Above Ground Sound of [Import]

Jake Holmes | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (December 21, 2007)
• Original Release Date: 2004
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Radioactive
• ASIN: B00025OJ50
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #561,758 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Lonely

2. Did You Know

3. She Belonged to Me

4. Too Long

5. Genuine Imitation Life

6. Dazed and Confused

7. Penny's

8. Hard to Keep My Mind on You

9. Wish I Was Anywhere Else

10. Signs of Age

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A true legend of songwriting., April 21, 2006

By 

Demon Ted "Sound Hound" (Omaha, NE USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Above Ground Sound of (Audio CD)

This album has the original erie acoustic version of 'Dazed & Confused', later done by The Yardbirds and Jimmy Page, before the Led Zepplin version came out. This is true late '60's psychadelica at its best. This entire album is full of deep bass riffs and broken guitar chords and Holmes' voice deliver lyrical perfection. A great forgotten singer/ songwriter lost in time.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars forgotten psych-folk gem, September 25, 2007

By 

Stargrazer "the lost mixtape of my life" (deep in the heart of Michigan) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Above Ground Sound of (Audio CD)

Though often footnoted by Led Zeppelin apologists for "Dazed and Confused," Holmes' long out-of-print debut album for Columbia's Tower imprint contains much more than that pilfered song. It often blurs into the more speedy, acid-drenched songs of the Byrds, the warped balladry of early John Hartford, or the sort of folk orchestrations that would be toned down and delivered with greater refinement on Nick Drake's "Bryter Layter."

Holmes is to be lauded for his daring production risks, mixing Greenwich village folk with fleeting horns, strings, and quick-fingered jazz leads. The electric bass underpinning many of the arrangements is nimble and ever-so unpredictable. The album is indeed a lost psych-folk classic, albeit one the casually aware often slight with "if it's so good why haven't I heard it" dismissal. That said, Holmes does slip into some "poor me" lyrical missteps here and there.

Quality-wise, it sounds as if the CD were mastered off of vinyl (though the liner notes indicate that the original stereo masters are lost -- thus we have the mono mix, brought back into print in an affordable budget version by itsaboutmusic.com). Considering the difficulty of hearing this music at all, this is a small hurdle to adjust to, and even lends a sepia-toned nostalgia to an album that is far more than a curio.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A neglected gem, February 10, 2008

By 

Laszlo Matyas - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Above Ground Sound of (Audio CD)

Jake Holmes deserved so much more. Sure, he wasn't Dylan (or, for that matter, Lennon or Jagger), but he was good. Damn good. In fact, on some of these songs, he was utterly brilliant: "Did You Know" and "Too Long" are ethereal, haunting, and utterly gorgeous, full of sonorous, moaning guitars and pained longing. "Dazed And Confused" (which Led Zeppelin would later cover without crediting, heartlessly depriving Holmes at what may have been his best chance for success) is an apocalyptic psych-folk masterpiece, dripping with raw paranoia and emotional chaos. "Lonely" features a chaotic and acrobatic guitar run, with harrowed vocals exploding over caustic melodies. "She Belongs To Me" swings with humor and attitude, while "Penny's" is just plain engaging. In general, this album is both gorgeous and harrowing, full of surreal melodic constructions drifting through a dreamy haze of ringing guitars and haunted vocals. The music is hypnotic, the vocals motive, the ideas original and the overall tone often otherworldly. This is a mid 60s folk classic that belongs in the collection of anybody and everybody with even a passing interest in the decade.