I have just finished listening to Real Gone Music\u2019s reissue of Rock Interpretation Of Handel\u2019s Messiah,<\/i> sometimes referred to as Rock Messiah,<\/i> by David Axelrod. I\u2019m sure it was not what George Frideric Handel had in mind when he composed the oratorio back in 1741.<\/p>\n
Axelrod had one of the more interesting careers in American music. He learned his craft as a producer\/arranger with the Capital label during the first half of the 1960s. He worked with such artists as Cannonball Adderley, Lou Rawls, and even David McCallum. As a solo artist, he issued two albums devoted to the poetry and paintings of William Blake. He then moved on to write and produce an album by The Electric Prunes titled Mass In F Minor<\/i>, which fused a Catholic mass with psychedelic rock. It remains one of the forgotten musical pleasures of the late 1960s.<\/p>\n
During 1971, Axelrod was ready to create his grand opus. He translated Handel\u2019s Messiah into a contemporary setting. There were adjusted lyrics, as well as an orchestra conducted by Cannonball Adderley. It was a little less psychedelic than his work with the Electric Prunes as it was a hodgepodge of styles that combined a funk rhythm section, jazz, electric piano, and some restrained guitar work (and yes, it did rock out in places). All of it was backed by the 30-piece orchestra.<\/p>\n
Adding to the album\u2019s allure were the lyrics and vocals. The lead vocals on \u201cBehold A Virgin Shall Conceive\u201d and \u201cComfort Ye My People\u201d are passionate and powerful, which makes it unfortunate that the singers involved were never named. I could have done without the recitation of \u201cAnd The Angel Said Unto Them,\u201d but the chorus\u2019 work on a number of the tracks enhanced the music.<\/p>\n
At the time of its release, this album achieved little commercial success and quickly disappeared. It\u2019s now back with new liner notes and a crystal clear sound which resurrects Axelrod\u2019s Rock Interpretation Of Handel\u2019s Messiah<\/i> in all its funky, soaring, jazzy, and rock rhythm glory. It may not be an essential album of its era, but it remains a nice and eclectic detour to the outer edges of rock music.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":31030,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[8892],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-42714","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-david-axelrod","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42714\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=42714"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=42714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}