No’am Newman wrote this review.
Phil Ochs was one of the top folk protest singers in the US during the 1960s who never really became famous outside of his own field; in the ’70s he seemed to run out of steam (and subjects), and in April 1976 he died by suicide. Those who would prefer a longer and more informative biography are invited to read the sleeve notes of this disc.
Herein are collected twenty songs (running time a generous 74 minutes!), all from the years 1964-1966, which could easily be seen as the halcyon period of Ochs; the majority of the songs are live solo performances from the Newport Folk Festivals of those years, whereas the first five are taken from a then contemporary Vanguard sampler album. There are even two previously unreleased songs (“How Long” and “Davey Moore”), presumably included to attract even the most die-hard Ochs fan who has all the other songs in one form or another.
Ochs wrote strong songs (his patriotic “Power And The Glory” is included, as well as more acidic material such as “Is There Anybody Here?”). He wrote strong melodies, and he had a good voice. Why these three essential ingredients never brought him more fame is a question people may debate for years, but almost certainly the vexing answer to that question became one of the reasons why Ochs ended his own life. Nevertheless, those three qualities are what make Ochs’ best tracks immortal, and make listening to this disc a pleasure, even thirty-five years after the recordings.
Ochs was not always served well in the studio, where sometimes he had bombastic arrangements welded onto his songs. Here, the songs are presented in their natural state, which allows their power to shine through without extraneous clutter. The only songs which I wouldn’t have included on this disc are the two talking blues songs: “Talking Airplane Disaster” and “Talking Vietnam Blues.” The talking blues is an anachronistic art-form (although quite possibly rap is a descendant of this genre), and sounds totally out of place thirty plus years on. Today’s children won’t even understand what he’s singing about in the airplane song (overtaken by technology), and its monochordal harmony makes listening difficult to ears trained on more complex material.
I’m not too sure whether the selection of songs was the best that could have been done under the circumstances. While some of his best songs are here, including “There But For Fortune,” “Draft Dodger Rag,” “I Ain’t Marching Anymore,” and “Pleasures Of The Harbor,” there are also quite a few songs of which I have never heard. An introduction to Ochs it isn’t, but it succeeds at showing the songs in a different format. I’m pleased to say that there are at least ten of his discs easily obtainable, thus making this disc more of an item for collectors, rather than an ear-opener for newbies.
(Vanguard, 2000)
