Audio CD review:
Phil Ochs - Tape From California

Phil Ochs - Tape From California

Band: Phil Ochs Title: Tape From California Rating: Release Date: 14 November, 2000 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: Tape From California 2: White Boots Marching In A Yellow Land 3: Half A Century High 4: Joe Hill 5: The War Is Over 6: The Harder They Fall 7: When In Rome 8: Floods Of Florence

Customer Reviews Worthwhile He spent his early years singing folk ballads and protest songs. Phil Ochs's never quite achieved the success he deserved. But, unlike his real-life friend Bob Dylan, Phil never garnered more than lukewarm approval from the masses (or the critics. ) It's a shame because Phil Ochs was savagely witty, a truly great lyricist, and his ability to write a great song outweighs his lackluster voice and less-than-professional guitar skills. Whereas Dylan redirected his talents to a more personal level in the mid-60's, Ochs never quite broke free from the activist mindset. After embarassing himself with an Andy Kaufman-esque phase of performing Elvis songs on stage in a drunken stupor, and effectively losing what little audience he had when the Vietnam War ended, Phil Ochs ended his own life almost exactly one year to the day after hostilities in Vietnam ended. 'Tape From California' is Phil's attempt to expand artistically, and the results for most listeners will probably be "thanks, but no thanks. " This album is really a snapshot in time of a troubled musician who personifies "rebel without a cause. " The music is good, but around the edges one gets that uneasy feeling that things are only going to end badly for the troubador from Texas. . Makes a great twofer with Pleasures of the Harbor I love the title track, Joe Hill (which I think is far better than Joan Baez's more famous version), the hilarious The Harder They Fall, and the majestic, intimate epic When in Rome. This album is Phil's 2nd best in my opinion (my favorite is Pleasures of the Harbor). Phil had a great sense of narrative in his songs, and nowhere is it better than in When in Rome. He was inspired by the movie Viva Zapata to write that song (movies inspired quite a lot of Ochs's work, like the title track of Pleasures of the Harbor was inspired by John Ford's film The Long Voyage Home). The lyrics are masterful, and Phil's performance is brilliant. The song Joe Hill is much more informative than the more well known version by Joan Baez. Ramblin' Jack Elliot does some great finger pickin' on this song too. The song White Boots in a Yellow Land is a powerful anti-war song, and is still valid today. The album is a little more stripped down than Pleasures, but it's still good (I liked the orchestration on Pleasures). . Outstanding reissue of a great American Artist's work He could be politically outlandish (sometimes even more outlandish that his own personal views) but more often incredibly insightful. Whether the lyric lilt of his voice or the tremendous passion of his articulate poetry, Phils Ochs had a profound impact on listeners. His lyrics are some of the the most intelligient written by the modern day folks artists or songwriter of any ilk. And his later work, although not in the least classic folk style material, showed an artistic maturity that could be dazzling. The lyrics could be at once cinematic, portraying a physical scene, and at the same time evocative of intense emotions. And he used his voice with a keen sense of timing and phrasing -- it's fun just to listen to how he wraps a line around the tempo. During his short life he was known as much for his politcs as his artistry, and he probably wouldn't have had it any other way. The material here is that of his second "non-folk-music" albums and contains what some fans consider one of his poetic masterpieces -- the dark and unsettling story of "When in Rome. ". . You can see a complete list of all Phil Ochs discography, or go back to the Phil Ochs tabs