5409 1965 These Are The Good Times The Complete Capitol Recordings Now Sounds CRNOW-47 2014 Tracks "Just A Little Girl" "So Do The Zonk" "Good Things" Previously Unreleased "Leave Him To Me" Previously Unreleased "Ten Good Reasons" "Ninety Day Guarantee" "Blowing Out The Candles" "Drop The Drip" Previously Unreleased And The Tracks From The Beach Blanket Bingo Album . With Cannonball Adderley Cannonball Adderley Live! Capitol 1964 Live Session! Capitol 1964 Cannonball Adderley's Fiddler On The Roof Capitol 1964 Domination Capitol 1965 Mercy Mercy Mercy! Live At 'The Club' Capitol 1966 74 Miles Away Capitol 1967 Why Am I Treated So Bad! Capitol 1967 In Person Capitol 1968 Accent On Africa Capitol 1968 Country Preacher Capitol 1969 The Cannonball Adderley Quintet & Orchestra Capitol 1970 Love Sex And The Zodiac Capitol 1970 The Price You Got To Pay To Be Free Capitol 1970 The Happy People Capitol 1972 The Black Messiah Capitol 1972 Music You All Capitol 1976 Inside Straight Capitol 1973 Pyramid Capitol 1974 read less