Phil Ochs

Now comes a remarkable set, sure to be cherished by Ochs fans and followers, Phil Ochs, The Best Of the Rest: Rare and Unreleased Recordings, which comes out on CD on May 22nd. It consists of many demos he made for Warner-Chappell music which have not been heard by the public ever, some of songs that he recorded on his albums, but also many of songs never recorded and unknown.

Phil Ochs - There and Now: Live In Vancouver, 1968 (1990) {Rhino Record R2 70778}
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© 1968, 1990 Archives Alive Records / Rhino Record | R2 7077
Folk / Folk Rock / Political Folk / Protest Songs / Singer-Songwriter

This is the definitive Phil Ochs live album, found in a search of tape vaults 21 years after the fact. A "lost" 1968 concert, with poet Allen Ginsberg playing the bells on (you guessed it!) "The Bells," and featuring the best parts of his concert repertory, old and new, from "The Highwayman" through "William Butler Yeats Visits Lincoln Park and Escapes Unscathed," with stops along the way for "Outside of a Small Circle of Friends" and other underground calls-to-arms and reality checks.

Phil Ochs - There But For Fortune (1989) {Elektra 60832-2 rec 1964-1966}
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© 1964-66, 1989 Elektra / Asylum Records | 60832-2
Folk / Folk Rock / Political Folk / Singer-Songwriter

It's often difficult to create a compilation album that does a musician justice when they recorded for more than one label, and this is certainly the case with Phil Ochs. Ochs' first three albums for Elektra were the work of a gifted but earnest topical songwriter armed with an acoustic guitar, while the five albums that followed for A&M found Ochs exploring both personal as well as political issues, and broadening his musical approach. Unfortunately, outside of the three-disc box set Farewells & Fantasies and the out of print double-LP collection Chords of Fame, none of the many Ochs compilations that have emerged have featured material from both periods of his recording career, and There but for Fortune devotes itself strictly to Ochs' Elektra recordings, with a special emphasis on his best known political songs.

Phil Ochs - The Early Years (2000) {Vanguard Records 79566-2 rec 1963-1966}
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© 1963-66, 2000 Vanguard Records / Welk Music | 79566-2
Folk / Folk Rock / Political Folk / Singer-Songwriter

This is actually an expanded version of the Vanguard CD Live at Newport, although it isn't billed as such. It includes all 13 songs from that album, prefacing them with seven studio tracks that Ochs did for the 1964 Vanguard compilation LP The Original New Folks, Vol. 2. Even if you think you own everything by Ochs, you'll need this if you're a completist, because only five of those Vanguard studio tracks actually made it onto The Original New Folks, Vol. 2. The other two, "How Long" and "Davey Moore," were recorded at the same sessions, but were previously unreleased.

Phil Ochs - Farewells & Fantasies (1964-1975) {3D Box Set Elektra-Rhino R2 73518 rel 1997}
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© 1997 Elektra / A&M / Folkways / Rhino | R2 73518
Folk / Folk Rock / Political Folk / Psychedelic / Country / Singer-Songwriter / World

Among folk legends, the late Phil Ochs is nearly peerless. His dozen years as a ringing voice in the war against social and political injustice left the world with a wealth of music and lyrics that remain powerful and in some cases topical more than 30 years after he recorded them. Joined by the likes of Ry Cooder, Clydie King, Jack Elliott, Van Dyke Parks, Don Rich, and Tom Scott, Ochs created a legacy of words and music that continues to drive the spirit of social conscience in musicians like Billy Bragg, Natalie Merchant, and Ani DiFranco. This 3 CD set collects the work he did at Elektra, A&M, and Folkways between 1964 and 1975, as well as several previously unreleased tracks. It chronicles not just an era when music and politics often clashed, but also one spiritual man's sojourn from rebellion and activism to depression and despair.