David Holmes Review

Song relevant to the state of America. Funny how the psychedelic era echoes so much of what we are now faced with today. History DOES indeed repeat itself.   This song is passionate and true.   I LOVE it.   I played this in the car so often, I have lost count.   Classic.

by Eugene McDaniels

as performed by Les McCann

1. Love the lie and lie the love
Hangin' on, with a push and shove
Possession is the motivation
that is hangin' up the God-damn nation
Looks like we always end up in a rut (everybody now!)
Tryin' to make it real - compared to what?

2. Slaughterhouse is killin' hogs
Twisted children killin' frogs
Poor dumb rednecks rollin' logs
Tired old ladies kissin' dogs
Hate the human, love that stinking mutt (I can't stand it!)
Try to make it real - compared to what?

3. The President, he's got his war
Folks don't know just what it's for
Nobody gives us rhyme or reason
Have one doubt, they call it treason
We're chicken-feathers, all without one gut (God damn it!)
Tryin' to make it real - compared to what? (Sock it to me, now)

4. Church on Sunday, sleep and nod
Tryin' to duck the wrath of God
Preacher's fillin' us with fright
Tryin' to tell us what he thinks is right
He really got to be some kind of nut (I can't use it!)
Tryin' to make it real - compared to what?

5. Where's that bee and where's that honey?
Where's my God and where's my money
Unreal values, crass distortion
Unwed mothers need abortion
Kind of brings to mind ol' young King Tut (He did it now)
Tried to make it real - compared to what?!

this version of song off david holmes exquisite album 'bow down to the exit sign'

you can hear song by clicking on link below, in my project playlist acct under title 'compared to what?'   

there is a treasure trove of music in that album- reportedly, it was made to be a kind of like a pseudo-soundtrack to a film. i have heard he wanted to eventually have a film to go with this compilation of music but it never materialized.

David Holmes is a Northern Irish DJ, musician and composer. Holmes was born on 14 February 1969, the youngest of ten children.

Holmes began DJing in the pubs of his native belfast from the age of 15. His first hit was the song "DeNiro", with Ashley Beedle, in 1992. In the early to mid 1990's he ran two highly acclaimed and successful club nights in the Belfast Art College known as Sugar Sweet and Shake Yer Brain. Famously, the dance group Orbital wrote the track "Belfast", released on their debut album "Orbital", after playing at Sugar Sweet.

Holmes released "This Film's Crap Let's Slash The Seats", in 1995, and it received acclaim for being very scenic and chaotic dance music. One of the songs on the album was used in the soundtrack to the film Pi ("Pi"). At the time he described the album as being inspired by movies and movie soundtracks, a recurring theme throughout the album and of Holmes' work as a whole. The opening track, "No Man's Land," was reportedly inspired by the Daniel Day-Lewis film In the Name of the Father. In the same year, he also provided the ambient links between the songs on the album "Infernal Love" by the Northern Irish rock band Therapy?.

In 1997, Holmes released "Let's Get Killed", described by some as the soundtrack to an imaginary film. Many of the tracks feature people talking in the streets of New York, recorded by Holmes using a dictaphone.

In 1998, Danny Devito commissioned him to do the score for Steven Soderbergh's film Out of Sight ("Out of Sight").

He scored a second film for Soderbergh in 2001, including some songs from Let's Get Killed and "Bow Down to the Exit Sign" on the Ocean's Eleven remake ("Ocean's Eleven").

After releasing a mix album, "Come Get It I Got It", in 2002, Holmes released "David Holmes Presents The Free Association" in 2003. This was a departure for the artist as all his previous work had been solo. The Free Association featured 4 other bandmates who toured with Holmes after the album was launched.

As a remixer he has reworked tracks by U2, Manic Street Preachers, Primal Scream, Page & Plant, and Ice Cube.

Before his musical career Holmes worked as a hairdresser and chef. He also briefly owned and ran a café called Mogwai near the Queen's University of Belfast.

Discography (Incomplete)

Albums
This Film's Crap Let's Slash the Seats (1995; features Steve Hillage and Jah Wobble)
Let's Get Killed (1997)
Essential Mix (1998 previously broadcast on BBC Radio 1)
Bow Down to the Exit Sign (2000)
Come Get It I Got It (2002 mix album)
David Holmes Presents The Free Association (2003)

[originally posted in my personal online blog in january of 2008] 

However mean your life is, meet it and live it: do not shun it and call it hard names. Cultivate poverty like a garden herb, like sage. Do not trouble yourself much to get new things, whether clothes or friends. Things do not change, we change. Sell your clothes and keep your thoughts.

Henry David Thoreau
American Author and Naturalist


         (Keep your peace.)