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"...Jagger The Dagger..."
Weird and wonderful and
compared to what indeed! It's amazing now to think that this obscure, right-on,
very American and at times 'difficult' Funk-Fusion LP from 1971 got issued in
the UK at all. I mean who was buying Eugene McDaniels back then?
As one of the principal
buyers in Reckless Records, London buying across the counter and visiting
people's homes all over the city and elsewhere - I can recall maybe two
occasions seeing this album in someone's collection - and I'm talking about
buying vinyl LPs for nearly 20 years. The Voices Of East Harlem's "Right
On" LP on Elektra Records from 1970 was/is the same (another hugely sought
after piece from the time). "Headless Heroes Of The Apocalypse" on
(Plum Label) Atlantic Records 2400 163 must have sold jack on release.
But of course times change
and across the 90s and 00s – a steady stream of Rare Groove CD compilations and
Box Sets from the massive WEA Archives have seen Soul and Funk fans rediscover
the pioneers, innovators and nutjobs of those halcyon years.
Nick-named 'Elephant Ears'
by Mile Davis and Cannonball Adderley when he backed up their live shows in the
Sixties - at the time of this second Atlantic Records album (“Outlaw” was his
first for Atlantic and had been issued in 1970) – The Reverend Mc. D was most
well known for writing "Compared To What" for fellow Atlantic Records
Jazz Keyboard whizz and Vocalist Les McCann. McCann and Saxophonist Eddie
Harris had charted their duel-credited "Swiss Movement" LP in
December 1969 on Atlantic SD 1537 - seeing it and the funky "Compared To
What" track peak at No. 2 on the US R&B LP charts. In fact going much
further back - Gene McDaniels the Soul Boy had a career with Liberty Records in
the first half of the Sixties where he worked his way through an impressive
eight rapidly released LPs (1960 to 1963) including popular titles like
"Tower Of Strength" and "100 Lbs of Clay!"
But then the mid to late
Sixties happened and social change/revolution grabbed every African American
artist by the short and curlies and suddenly the crooners of old were now
storming, funking slices of anger and righteousness. Apparently on hearing the
condemning and savage lyrics in the album's title track - even Richard Nixon's
administration (itself embroiled in justifying the ludicrous and callous
Vietnam War) reputedly called up Atlantic's Promotions department demanding to
know what the Hell they were playing at? How could they and their 'uninformed'
artist be so unpatriotic as to suggest in his lyrics that 'powers in the master
game' saw Americans and The Vietnamese as the same - '...basically cannon
fodder...' for the '...player who controls the board...' McDaniels was of
course right and Nixon would go on to infamy for all manner of dodgy 'I'm not a
crook' reasons.
Heady stuff indeed - deep
lyrics in deep grooves - as the rather brilliant and insightful liner notes
from $mall $hange inform us. And that’s where this fab little CD reissue from
New York’s 'Label M' comes in – here are the dagger details...
US released 19 November 2001
- "Headless Heroes Of The Apocalypse" by EUGENE McDANIELS on Label M
495733 (Barcode 644949573326) is a straightforward CD Reissue and Remaster in
their ‘Album Classics’ Series (manufactured by Rhino) that breaks down as
follows (38:34 minutes):
1. The Lord Is Back [Side 1]
2. Jagger The Dagger
3. Lovin' Man
4. Headless Heroes
5. Susan Jane
6. Freedom Death Dance [Side
2]
7. Supermarket Blues
8. The Parasite (For Buffy)
Tracks 1 to 8 are the album
"Headless Heroes Of The Apocalypse" - released May 1971 in the USA on
Atlantic Records SD 8281 and July 1971 in the UK on Atlantic Records 2400 163.
Credited to EUGENE Mc DANIELS The Left Rev. Mc D - and Produced by JOEL DORN - it
didn't chart in either country. All tracks are written by Eugene McDaniels with
"The Lord Is Back" co-written with Dwight Singleton.
Musicians:
EUGENE McDANIELS – Vocals
CARLA CARGILL and THE
WELFARE CITY CHOIR – Vocals
RICHIE RESNIKOFF – Guitars
HARRY WHITAKER – Piano
GARY KING – Electric Bass
MIROSLAV VITOUS – Acoustic
Bass
ALPHONSE MOUZON – Drums
KEVIN CALABRO and $mall
$hange produced the CD Reissue – a gatefold card digipak with see-through tray
and a 12-page booklet. The liner notes are all typed in over-sized letters (a
tad pretentious actually) - but the content and insight is superb. GENE PAUL
and JENNIFER MUNSON did the Mastering at DB Plus Digital Services in New York
and the Audio is fabulous - full of presence and oomph where needed. This
really is a lovely sounding reissue.
The album opens with
"The Lord Is Back" - telling us that the divine one is black, riding
the subways in the rain and here to make a few corrections on our
self-inflicted road to mass destruction. It's hard-hitting guitar funk feels
like Sly Stone just had a baby with Funkadelic - those Mouzon drums whacking
your speakers as McDaniels echoed-vocals warn and scorn (dig that slinky
keyboard slide in too). Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones doing the Devil Dance
comes in for some stick in "Jagger The Dagger" - Carlo Cargill
duetting with the Mc D on vocals. The very cool rare groove of "Lovin'
Man" turned up on a 1996 Japan-Only CD I had called "Free Soul
River" - while the aforementioned political dynamite of "Headless
Heroes" were found on the CD Compilation "Right On!" Volume 1 of
Break Beats And Grooves From The Atlantic & Warner Vaults in 1999 and also
on the stunning "What It Is!" Rhino 4CD Box Set in 2006. The Acoustic
"Susan Jane" feels like the album's first ballad even if it is about a
bum-wiggling, sugar-cane-eating hippy that likes to make love barefoot in the
muddy road (yeah baby).
Keeping with mellow - the
beautifully transferred shuffle of the Bass (Miroslav Vitous of Weather Report)
and the Drums on "Freedom Death Dance" opens Side 2 with a winner.
It's a fantastic groove that's both mellow and funky at the same time - and the
lyrics wax lyrical about needing justice and equality and not more pointless
political dancing from Capitol Hill types who don't care (lovely licks on the
guitar too). Trading a can of peas for a lousy loaf of bread becomes an
incident in "Supermarket Blues" where a cop joins in the fracas by
threatening the man on the floor with some lead - while a white woman calls him
a Communist (God damn!). The album ends with the near ten-minutes of "The
Parasite (For Buffy)" - a tale of forked tongues and religion and liquor
and guns screwing up the native Indian population. At times it feels like Gil
Scott-Heron circa 1971's "Small Talk At 125th And Lennox" - letting
rip on a subject that appals him. It over extends its welcome and goes
musically mental in the last minute - like Zappa and the Mothers having a
guitar wig out.
Hard in ways to categorise
or pigeonhole - "Headless Heroes Of The Apocalypse" is nevertheless a
quietly magnificent album that thoroughly deserves its underground status. It's
not all genius for sure and his vocal mannerisms I know can irritate some - but man that good stuff.
And as I look at that dedication on the rear sleeve "...we have killed the very earth beneath our feet...yet we still kill each other and speak of the future..." - I think other words come to mind - like real, timely and right on...
And as I look at that dedication on the rear sleeve "...we have killed the very earth beneath our feet...yet we still kill each other and speak of the future..." - I think other words come to mind - like real, timely and right on...
