You've Made Me So Very Happy

February 7, 2017 9:08 PM

David Axelrod, A&R and producer for Capitol Records, arranger and composer, has finished his walk on the edge, passing at the age of 83. Pitchfork has a fantastic article about the Axe.

Known for his work with Lou Rawls and Cannonball Adderley, David McCallum's Music...A Part of Me, the Electric Prunes, and so much more.

If you don't want to read the Pitchfork article but do want to listen to the music...

CANNONBAL ADDERLEY QUINTED - MERCY, MERCY, MERCY
David McCallum, The Edge (1967)
Dr. Dre - The Next Episode
The Electric Prunes - General Confessional
The Beatnuts' “Niggaz Know”
Black Moon's “Duress”
Wu-Tang Clan's “The Monument”
David Axelrod, “The Human Abstract”
DJ Shadow - Midnight In A Perfect World
The Cannonball Adderley Quintet, “Walk Tall”
A Tribe Called Quest - Footprints
Lou Rawls - You've Made Me So Very Happy
De La Soul - I Be Blowin' (Featuring - Maceo Parker)
David Axelrod - Terri's Tune
David Axelrod, “The Dr. & the Diamond”

As a bonus, combining more styles in 5 and a half minutes than most bands in their entire catalogue, the funky, soulful, guitar soloing, symphonic and joyous Holy Thursday.

Youtube full albums:
David Axelrod - Earth Rot
David Axelrod - Songs of Innocence
David Axelrod - Songs of Experience

Hip hop your thing? Many in the hip hop world found Axelrod to be their thing: Mos Def, DJ Khaled, Pete Rock, Madlib, 50 Cent, Jurassic 5, Macy Gray, J Dilla, Eminem, and so many more have sampled David Axelrod. See the exhaustive list.

posted by ashbury (16 comments total)

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posted by Joey Michaels at 9:10 PM on February 7, 2017

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walked down the aisle to The Edge, it was amazing
posted by sandettie light vessel automatic at 9:18 PM on February 7, 2017

Holy Thursday blew my mind when I first heard it. Oliver Wang (of Soul Sides fame) wrote a great article about Axelrod back in 2002, just months after Dre sampled The Edge for The Next Episode and in the wake of his self-titled album. It's amazing what genres he mashed together: classical, jazz, funk & psychedelia.
posted by myopicman at 9:28 PM on February 7, 2017

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posted by flapjax at midnite at 10:08 PM on February 7, 2017

Another person I thought had already passed for some reason.

I love Tensity.
posted by bongo_x at 10:11 PM on February 7, 2017

Deeply appreciated Jeff Weiss's obituary for Axelrod, as well.
posted by raihan_ at 10:14 PM on February 7, 2017 [2 favorites]

I only knew about David Axelrod from the Easy Rider movie sound track "Kyrie Eleison". A brilliant album to get stoned to ! Wasn't he an unknown when Dennis Hopper put him on the film sound track ?
Probably out of my depth but I reckon the Electric Prunes have a similar trippy sound to Country Joe McDonald "Section 43".
posted by Narrative_Historian at 1:30 AM on February 8, 2017

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posted by acb at 4:00 AM on February 8, 2017

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posted by snuffleupagus at 6:16 AM on February 8, 2017

"Holy Thursday" also found life with Lil Wayne's "Dr. Carter."
posted by stannate at 6:55 AM on February 8, 2017

It's long been my top time travel wish to go back to the early 70s and drink some red wine, maybe toot some coke, with David Axelrod in the studio. I mean, have you heard his cover of You're So Vain? (Or Mucho Chupar?) You can just hear on his albums the sort of rarefied cool that was going on when he was in the studio.

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posted by Catblack at 7:19 AM on February 8, 2017

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Yeah, when the inferior David Axelrod was getting involved in the Obama administration, i'd always get a little twinge hearing his name on TV.
posted by lkc at 1:48 PM on February 8, 2017

"But the hip-hop uses obscure the pure poetry in the original productions themselves. You’ve got lush strings, murderous drums, amazing bass, and he almost never faltered. And the mixing…good lord, the mixing. For music composed in the 1970s, it was so amazingly crisp. It reminds me of how sonically perfect Boston’s self-titled debut album is. If Dr. Dre were to tell me that David Axelrod is his spirit animal, I would not be surprised."

AN ODE TO DAVID AXELROD, WHO CHANGED THE WAY I LISTENED TO MUSIC
posted by Freelance Demiurge at 1:22 PM on February 9, 2017 [2 favorites]

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Sanctus from Mr Axelrod's Requiem: The Holocaust.
posted by On the Corner at 3:11 AM on February 12, 2017

I can't think of anyone who recorded cymbals as well as Axelrod. RIP.
posted by quartzcity at 11:48 AM on February 16, 2017

I hate discovering an artist through their death. There's a part of me that instantly reaches for 'Paint a Vulgar Picture' and all the real-world instances that inspired the song.

But, blimey, Songs of Innocence is amazing. I've had it on near-constant play the last week or so.

Thanks for the music, David.
posted by mushhushshu at 7:21 AM on February 20, 2017