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Earth Rot (Vocal)

by David Axelrod

  • Earth Rot (Vocal) Vinyl LP
    Record/Vinyl

    Earth Rot (1970) set the visionary composer/arranger/producer up for his final stage as an architect of jazz fusion and ensured that his productions would help future architects of hip hop.

    We present here both vocal and instrumental versions of Axelrod’s classic Earth Rot. The instrumentals have never before been released. Both contain and an oversized, 28p. booklet that delves into Axelrod’s incredible life and music, replete with never before published photos and an interview with Axelrod by Eothen Alapatt and Waxpoetic’s Brian Digenti. Audiophile reissue, lacquered directly from Axelrod’s original master tapes at Capitol Records by Ron McMaster.

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about

Earth Rot (1970) set Axelrod up for his final stage as an architect of jazz fusion and ensured that his productions would help future architects of hip hop. This reissue is a gatefold 2/LP containing a bonus second album with Earth Rot’s instrumentals, never before released. Axelrod himself requested the release of the instrumentals before his death; it was this request that started the process that led to the issue of his Capitol Trilogy on Now-Again, with his family and Estate’s participation and approval.

David Axelrod (1931-2017) was producer and A&R at Capitol in Hollywood in the 1960s, working with artists Cannonball Adderley, Lou Rawls, David McCallum, among others, and the infamous group of L.A. session musicians known as the Wrecking Crew. In 1967, for Reprise Records, Axelrod composed and “ghost-produced” the psychedelic rock album Mass In F Minor under the guise of The Electric Prunes. This surprise hit earned Axelrod new audience, and the opportunity to release a string of albums under his own name back at Capitol.

His debut, Song of Innocence, is an essential ‘60s masterpiece. Celebrated as psychedelic, the birth of jazz-fusion, the harbinger of hip-hop, the album is a hybrid that no one, not even its creator, could describe.Grounded by the Wrecking Crew vets Earl Palmer (drums) and Carol Kaye (bass), Axelrod’s juxtaposition of musical elements utilizes sweeping arrangements, brass and strings in a way that no one of his era did. Song of Innocence is both violent and sublime.

Songs of Experience (1969) is the visionary composer/arranger/producer’s second album; it was recorded after the death of his beloved son Scott. Experience is an ominous affair, an album concerned with mortality and spirituality – the solitary, pastoral musings of William Blake set to the urban bombast of a full Los Angeles orchestra, with Wrecking Crew vets grounding the proceedings with dark funk.

These are all audiophile reissues, lacquered directly from Axelrod’s original master tapes at Capitol Records by Ron McMaster and Kevin Bartley. Each reissue contains oversized, 28 page booklet that delves into Axelrod’s incredible life and music, replete with never before published photos and an interview with Axelrod by Eothen Alapatt and Waxpoetic’s Brian Digenti.

credits

released September 9, 2019

This album produced for reissue by Eothen Alapatt with thanks to Terri, Dana and Michael Axelrod, Andre Torres, Brian DiGenti, Gene Zacharewicz, HB Barnum and Don Randi.

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David Axelrod Los Angeles, California

David Axelrod was an American 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. ... more

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