Monday, June 25, 2007

SO CLOSE, SO VERY FAR TO GO (1970)

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 from it, as chosen from the samplers from each of the songs in this album: “Her Song” (#5), “The Paris Song” (#8) and “Population” (#10.) “Her Song” uses a piano along with guitar for its melody; its a metaphor-rich love song about finding a compatible woman, with a fun-house musical image that represents the world of strangers. It's a straight soft-rock song, though definitely a Jake Holmes work. “The Paris Song” is a country song about a visit to Paris; only the good times from the visit are remembered. There’s interesting Nashville-style guitar work in this song. “Population” is less of a protest song than a complaint song, with an admission in the middle that the cause of the population explosion is the natural love a father feels for his family and a pride in seeing it grow. It’s a folk-rock song, though more medium-soft rock than straight folk.


You can download all 10 songs off this album here. All of them, plus 15 more, are free for new downloaders.

No comments: