Headless Heroes of the Apocalypse

McDaniels, Eugene

album cover

A Radical Approach to Consciousness-Raising

"No amount of dancing is going to make us free," Eugene McDaniels proclaims on "Freedom Death Dance," a call to action on his alternately suave and politically charged 1971 solo record. Tired of the lofty rhetoric of the civil rights movement, McDaniels—who went on to write hits for Roberta Flack and others—tries to mobilize an opposition, all the while castigating those who have become zombified by drugs (or popular culture). At times McDaniels seems totally unhinged: The last few minutes of a lament about the treatment of Native Americans, "The Parasite (for Buffy)," is given over to eerie wheedling screams.

McDaniels might have believed his proclamation about the futility of dancing, but that didn't stop him from creating a visionary amalgamation that takes funk, jazz-fusion, blues, and rock to new places. The rhythm section, helmed by McDaniels on keyboards, is the star here: On track after track, they achieve an easygoing yet totally engaged backbeat that helps assuage McDaniels's erratic vocals. That cohesive rhythm has made the album indispensable to subsequent generations: Some of the best minds in hip-hop have copped bits of Headless Heroes, including A Tribe Called Quest (which utilized "Jagger the Dagger"), and Pete Rock and CL Smooth, whose hit "Act like You Know" begins with the riff from "Freedom Death Dance."

Headless Heroes didn't exactly meet with universal appreciation when it was released, however. According to several accounts, then–Vice President Spiro Agnew called Atlantic Records to complain about the album, which was getting some airplay in Washington, D.C., and other urban centers. Shortly after that, in what might have been either capitulation or coincidence, Atlantic stopped promoting the album, and it quickly disappeared. It was finally issued on CD in 2001.

Genre: R&B
Released: 1971, Atlantic (Revised 2001, Water)
Key Tracks: "Freedom Death Dance," "The Lord Is Back," "The Parasite (for Buffy)."
Next Stop: Gil Scott-Heron: Pieces of a Man
After That: A Tribe Called Quest: The Low End Theory
Book Pages: 487–488

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