David Axelrod — Everything Counts

The final track on David Axelrod's album Heavy Axe exemplifies the late producer's knack for sculpting signature sounds; jazzy electric piano, progressive rock, Hollywood strings—all anchored by a super funky Moog synth bass. A reworking of his 1968 masterpiece, "Holy Thursday," this cover of sorts anticipated the widespread sampling of his music beginning in the nineties.

The visionary production techniques and arrangements on his solo and collaborative albums have since found new life as the basis for tracks by A Tribe Called Quest, Lauryn Hill, Lil Wayne, and Dr. Dre (whose use of David MacCallum's "The Edge" is one of the all-time great hip-hop samples). Axelrod admittedly produced so many sessions in the sixties and seventies that he could not remember them all. And so while no complete discography exists, the legacy of his innovative work lives on.

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