Search - Jake Holmes :: Above Ground Sound

A neglected gem

Laszlo Matyas | 02/11/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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."

Page and Plant Owe This Man a Lot of Money

Caesar M. Warrington | Lansdowne, PA United States | 09/09/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"One of the many singer-songwriters to come out of New York's Greenwich Village folk scene in the mid-1960s, San Francisco native Jake Holmes is remembered, if at all, for being the real author of "Dazed and Confused," one of the most recognizable and famous songs in British group Led Zeppelin's repertoire. But Page, Plant, Jones and Bonham, didn't do Holmes any favors. By Jimmy Page taking sole songwriting credit for it (i.e. stole it), Led Zeppelin literally made the song their own, making millions while poor Jake eventually had to pay his bills by writing jingles for radio and television commercials (he is the creator of the Army's "Be all that you can be!" slogan).



"Dazed and Confused" shares space with a selection of nine other autumnal acid-folk tracks on his 1967 debut, THE ABOVE GROUND SOUND Of JAKE HOLMES. Accompanied by only two guitars and bass, Holmes' stark and disembodied lyricism sets a mood that is tense and anguished, spooky. When listening to this uncompromising and --virtually-- unsalable album, it's bewildering to know that its lonely and brooding author would soon become a master at penning upbeat jingles in commercial advertising.



Recommended to fans of Tim Buckley and Nick Drake."

Jake Holmes goes underground!

Lou Hinkhouse | Chicago, IL USA | 03/27/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Jake Holmes looks like & sounds like a straight cat converted to a hipster! He seems like a talented Southern gent who ended up somewhere between the beatniks and the hippies. His music is crazy easy listening pop, but turned a little sideways to a 60's freakout vibe. A little swamp groove at times (pre-Creedence) folk rock thrown in as well. The undiscovered gem of this LP is Dazed & Confused-who knew Page stole this from Jake Holmes! Even though JP's rep as riff rip off artist (just ask Jeff Beck, Beck's Bolero or members of Spirit whose Taurus became Stairway To Heaven). It's easy to hear why Jake's ORIGINAL Dazed & Confused inspired Page! It sounds like a soundtrack to an LSD trip on TV show Dragnet! Dig this!"