Nice to see that numerous talented people did memorialize him in their work. Good for them. Bobby Z should do the same.
Listening to this for the first time in a while. Though the main format of the material is the topical song, there are glimpses of greater sophistication evident - Celia, for instance. I agree that Phil Ochs had a better sense of melody than Dylan, certainly. It also helps that Phil could actually sing - and sing well! Dylan's vocals were always a polarizing aspect of his art. For the more pointedly topical songs, like Talking Vietnam, I'd have to say that Phil's songwriting was much more focused - the point of view is well-informed and not ambiguous at all. Dylan's lyrics tended to be more hazy and non-specific by contrast. To be truthful, I've only played this first LP a few times so far, but this thread is making me appreciate it more. ------------ Chris
Jamie C.'s description of I Ain't Marching Anymore sums up the album accurately. After revisiting it today, I find it a very strong collection of songs (and quite generous for its time with 14 songs collectively clocking in at over 50 minutes). However, although there are several brilliantly written songs here, there are others that seem a bit more strident and heavy-handed than the tautly crafted songs on All the News That's Fit to Sing, so in my opinion, his 2nd Elektra album is a slight step down from its predecessor but still more than worthwhile.
I'm not familiar with all of Phil Ochs' albums, so I'll be following this thread with interest. I discovered Phil Ochs thanks to They Might Be Giants who covered his song One More Parade, and namechecked him as one of their two favorite singers (the other being Marvin Gaye). Recently, Neil Young eulogized him, covering Changes live, preceeded by a little speech about how great he was.
Please tell me that's available somewhere! Gordon Lightfoot did a pretty good job with that one as well:
On the 4 Seasons' folk-flavored Born to Wander album, they did a Phil Ochs song called "New Town" that Phil never released in his lifetime. I always wondered where they found that rare gem. Was Phil's demo of it ever released posthumously?
Not quite "album by album": I have the "Farewell & Fantasies"-box. How is that one rated soundwise compared to the single CDs?
Never heard of that one before. Looking it up on Amazon, I see some songs that are also on the Broadside Tapes album. Since that album was out before the tapes to this one were discovered, I take it they're different recordings?
Just wanted to follow up on the discussion of the 'first' LP featuring lots of Phil, the Campers Album. I have a rip (not mine) of the LP on one of my web pages. Anyone interested in downloading the MP3 (192 K) please E Mail me and I will gladly share!
I Ain't Marching This album was a bit of a leap forward. Phil had more confidence in his own playing and was adamant that there would be no other guitar but his. His playing WAS better. He understood timing, and could do that. He felt that he couldn't sound like Danny Kalb, and Danny got off several memorable licks. So Phil's records would sound like Phil. But Phil brought out several all time classics, and the rest are no slouches either. I Ain't Marching Anymore. The title track and do you see the contradiction staring you in the face? Is he uneducated or smart? Or is he letting you think he's slow? A slang contraction with no corresponding contraction on the common word Marching(not Marchin'). Still to this day among the greatest anti war anthems. Draft Dodger Rag- Lordy what can be said about this? It's hilarious? It's Ochs with a humor that usually shows up in his talkin' blues. I woder if Crazy Uncle Teddy was listening to this before he showed up at his draft board back in his Amboy D days. The Highwayman- Alfred Noyes epic poem of romantic narrative is given breath by Phil. He brings it to life. Here's To The State Of Mississippi- .....Phil was angry. And not at Mississippi, Mississippi just sounded better for the song. It was Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Florida, Et al..... He issued as hard a musical smackdown as he was capable of. I am SO glad all of those things are so far behind us.
And before we get too far away from THIS Phil Ochs, our next detour will be the Broadside Tapes and On My Way.
A thousand went to take the island Chances strong as broken twigs And a thousand stayed there on the island Met their fate at the Bay of Pigs* *(Phil's first song- never recorded) As I mentioned earlier, Phil was writing an amazing number songs. A lot more than he could do, and some that just didn't fit his own act. He would show up at the offices of Broadside magazine with dozens of new songs. He would sit there in the office and sing the new songs into a reel tape recorder(with La, the parakeet tweeting along). But there were so many talented new songwriters that only one or two would be published, with the rest transcribed and kept with the tapes. And Phil didn't count on his publisher or management to put his songs out there. He would sit down with other singers and groups when he was on the road and play them his songs to interest them in the songs he wasn't performing. These are the only recordings of Phil playing these songs. And they are a treasure trove to the Phil-o-phile.
The Broadside Tapes 1 From Wiki The Broadside Tapes 1, alternatively known as Broadside Ballads, Vol. 14, was a compilation of demo recordings done by Phil Ochs for Broadside magazine in the early-to-late 1960s. Of the sixteen songs that appeared, ranging from the humorous ("The Ballad of Alferd Packer") to the depressing ("The Passing of My Life"), all were new to listeners. It also included a song about the Profumo affair ("Christine Keeler") and it closed with a live cover of The Beatles' "I Should Have Known Better" (retitled "I Shoulda Known Better") featuring Eric Andersen on harmony vocals and harmonica. Track listing All songs by Phil Ochs unless otherwise noted. "The Ballad of Alferd Packer" – 2:11 "If I Knew" – 2:18 "The Ballad of John Henry Faulk" – 3:08 "Spaceman" – 2:09 "On My Way" – 1:40 "Hazard, Kentucky" – 2:09 "The Passing of My Life" – 2:21 "That's The Way It's Gonna Be" (P. Ochs, B. Gibson) – 2:35 "Rivers of the Blood" – 1:59 "Remember Me" – 2:22 "Talkin' Pay TV" – 2:33 "Christine Keeler" – 1:30 "Spanish Civil War Song" – 2:11 "Another Country" – 2:21 "Time Was" – 1:38 "I Shoulda Known Better" (John Lennon, Paul McCartney) – 3:32 Participants Phil Ochs - guitar, vocals Eric Andersen - harmonica, vocals on "I Shoulda Known Better" Paul Kaplan - producer
From the You tube description: That's the Way It's Gonna Be, a song co-written by Phil Ochs and Bob Gibson, was the title song of the first album by the "New" Mitchell Trio - John Denver, Mike Kobluk and Joe Frazier. This, apart from the 1964 demo version of Phil Ochs, is one of the first recording of this song. It was covered by Glenn Yarbrough and the Back Porch Majority in the same year, and was later covered by Lee Mallory and Jose Feliciano.
On My Way From Wiki On My Way is a 2010 album of previously unreleased Phil Ochs performances, originally recorded in 1963 by Roy Connors of The Highwaymen. Track listing[edit] "The A.M.A. Song" "The Ballad of Davey Moore" "On My Way" "Morning" "The Ballad of U.S. Steel" "Once I Lived the Life of a Commissar" "Lou Marsh" "New Town" "Hazard, Kentucky" "Time Was" "I'll Be There" "Paul Crump" "The Ballad of William Worthy" "The Power and The Glory" "The Ballad of Oxford, Mississippi" "Talking Cuban Crisis" "How Long" "Never Again" "Don't Try Again" "First Snow" "Bobby Dylan Record" "The Ballad of Ruben Jaramillo" "The Ballad of Alferd Packer" "Talking Airplane Disaster" "Spanish Lament" A review by hyperbolium.com The folk revival of the late 1950s and early 1960s produced its share of recorded artifacts, reproduced on tape, vinyl, CD and most recently MP3, but it also held tightly to the tradition of live performance and the transmission of songs from one wandering minstrel to the next. Phil Ochs recorded his own share of treasured LPs, including his 1964 debut All the News That’s Fit to Sing and the seminal follow-up I Ain’t Marching Anymore, but in 1963 his songs were still heard only on stage in live performance. A couple of years ago, this reel of forgotten demo recordings turned up and was purchased at auction by Ochs’ brother Michael. Recorded at the Florida home of future Highwayman Roy Connors, the informal session finds Ochs running through his original material, including several key titles he’d later record for studio releases, in the hope of interesting other artists (in this case Connors’ Vikings Three) in playing or recording his songs. Several collections of Ochs demos have been released under the Broadside banner, but these 1963 performances sport several key differences. When recording for Broadside, Ochs’ was laying out his lyrics for publication in a magazine, rather than selling his songs; he left out chorus repeats and often sang in a matter-of-fact fashion that made the lyrics clear but didn’t lean on the whole song’s craft. In contrast, these twenty-five self-penned compositions are being sold to fellow musicians. Ochs not only sings the songs as he would on stage, he speaks to the songs’ subjects, their chord structures, and to their recent reception by live audiences. Aside from the high quality of the performances and the number of rare Ochs originals, these recordings provide an unusual peek into the working musician’s back room where songs are taught and traded. The solo format – Ochs and his acoustic guitar – was easy to record, and the balance of voice and instrument is excellent. There are some dropouts and a few rough spots in the tapes, but nothing that really detracts from the listening experience. What comes through loud and clear is Ochs’ devotion to his subjects, something he proclaimed directly in “I’ll Be There.” One might expect a topical singer of the early 1960s to sound quaint and dated in the twenty-first century, but Ochs’ themes, complaints and observations of social injustices and political realities remain sadly resonant in modern times. He excoriates greedy corporations (“The Ballad of U.S. Steel”), is disgusted by the impact of market economics on health care (“The A.M.A. Song”) and wonders about the prohibition of travel to Cuba (“The Ballad of William Worthy”). He rips songs from the headlines, lamenting the vicious death of a boxer, a cross-fire killing on the streets of New York City, and the hard times of a Kentucky coal miner’s strike. Ochs could also be quite touching, singing nostalgic laments (“Time Was”) and lonely observations (“Morning” and “First Snow”), proclaiming his love of country, flaws and all, on a powerful early version of “The Power and the Glory,” and riffing on “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out” for the humorous “Once I Lived the Life of a Commissar.” This is a terrific package, documenting a folk troubadour early in his career, bursting with music that had something to say. In addition to the twenty-five songs, the tri-fold cardboard slipcase includes reproductions of two ads for the House of Pegasus concert run that brought Ochs to Florida in 1963, and liner notes by Michael Simmons. This is an important release for fans, and a terrific document of the folk-roots revival. It’s more spontaneous than Ochs’ studio albums, and though not as polished as his official live albums, the passion, craft and dedication that minted Ochs’ legend still burn brightly in these demos forty-seven years later.
This tape, or perhaps another demo, must have somehow reached the 4 Seasons. "New Town" appeared on their album Born to Wander.
Thanks for starting this thread, JamieC. I thought I had nearly all of Phil's recordings, but On My Way is news to me, as is, of course, The Campers! Chris
