wmartin (06/29/82)
Spent yesterday evening listening to my Phil Ochs albums, and thought I'd submit a discography (this is what I have and a couple others mentioned on one of the albums; if anybody knows of any others, please send in a list): Elektra albums (stereo numbers only given -- anyone out there old enough to remember mono vs. stereo dual inventory?): EKS-7269 ALL THE NEWS THAT'S FIT TO SING (I don't have this one) EKS-7287 I AIN'T MARCHING ANYMORE (Don't have this one either) EKS-7310 PHIL OCHS IN CONCERT (1966) "Cops of the World", "Love Me, I'm a Liberal" A & M albums: SP-4133 PLEASURES OF THE HARBOR "Outside of a Small Circle of Friends", "Miranda", "The Party" SP-4148 TAPE FROM CALIFORNIA "The War is Over", "White Boots Marching in a Yellow Land", "Floods of Florence" SP-4181 REHEARSALS FOR RETIREMENT "Pretty Smart on My Part", "I Kill, Therefore I Am", "William Butler Yeats Visits Lincoln Park and Escapes Unscathed", "The World Began in Eden But Ended in Los Angeles" SP-4253 PHIL OCHS GREATEST HITS (not really a "Greatest Hits" album [I guess he didn't have any!] but a parody of many musical styles; Elvis parody cover and the famous slogan, "50 Phil Ochs fans can't be wrong!") "Jim Dean of Indiana", "My Kingdom for a Car", "Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, and Me" (This is the only A & M album shoing a date of any kind -- one track was recorded in 1969) That's it, as far as I know. I have a very vague recollection of Ochs being killed (car wreck?) shortly after this last album, but I may well be wrong about that. Linclon Mayorga played piano on the first three A & M albums listed above, for any Sheffield freaks out there... I mentioned above a few of the more memorable songs on each of the albums I have; the title songs on the first three A & M discs are also worth hearing. Ah, nostalgia... Campus life in the sixties... Tear gas in the quad and the smoke from the burning ROTC building rising over the trees in the sunset... We now return you to real life... Will Martin
smb (06/30/82)
Phil Ochs committed suicide about 6 or 7 years ago. There was a final double album released, with some new songs, and some live recordings of old ones, I believe. I think there were also assorted songs and tributes from some of his friends and colleagues, though I'm not certain of that. My younger sister saw him in a small club in N.Y. around 1973 or 1974 (and was greeted incredulously at the door; she looked far too young to have heard of Ochs in his days of popularity); his voice was largely gone, apparently as a result of being assaulted while traveling through Africa. According to his obituary, that and the fact that he felt he could no longer write songs so depressed him that he decided to kill himself. If anyone really cares, I can probably dig up the mono numbers for the old Elektra recordings. But my Ochs records are all up in Brooklyn; all I have here are tapes. Among the notable songs on the first two albums are "I Ain't a Marchin' Any More", "Power and Glory", "Draft Dodger Rag", and musical renditions of "The Bells" and "The Highwayman". Gee -- I think *I'll* dig out *my* tapes, too, and wallow in some nostalgia of my own...
wagner (07/06/82)
Anyone heard Tom Paxtons song for Phil Oches? I usually cry when I hear it live (4th time now). Michael Wagner, UTCS