Wikipedia:Today's featured article/January 7, 2015

Song of Innocence (1968) is the debut album of American composer and producer David Axelrod. Inspired by the 1789 illustrated collection of poems of the same name by William Blake, it is an instrumental jazz fusion album presented as a suite of tone poems, incorporating elements of classical, rock, funk, pop, and theatre music. Arranged for bass, drums, and string instruments and recorded with an orchestra and studio musicians, it is written with rock-based tempos. Axelrod used contrast in his orchestral compositions, interspersing the album's euphoric psychedelic R&B form with dramatic, harrowing arrangements to reflect the supernatural themes found in Blake's poems. Song of Innocence was not commercially successful on its release, and it confounded music critics, who viewed it as innovative and ambitious but also as less than serious, a curiosity piece. In the 1990s, critics reassessed the album as a classic, while leading disc jockeys in hip hop and electronica rediscovered and sampled the album's music, including "Holy Thursday", the album's best-known song. The renewed interest in Axelrod's work prompted Stateside Records to reissue Song of Innocence in 2000. (Full article...)

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