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Becoming Elektra: The True Story of Jac Holzman's Visionary Record Label
Becoming Elektra is an account of Elektra Records in the Jac Holzman years, from 1950 to 1973. It tells the story of Elektra's growth from a small independent folk label to a major, multi-faceted, hit making concern.
Jac Holzman's role in founding and running the company is central to the story, and his capacity for lateral thinking - that led to innovations such as the first-ever sampler album, and a million-selling series of sound effects records - is a recurring theme. But the book is not just a story of one man's business success. It is also about the label's artists and the great music they produced, and other key people who gave the company its identity. Becoming Elektra places the label in a broad context.
A gripping narrative drawing in elements of musical and cultural history, and biographies of the main participants in the story, the book opens with a pivotal moment in Elektra's history, when Holzman discovered The Doors. It then goes back to the previously untold story of Elektra in the 50s, when the label brought folk music to a wide audience. Moving into the 60s the story takes in artists that have had an extraordinary resonance down the years including some, such as Tim Buckley, who are far more popular today than in their lifetime. His story is told, along with those of artists that read like an inventory of 60s and 70s musical innovation: The Doors, Love, Judy Collins, Tom Paxton, Tim Buckley, Fred Neil, David Ackles, Phil Ochs, Bread, Queen, The Incredible String Band, Carly Simon, The Stooges and The MC5.
Jac Holzman's role in founding and running the company is central to the story, and his capacity for lateral thinking - that led to innovations such as the first-ever sampler album, and a million-selling series of sound effects records - is a recurring theme. But the book is not just a story of one man's business success. It is also about the label's artists and the great music they produced, and other key people who gave the company its identity. Becoming Elektra places the label in a broad context.
A gripping narrative drawing in elements of musical and cultural history, and biographies of the main participants in the story, the book opens with a pivotal moment in Elektra's history, when Holzman discovered The Doors. It then goes back to the previously untold story of Elektra in the 50s, when the label brought folk music to a wide audience. Moving into the 60s the story takes in artists that have had an extraordinary resonance down the years including some, such as Tim Buckley, who are far more popular today than in their lifetime. His story is told, along with those of artists that read like an inventory of 60s and 70s musical innovation: The Doors, Love, Judy Collins, Tom Paxton, Tim Buckley, Fred Neil, David Ackles, Phil Ochs, Bread, Queen, The Incredible String Band, Carly Simon, The Stooges and The MC5.
- GenresMusicNonfictionHistory
304 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
September 2, 2019
This might be a better read for some than Jac Holzman's Follow The Music in that it's a coffee table book, so it's filled with great photographs of Elektra artists both famous and obscure. Houghton also follows the artists post-Elektra (ie. Phil Ochs' legendary A&M albums, etc.). Holzman's book, of course, does not. I like them both, but the gorgeous pics make the scales tip towards this tome.
May 10, 2025
Nice overview of Jac Holzman and the first couple decades of Elektra. There was a lot to cover here, so the book was perfunctory more than a truly deep dive. Because of this, I didn't get as many fun anecdotes as I would have liked, but it did prompt me to listen to artists I'd never really given a shot and some I'd never heard of. I also got some new favorite albums out of it. And as always, it was great to read about faves like Tim Buckley and The Stooges.
September 1, 2010
Jac Holzman’s Adventures in Recordland
“Becoming Elektra” covers the years from when Elektra records was founded by Jac Holzman in his college dorm room to when he sold Elektra to Warner Communications. In between there was a lot of music, a lot of taking chances, a folk music scene that exploded, a rock music scene that exploded, iconic personalities and albums, iconic producers, and at the center of it, some times barely hanging on, was Jac Holzman and Elektra.
The late 40’s and early 50’s were a comparable time to our’s for the recording industry as today technology is available to those who want to make a CD. The early 50’s was on the cutting edge of a technology change. The young and ambitious were there to take advantage of it. Many record companies started up at this time. Some didn’t survive, but some did and we know them today; Atlantic Records, Chess Records and Elektra. The first technology to make this possible was the ability to create thinner and smaller records that were more easily usable than the thick 78’s. The mechanical technology to record, portable and widely available to everyone was left over equipment from World War II.
This technological vantage point is where Holzman found himself when he started Elektra. Another was New York as the opening of coffee shops put the city at the forefront of folk music as a scene. Holzman was able to record the folk denizens of Greenwich Village. Later, when the music scene in Los Angeles was about to burst Holzman had the insight to see the Sunset Strip as the same kind of focal point for music that Greenwich Village was in the 50‘s.
Since Elektra was a small company that didn’t have a lot to lose but a lot to prove. Holzman was willing to experiment and let his artists experiment, from recording in a church or the artist’s apartment to a club the artist was familiar with and comfortable in, to the experiments of Paul Rothchild and The Doors in the studio. His only credo was “just do what’s right for the music.”
Perhaps the easiest and best review I could write would be a review just listing all the names of Elektra’s artists over the years. Theodore Bikel, Josh White, Judy Henske, Tom Paxton, Jean Ritchie, Judy Collins, Cynthia Gooding, Susan Reed, Sabicas, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Tim Buckley, Phil Ochs, Tom Rush, Jean Redpath, The Dillards, John Sebastian, The Doors, Love, Clearlight, Bread, David Ackles, The Stooges, MC5, Queen, Jackson Browne amongst others. Or I could write of all the different styles of music Elektra recorded: world music, theme albums, military genre albums, ethnic music, the blues, folk, and flamenco. You would think that a compelling enough reasons to buy the book.
Elektra’s reputation has preceded it and earlier generations of Elektra artists have influenced later generations. Doors guitarist Robby Krieger had quite a few of Elektra’s flamenco albums in his teenage record collection.
Don’t let the thumbnail graphic of the book fool you into thinking it‘s an ordinary book. The book you’ll receive is absolutely beautiful, filled with page after page of high gloss pictures, album covers, people, places, catalogs, records, letters, memos, performers. Anything and everything from Elektra’s history.
An oral history of Elektra “Follow The Music” was published in the 90’s and it gives you the Elektra story from the point of the participants. If you already have “Follow The Music” (as I have) it‘s a great companion book. If you don‘t have “Follow The Music,” “Becoming Elektra” is a great stand alone volume that gives you the wider perspective of the history and events. I was surprised at the new information I discovered, stories were filled out, and broader knowledge of the artists and music I now have.
I’m not one to recommend a publisher or their whole catalog, but Jawbone Press is an exception. They’re publishing high quality books in both content and the actual physical book. If you’re a rock fan I would highly recommend other Jawbone Press books such as “Forever Changes: Arthur Lee and the Book of Love” and “Return of the King.”
“Becoming Elektra” covers the years from when Elektra records was founded by Jac Holzman in his college dorm room to when he sold Elektra to Warner Communications. In between there was a lot of music, a lot of taking chances, a folk music scene that exploded, a rock music scene that exploded, iconic personalities and albums, iconic producers, and at the center of it, some times barely hanging on, was Jac Holzman and Elektra.
The late 40’s and early 50’s were a comparable time to our’s for the recording industry as today technology is available to those who want to make a CD. The early 50’s was on the cutting edge of a technology change. The young and ambitious were there to take advantage of it. Many record companies started up at this time. Some didn’t survive, but some did and we know them today; Atlantic Records, Chess Records and Elektra. The first technology to make this possible was the ability to create thinner and smaller records that were more easily usable than the thick 78’s. The mechanical technology to record, portable and widely available to everyone was left over equipment from World War II.
This technological vantage point is where Holzman found himself when he started Elektra. Another was New York as the opening of coffee shops put the city at the forefront of folk music as a scene. Holzman was able to record the folk denizens of Greenwich Village. Later, when the music scene in Los Angeles was about to burst Holzman had the insight to see the Sunset Strip as the same kind of focal point for music that Greenwich Village was in the 50‘s.
Since Elektra was a small company that didn’t have a lot to lose but a lot to prove. Holzman was willing to experiment and let his artists experiment, from recording in a church or the artist’s apartment to a club the artist was familiar with and comfortable in, to the experiments of Paul Rothchild and The Doors in the studio. His only credo was “just do what’s right for the music.”
Perhaps the easiest and best review I could write would be a review just listing all the names of Elektra’s artists over the years. Theodore Bikel, Josh White, Judy Henske, Tom Paxton, Jean Ritchie, Judy Collins, Cynthia Gooding, Susan Reed, Sabicas, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Tim Buckley, Phil Ochs, Tom Rush, Jean Redpath, The Dillards, John Sebastian, The Doors, Love, Clearlight, Bread, David Ackles, The Stooges, MC5, Queen, Jackson Browne amongst others. Or I could write of all the different styles of music Elektra recorded: world music, theme albums, military genre albums, ethnic music, the blues, folk, and flamenco. You would think that a compelling enough reasons to buy the book.
Elektra’s reputation has preceded it and earlier generations of Elektra artists have influenced later generations. Doors guitarist Robby Krieger had quite a few of Elektra’s flamenco albums in his teenage record collection.
Don’t let the thumbnail graphic of the book fool you into thinking it‘s an ordinary book. The book you’ll receive is absolutely beautiful, filled with page after page of high gloss pictures, album covers, people, places, catalogs, records, letters, memos, performers. Anything and everything from Elektra’s history.
An oral history of Elektra “Follow The Music” was published in the 90’s and it gives you the Elektra story from the point of the participants. If you already have “Follow The Music” (as I have) it‘s a great companion book. If you don‘t have “Follow The Music,” “Becoming Elektra” is a great stand alone volume that gives you the wider perspective of the history and events. I was surprised at the new information I discovered, stories were filled out, and broader knowledge of the artists and music I now have.
I’m not one to recommend a publisher or their whole catalog, but Jawbone Press is an exception. They’re publishing high quality books in both content and the actual physical book. If you’re a rock fan I would highly recommend other Jawbone Press books such as “Forever Changes: Arthur Lee and the Book of Love” and “Return of the King.”
November 22, 2010
Unlike most volumes on a single company – in this case, a record label – “Becoming Elektra” is not about Elektra Records as a whole, but is rather an illustrated history of the label during the reign of its legendary founder, Jac Holtzman.
What began largely as a folk-based label started back in 1951, while Holtzman was still at St. John’s College, became a powerhouse of rock by the end of Holtzman’s tenure with such chart-topping acts as the Doors and Queen. Along the way, Holtzman’s taste allowed for a panoply of folk singers to reach public audiences, many for the first time. Phil Ochs, Judy Collins, Tim Buckley and the Incredible String Band were some of the labels early successes. Even in its nascent days, the label went beyond the limits of pop music by releasing records titled Zodiac Cosmic Sounds, Sing Along in Hebrew and later a Child’s Garden of Grass. Elektra was the first mainstream label to issue an extensive series of sound effects records as well.
Through it all, the label was known for its organic sensibilities. Despite the breakthroughs of the Doors and L.A.’s Love, it wasn’t until the sale to Warner Communications and the eventual handing over the reigns to David Geffen, Joe Smith, Bob Krasnow and Sylvia Rhone that Elektra became a full fledged, mainstream label. In Houghton’s book, Elektra is Holtzman’s label, and while the founder returned in recent years to both technical and advisory roles within the Warner Music Group, the book begins and ends with the Holtzman musical era.
What began largely as a folk-based label started back in 1951, while Holtzman was still at St. John’s College, became a powerhouse of rock by the end of Holtzman’s tenure with such chart-topping acts as the Doors and Queen. Along the way, Holtzman’s taste allowed for a panoply of folk singers to reach public audiences, many for the first time. Phil Ochs, Judy Collins, Tim Buckley and the Incredible String Band were some of the labels early successes. Even in its nascent days, the label went beyond the limits of pop music by releasing records titled Zodiac Cosmic Sounds, Sing Along in Hebrew and later a Child’s Garden of Grass. Elektra was the first mainstream label to issue an extensive series of sound effects records as well.
Through it all, the label was known for its organic sensibilities. Despite the breakthroughs of the Doors and L.A.’s Love, it wasn’t until the sale to Warner Communications and the eventual handing over the reigns to David Geffen, Joe Smith, Bob Krasnow and Sylvia Rhone that Elektra became a full fledged, mainstream label. In Houghton’s book, Elektra is Holtzman’s label, and while the founder returned in recent years to both technical and advisory roles within the Warner Music Group, the book begins and ends with the Holtzman musical era.
November 21, 2013
It's a long slog through the early folk years -- you want to just skip ahead to the Doors and Love -- but a rewarding one, and necessary to understand how the label was able to break the acts that it did. Also turned me on to some great, essential stuff (eg Judy Henske and, via a Judy Collins cover, Richard & Mimi Farina). Great color illustrations of every album cover.
February 1, 2017
Well researched history of the years that Jac Holzmnan ran the legendary label, finishing when David Geffen took over in 1973. In effect this makes it as much about Holzman than a full history of the label but this is a minor caveat for such an excellent, superbly illustrated book.
March 21, 2017
Great! And I almost immediately, synchronicitly, then found a bunch of free and/or cheap copies of several Elektra albums on vinyl.
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November 13, 2019Good book I enjoy reading about musical performers , labels etc. Since many of my favorite performers recorded for electra I really enjoined this book
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews