Other Mixes By CASETTA
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Pop
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Rock Snob Encyclopedia Oo PHIL OCHS
Side A | ||
Artist | Song | |
Phil Ochs | Power and the Glory | |
Phil Ochs | What's That I Hear | |
Phil Ochs | Love Me, I'm A Liberal | |
Phil Ochs | I'm Going To Say It Now | |
Phil Ochs | Draft Dodger Rag | |
Phil Ochs | I Ain't Marching Anymore | |
Phil Ochs | Ringing Of Revolution | |
Phil Ochs | When I'm Gone | |
Phil Ochs | There But For Fortune | |
Phil Ochs | The War Is Over | |
Phil Ochs | White Boots Marching In A Yellow Land | |
Phil Ochs | Cops Of The World | |
Phil Ochs | Bracero | |
Side B | ||
Artist | Song | Buy |
Phil Ochs | Canons Of Christianity | |
Phil Ochs | When In Rome | |
Phil Ochs | I Kill Therefore I Am | |
Phil Ochs | Pretty Smart On My Part | |
Phil Ochs | Outside Of A Small Circle Of Friends | |
Phil Ochs | Flower Lady | |
Phil Ochs | Tape From California | |
Phil Ochs | Chords Of Fame | |
Phil Ochs | No More Songs | |
Comment:
To say someone's life represents the 1960s is cliched at best and reductionist at worst, but folksinger and protest troubadour Phil Ochs odyssey through the Greenwich Village folk scene of the early 60s, the Yippie days of the Chicago Democratic Convention and the despair of the 70s almost begs to be placed in such a category.At the peak of his career,Ochs sped from protest demonstration to sold-out Carnegie Hall concerts. By the time he took his own life in 1976 at the age of 35, he had become a hopeless street creature, fighting mental illness, alcoholism, and despair at the state of American politics. He went to the 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention believing, as so many did, that they could change the world. Instead, they were tear-gassed and bopped on the head with batons. Phil gave up. He gave up on the country and fell into a deep depression. A sort of writer's block set in, and that was coupled with his manic depression. His highs became bigger and bigger, and his lows became deeper and deeper. Toward the end of his life he took on another persona and changed his name to John Butler Train. He began falling apart in front of his friends. Listen to Ochs sing songs about US foreign intervention, religious profiteering, police brutality, human rights and his own personal demons. The fact that these songs could all be written today without a single word change shows the timelessness of his work but sadly shows just how much we as a society and country should be ashamed. Afterall these songs are 3 decades old and are still relevant. What Phil was all about still applies today. Look at bands like Rage Against the Machine, or a guy like Billy Bragg. If you talk to Michael Stipe of REM, he's well aware of who Phil Ochs was, and so has Chuck D of Public Enemy. Virtually anyone willing to take up a song for a cause with comething to say owes a bit of gratitude to Phil Ochs
Feedback:
Very enlightening!
I just got the Tape From California album, Casetta (chosen because of the amazing Squirrel Bait cover of the title song), and I'm happy to say that I'll be snagging the rest of his catalog in the next couple of weeks. How I've avoided picking up his stuff over the past 20 years that I've known about him is beyond me... *bows*
A wonderful compilation from a greatly underrated artist. Wish it had Changes on it though.