Why are beatheads interested in him? you ask. Well, first of all Axe was fond of drums, plain and simple. From classic, live-room breakbeats (see Songs of Innocence and “Tensity”) to the slicker, studio beats (see Seriously Deep and Gene Ammons), drums were usually more-than-an-integral part of his compositions/productions. Unfortunately, his own albums are fairly pricey and hard to come by, especially the first few, Songs of Innocence, Songs of Experience, and Earthrot, the former two being based on the poetry of 18th century poet/radical/visionary William Blake (Axe was a deep soul, you know). They sound like some funky symphonic soundtrack music with butter breakbeats galore (which makes me wonder why he never did any soundtracks other than Cannonball...that I know of).

I truly believe that this website has jacked up the prices of Axe albums considerably. I’ve noticed quite a jump in prices in the last year, and the big money and the new attention to his records have actually hurt my chances of finishing my collection. So it goes.

Back to the subject, David Axelrod is known for his great, and sometimes sparse production, having a tendency to open up the music, break it down in parts; nice for sampling, if you’re into that sort of thing. But more importantly, Axelrod was/is an incredible composer, fond of big horn and string stabs, in a style that is no doubt recognizably his own, as one can tell by some of the tracks heard here. Axelrod was and is an American genius, not to mention a visionary. The clips of the tracks heard on this website only give you an indication of some of the beat-like substances he liked to produce (for this website specifically deals with Axelrod on the beat level); therefore it is not an overall perspective of his musical history. You cannot understand, nor appreciate the beauty of his music without listening to some of his solo albums in their entirety.