Audio CD review:
Phil Ochs - Rehearsals for Retirement/Gunfight at Carnegie Hall

Phil Ochs - Rehearsals for Retirement/Gunfight at Carnegie Hall

Band: Phil Ochs Title: Rehearsals for Retirement/Gunfight at Carnegie Hall Rating: Release Date: 14 November, 2000 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: Pretty Smart On My Part 2: The Doll House 3: I Kill Therefore I Am 4: William Butler Yeats Visits Lincoln Park And Escapes Unscathed 5: My Life 6: The Scorpion Departs But Never Returns 7: The World Began In Eden But Ended In Los Angeles 8: Doesn't Lenny Live Here Anymore 9: Another Age 10: Rehearsals For Retirement 11: Mona Lisa 12: I Ain't Marchin' Anymore 13: Oakie From Meskogee 14: Chords Of Fame 15: Buddy Holly Medley: Not Fade Away/I'm Gonna Love You Too/Think It Over/Oh Boy/Everyday It's So... 16: Pleasures Of The Harbor 17: Tape From California 18: Elvis Medley And Encore: My Baby Left Me/I'm Ready/Heartbreak Hotel/All Shook Up/Are You Lonesome... 19: A Fool Such As I

Customer Reviews I was at the gunfight at carnegie hall--a historic night! It wasn't. I don't know why people think the concert at Carnegie Hall was a failure of some sort. I was present at the late show which began at midnight. After the earlier show, Phil broke through one of the windows at the entrance when they woulnd't let him back in. I think he had stitches and he was pretty drunk but he played the second show anyway. And what a show it was! I can only tell you that after some resistance the crowd did get what he was doing and the show went on for hours. In fact everyone was dancing by the end, including the ushers. Even after management attempted to turn off the power the concert continued! (Phil said "Turn the power on-pass it back!" and within minutes the entire place was demanding more power and they did turn it back on. ) I have been to a couple of hundred concerts over the years and this one ranks as one of the best, if not the best! It was an utterly legendary night! I miss Phil Ochs. "Rehearsals" is brimming with tragic genius... . . and "Gunfight" is not the disaster that everyone makes it out to be--not by a long shot! Ochs sounded great in a live setting, and he had a nice, tight little band behind him. 'I Ain't Marchin' Anymore' is flawless, while 'A Fool Such As I' is one of the most faithful and affectionate cover versions I've ever heard. It's too bad that Ochs's audience couldn't relate to his love for those great old Elvis and Buddy Holly songs. The studio disc is, of course, the greatest Phil Ochs album. From the lean acoustic chords of 'Pretty Smart On My Part', to the eerie piano intro on 'The Doll House', to the heartbreaking title track and 'Doesn't Lenny Live Here Anymore', Ochs proved on "Rehearsals for Retirement" that he could go toe-to-toe with Dylan, Paul Simon, or any of the other great songwriters of the sixties. What a shame that his life ended the way it did. Yes, this *is* an odd pairing of albums, but you certainly can't complain about them in terms of pure quality. There's not a bad track on either one of these discs. Find a copy of Marc Eliot's Phil Ochs bio "Death of a Rebel", if you can, and read while you listen. . ROR 5 Stars w Gunfight as an entertaining curio Considering his demons, then, this may be somewhat harrowing an experience for some listeners. "Rehearsals for Retirement" is probably Och's most personal album. Owing to later events, one senses the "retirement" he's singing about wasn't only referring to a possible career change. The music, however, is the best of his career--ranging from beautiful to rocking. As for the lyrics, ROR captures his typical sarcasm, this time around dealing with the underwhelming results of the 1968 Democratic convention protests. Evidently, though, the event was life-changing for socially-conscious Ochs, and, thus, accounts for much of the disillusionment he also sings about here. Overall, I doubt fewer more significant "primal screams" have ever been recorded. As for the gold-suited wearing Ochs' of "Gunfight," it's an entertaining as well as interesting concert to hear. In my opinion, it contains the best version of "Tape From California"--it rocks! Those who didn't like Ochs' wardrobe at the time, nor his choice of covers, were just short-sighted in my opinion, and missed the humor. In short, a good album and not quite the "beginning of the end" a lot of people read it as. How I understand it, Ochs' vocal chords were damaged shortly before he died and, thus, doomed his career more than any lack of interest on the public's part (though there was plenty of that, too, in 1976). Too bad the movie was never made that was intended to star Sean Penn. Och's career deserves to be better known--"Rehearsals for Retirement" ESPECIALLY deserves a listen. Ochs, perhaps to his misfortune, was a performer who believed in the causes he sang about. And, of course, much of what he sang about is still relevant today. However, unlike Ochs, I still have hope (partially thanks to people like Ochs, ironically--not for his death [Gandhi and MLK serve as better martyrs for those who need one], but for his ability to capture a shared sentiment in song). In short: Buy this. I don't like the double package either--each album is strong enough to carry its own. However, from my own experience, I was grateful for the opportunity of hearing Gunfight for the first time, which was initially released only in Canada and was long out-of-print. . . You can see a complete list of all Phil Ochs discography, or go back to the Phil Ochs tabs