they were released under the band's name, but because of their complexity were recorded by other musicians. The Electric Prunes disbanded during the recording sessions and Axelrod's team completed the albums. Axelrod's success also encouraged Capitol to allow him to produce solo albums, the first two of which, Song of Innocence (1968) and Songs of Experience (1969), were homages to the mystical poetry and paintings of William Blake. These used sweeping strings, booming sound and heavy beats in a way that was unique for the time and became highly influential many years later. His third solo album, Earth Rot (1970), warned of the impact of environmental pollution and degradation. At the same time, Axelrod continued to work with Adderley and Rawls, and with the South African singer Letta Mbulu, bandleader David Rose, and unsuccessful psychedelic groups The Common People and Hardwater. In 1970, he left Capitol and over the next few years issued a rock version of Handel's oratorio Messiah and further solo albums, as well as continuing to work with Adderley on several albums until the latter's death in 1975. His approach fell out of fashion for a while, and three solo albums he recorded in the 1980s went unreleased. His work as arranger and composer began to be rediscovered in the early 1990s, and to be sampled by artists such as Dr. Dre, DJ Shadow and Lauryn Hill. In 1993, he released his first album for over a decade, Requiem: Holocaust. Several compilations of his earlier work were also released. In 2000 he released David Axelrod, which used rhythm tracks originally recorded for a proposed third Electric Prunes album, with new arrangements. Dr. Dre used a David McCallum cut ("The Edge") for "The Next Episode" from 1999's 2001. Masta Ace also used a cut from "The Edge" in his song, "No Regrets" from the 2001 album, Disposable Arts. In addition, "The Edge" was heavily sampled on the Emperor Penguin track "Burnt Sienna and Avocado". Axelrod appeared at the Royal Festival Hall, London, on 17 March 2004 as part of the Ether festival where he conducted a performance of his solo work. He was joined onstage by Richard Ashcroft who sang "Holy Are You", originally recorded by The Electric Prunes. During the intro of his song "The Edge", he spoke on the subject of sampling, saying "I'm such a hypocrite, I hate sampling because it takes jobs away from