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Headless Heroes of the Apocalypse

This isn't the sort of title you'd normally associate with a funk album. But in fact, this is an amazing LP from what was obviously a very strange man, Eugene McDaniels (or 'The Left Rev. Mc D', as he calls himslef on the sleeve).

Eugene (or plain old Gene McDaniels, as he was better known as) had a pretty middling career in the early sixties as an R&B artist with a couple of hits. After this brief burst of fame he bacame a producer and writer, scoring probably his biggest hit with 'Feels like makin' love', which was recorded by Roberta Flack.

But none of that history matters when you listen to this. It's a crazy, dischordant mess that somehow does more than just stick together - this is a sublime LP that mixes blues, jazz, soul and funk effortlessly. It's also an album with a very strong social message, brimming with a sense of confusion and injustice of Black America. It's actually not a million miles away from Marvin Gaye's masterpiece What's Going On, which was also released in 1971. I'd say that McDaniels' work feels a lot more contemporary and raw.

It's also a great album for beat junkies - some of the tracks are like playing spot the sample. Just try and listen to the opening track, Jagger the Dagger, without thinking of A Tribe Called Quest.

This is an album of crazy genius, made by a man who obviously needed to vent his frustrations the only way he knew how. It's a classic that should certainly be part of any collection.

The Baddest Hubbard

This is worth buying for one track. Red Clay. It's god-damned genius. I haven't done this much jazz-style head nodding since I first heard the first Headhunters album.

The track kicks off with some general free-jazz style noise lead by Hubbard on the trumpet. But it soon settles down with an awesome drums-bass-and-keyboard riff (thanks to the genius of Herbie Hancock who plays on this track) that's the perfect foundation for the rest of this 12 minute-plus tune.

If you want more detail then check out the entry on Allmusic.com , which is full of long words and musical terms, which must mean that it's properly good in an academic sense. ("Henderson even takes his solo outside a bit without ever moving out of the rhythmnatist's pocket." WTF??)

This is one of those tunes that I'll keep playing and playing. Forget the rest of the album, this is the only 12 minutes of Hubbard you need.

Right-click here to listen to Red Clay by Freddie Hubbard (9769.4K)