Monday, June 25, 2007

Jake Holmes And His Music

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Jake Holmes is a folk singer whose first album was released in 1963, as the male half of a comedy duo with his then-wife. By 1967, though, ...

A Note On Psychedelic Music

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It’s common to peg a certain genre of ‘60s music, arising out of the first British Invasion and modern American folk rock, as “psychedelic m...

THE "ABOVE-GROUND SOUND" OF JAKE HOLMES (1967)

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This album is made up of folk songs, from a fellow who's at home in a small town where people’s roles tend to be fixed – everyone knows ...

“Lonely”

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This song is best described as a psychedelic lament. Ragesque lead guitar work is used as Jake Holmes sings about his imaginary ‘friend’ nam...

“Did You Know”

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This song is a straight ballad about a shy guy finally letting his guard down to a woman. After asking if the gal in question had already pi...

“She Belongs To Me”

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Rustic and old-fashioned this song may be, but there’s an honest pride in it. It's a more melodic, if less smooth, (pre-)answer to Tom J...

“Too Long”

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Another bittersweet song, about meeting up with an old chum after many years’ passing only to find that each have grown too far apart to rec...

“Genuine Imitation Life”

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This one is the only protest song in The "Above-Ground Sound" Of Jake Holmes . It reflects Jake Holmes’ roots in a place where art...

“Dazed And Confused”

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The other all-but-explicit psychedelic song on The "Above-Ground Sound" of Jake Holmes , it has a raga riff played by the lead gui...

“Penny’s”

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A playful song, evidently set in a small town in which there’s only one woman named Penny. It contains a more old-fashioned, perhaps more wh...

“Hard To Keep My Mind On You”

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This is a playful song of a different sort, about a married man trying to keep his mind off other women. (Johnny Cash, this is far from.) Th...

“Wish I Was Anywhere Else”

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This song, in the form of a degraded ballad, is a lament about boredom at a social gathering where both talkers are trying to make nice. Eve...

“Signs Of Age”

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This song’s lyrics are mostly spoken; only the chorus, and one repeated verse, is sung. It’s about Jake Holmes coming to terms with reaching...

A LETTER TO KATHERINE DECEMBER (1967)

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This is Jake Holmes’ second album, done at a career stage when recorded artists tend to let their hair down somewhat. Unlike his début album...

“Saturday Night”

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This is a protest song, with a more deliberate use of psychedelic techniques in the second half of it to connote tawdriness. Its theme is th...

“Late Sleeping Day”

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This song is about the relaxation that comes with a day off, when the clock need not be heeded. Jake Holmes sings of the pleasures than come...

“Chase Your Eyes”

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A folk ballad, sung in a hill-top voice, with lots of metaphorization in the first part of the lyrics. The next part recounts a journey thou...

“The Diner Song”

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This song is about a hang-out that seems best to avoid once you’ve been in there. The regulars seem to be morose and guilt-ridden. It starts...

“High-School Hero”

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This is a satiric song, about an Al Bundy-ish Big Man of the Schoolyard and his fate long after high school’s over for he and his age-peers....

“Moving Day”

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Based upon Jake Holmes’ divorce from his first wide Katherine, it’s a lamentful song about the break-up of a home, and the painful detachmen...

“Leaves Never Break”

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This song is intended to be in the spirit of “ Dazed and Confused ,” although it’s less fear-driven and more morbid than "Dazed." ...

“It’s Always Somewhere Else”

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This song has a largely joyous melody, which begins with a hook that resembles an oncoming train. Juxtaposed are commiserative lyrics about ...

“Sleeping Woman”

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A soft song that begins with a minimal acoustic hook, it veers into a retooled quasi-lullaby with the lyrics sung by Jake Holmes in an echoy...

“Houston Street”

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This song is a plaint for the benefit of a vacant, speechless, despairing homeless man who’s shunned by the passers-by. Jake Holmes makes th...

“Genuine Imitation Life (Live)”

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This version is performed using the same instrumentation that appeared in The Above-Ground Sound Of Jake Holmes : lead, acoustic and bass gu...

“Sleeping Woman (Live)”

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This is the same song that's on A Letter To Katherine December , but Jake Holmes announces at its beginning that it was as yet untitled....

JAKE HOLMES (self-titled - 1969)

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Jake Holmes’ third album opens with a shift to a more country-rock Nashville sound, while keeping some folk in. One mockery song is without ...

“How Are You”

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This song is good-time country rock, with a hat tip to Nashville at its end. It’s joyous with softer intermittencies; the opening lyrics ind...

“The Very First Time”

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A softer song, with some yearns in the lyrics, sung by Jake Holmes in a from-the-hilltops voice. It’s a loving paean to his significant othe...

“Emily’s Vacation”

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This satiric song, in waltzish ¾ time, is about a vacationing woman on the make at the resort she’s staying at. As is characteristic for Jak...

“There’s A Place”

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This is a balladesque ‘Homeville’ song, about a town where everyone is rooted, easygoing, honest, genuine, happy and sure of themselves. Peo...

“A Little Later”

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Despite what its title indicates, this song's about a girl who Jake Holmes wants to get rid of. The title is the monicker he’s pinned on...

“Suitcase Room”

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A Nashville-style lament, this song is about life in small rooming houses whose freedom in living is beginning to grow stale because the sol...

“Beautiful Girl Goodbye”

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This song is both sad and soft. The lyrics are lamentful, as are the Nashville riffs that recur in it. There’s little or no hint of bittersw...

“The 11th Tune”

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This is a bucolic come-to-the-countryside song, aimed at the harried and worn-out city-dweller. The out-of-city country is portrayed as bein...

“Hello You”

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This is a slow, happy love song, with a domestic background. There’s a role and plot reversal from Jake Holmes’ earlier song, “ Did You Know...

“Ask Virginia”

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Another satire song, with a Nashville/faux-revivalist melody. This one's about a church that is clearly, though not explicitly, the Epis...

“Always The Same”

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This song is slow and piano-centered, as well as lamentful. It’s about the monotony underneath the surface differences of different places, ...

SO CLOSE, SO VERY FAR TO GO (1970)

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This album tend to be ignored by Holmes critics, mentioned (often in passing) as one of his post-folk albums. I’ve focused on three songs fr...

HOW MUCH TIME (1972)

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Like So Close, So Very Far To Go (1970), this album also tends to get the mere-mention treatment from Jake Holmes appreciators. I’ve focuse...

Recent Works By Jake Holmes

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Jake Holmes has cut and released two albums this millenium: Dangerous Times (2001) and Mission Accomplished – The Return Of The Protest Son...