David Axelrod - Song of Innocence (1968) + Songs of Experience (1969)

Amidst all of the totally justified animosity directed at U2 for forcing their crappy new album on something like 100 million people, no one seems to be pointing out a more subtle reason to be mad at them: the album in question is called Songs of Innocence, and they have a planned follow-up album called Songs of Experience. Meaning, not only did they sneak their album into the libraries of countless innocent Apple devices, they're ripping off David Axelrod.

Of course, Axelrod's records were named after poet William Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience, but he made no secret of this, as the albums were written as musical interpretations of Blake's work. So, in order to glean some sort of positivity from U2-gate, I'm sharing Axelrod's brilliant first two albums, which weave together psychedelic rock, baroque pop, and jazz fusion, forming a gleaming, kaleidoscopic tapestry of instrumental bliss.

Track listing:
-Song of Innocence-
1. Urizen
2. Holy Thursday
3. The Smile
4. A Dream
5. Song of Innocence
6. Merlin's Prophecy
7. The Mental Traveler
-Songs of Experience-
1. A Poison Tree
2. A Little Girl Lost
3. London
4. The Sick Rose
5. The School Boy
6. The Human Abstract
7. The Fly
8. A Divine Image

Megalomania