Eugene McDaniels was a singer and songwriter that achieved great success in the late 60s and early 70s. Even if you’ve never heard his name before, you most likely know a bunch of mega hits that he wrote.
The earliest of these is “Compared To What”. A great protest song that covered topics ranging from the Vietnam War to abortion rights. It was first recorded by pianist Les McCann on Les McCann Plays the Hits in 1966. However, the most popular version by McCann was the one recorded live at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1969 and released on the album Swiss Movement. Incredibly there is video footage of the performance on the internet! The whole band (especially saxophonist Eddie Harris) really shine on this recording:
Roberta Flack also recorded “Compared To What” on her debut album First Take, also from 1969.
Here is some incredible live footage of Roberta Flack singing it in 1970:
Here is Eugene McDaniels talking about “Compared to What” in 2010:
Back to Roberta Flack…She had another huge hit written by Eugene McDaniels: “Feel Like Making Love”:
Here is Flack singing it in 1970 with Luther Vandross singing backup!
Perhaps my favorite version of “Feel Like Making Love” is the one D’Angelo recorded on Voodoo in 2000:
All these hits lead to Eugene McDaniels getting the opportunity to record a solo record for Atlantic Records. I’m sure the label expected more songs like those hits, but Eugene had other ideas. Instead, he recorded an extremely wild, heavy, psychedelic protest record called Headless Heroes of the Apocalypse, which is today’s pick!
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With a title like Headless Heroes of the Apocalypse you know you’re not getting run-of-the-mill soul music. It’s actually closer to jazz fusion in a lot of places. A lot of this is due to the rhythm section he hired for the album: bassist Miroslav Vitous and drummer Alphonse Mouzon who were both members of the band Weather Report at the time.
The title track talks about how authoritarian governments pits the population against itself, and there are no winners. The song has an underlying rage that cannot be denied, especially in these troubling modern times. The more things change, the more they stay the same I guess.
The song has been sampled by many hip-hop artists, which is an additional part of the appeal of the album for more recent listeners. One famous example is “Get It Together” by the Beastie Boys from Ill Communication:
“Jagger The Dagger” is another song on Headless Heroes of the Apocalypse that was sampled in a famous hip-hop song…“After Hours” by A Tribe Called Quest:
Another highlight is the soul ballad “Freedom Death Dance” that urges people to take action and protest and not just sit on the sidelines:
Perhaps my favorite song on Headless Heroes of the Apocalypse is “Supermarket Blues” which describes a humorous yet scary scenario involving racism while he was grocery shopping:
The album closes with the epic “The Parasite (For Buffy)” which describes in harrowing detail the plight of Native Americans. It ends with a total free jazz freakout with squealing sax and McDaniels screaming in agony on top. Talk about going out on a high note!
Euguene McDaniels only released one other full length record, Outlaw before fading into obscurity. This is a shame because both records are great examples of an artist pushing the sonic limits with strong lyrical themes.
Rumor has it that Vice President Spiro Agnew complained to Atlantic Records about Headless Heroes of the Apocalypse and the political pressure literally ended McDaniels recording career. In fact, a final protest single was recorded and released with very little promotion called “Tell Me Mr. President” that probably didn’t help his case:
I go back to Headless Heroes of the Apocalypse a lot because it really is timeless. It is especially relevant in 2025.
