PHIL OCHS
The Best of Phil Ochs - The Millennium Collection (A&M/Universal)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale

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The 12 tracks on this retrospective may not, for the most part, be the songs Phil Ochs is best remembered for, but there's a powerful arguement to be made that they're the ones he wanted to be best remembered for. Recorded after he moved from Elektra to A&M in 1967, they show Och's attempt to move his music in the direction of the personal rather than the purely topical material he had become known for. In part it was an attempt to capture a share of the commercial success that had come to many of his contemporaries, especially Bob Dylan, to whom he was so often compared when they were Greenwich Village rivals, friendly and otherwise.

Of course, he didn't completely eschew the political in his quest to express the personal. This collection includes the classic "Outside Of A Small Circle Of Friends," which was a hit of sorts despite the censorship of radio programmers who were shocked to learn that "smoking marijuana is more fun than drinking beer..." Of course, what they found to be a distressing endorsement of drug use was Och's sarcastic dismissal of the apathetic stoners who were too high to come to the aid of an arrested friend. "The Crucifixion" is a poetic commentary on the assassination of John Kennedy, and "The War Is Over" was an exultant, if premature, declaration of opposition to the continuing war in Vietnam.

Even those, though, were presented in a different style, more richly produced, with a more elaborate tapestry of imagery than was typical of his earlier efforts. Despite his best efforts, Ochs was unable to achieve the commercial breakthrough he longed for, which contributed to his decline into alchoholism and mental illness that culminated in his suicide at the age of 35. The music on this disc bears testimony to a talent that deserved that breakthrough.

Track List:

Cross My Heart * Flower Lady * Outside Of A Small Circle Of Friends * Pleasures Of The Harbor * The Crucifixion * Tape From California * The War Is Over * Rehearsals For Retirement * William Butler Yeats Visits Lincoln Park And Escapes Unscathed * No More Songs * Chords Of Fame * I Ain't Marchin' Anymore (live)

© 2002 - Shaun Dale