Who? OK, most here will know the name, but ask around at the next family gathering, and most won’t. Phil Ochs, I refer to, the singer. Onetime peer of Bob Dylan, and, at the time, in much the same mould of civil rights champion, with songs of protest and righteous anger. Think battered acoustic guitars, hoarse polemic and Pete Seeger on next.
But the songs are really good and, worryingly, apply equally well to the current climes of suspicion, wars and flag-shagging. I will admit I was unfamiliar with other than the name until recently, despite knowing, from somewhere forgotten long ago, a song or two of his.
It is down to Phil Odgers, he of The Men They Could Not Hang, that I write this. He, in cahoots with John Kettle, of Merry Hell, and the Tansads before that, has just released a 2nd album, celebrating the songwriter, who took his own life in 1976, aged 35. The album, which concentrates on Ochs’ anti-war rhetoric, is wonderful; Odgers has never sung so strongly and with so much passion, and the accompaniment is never less than complementary, acoustic guitars, banjo, mandolin, that sort of thing. It is called ‘The War Is Over’ and every irony is intended.
It took me to the earlier disc, Rockaway Beach, from 2023, which is a more diverse set, and, if less striking, still a fine collection of songs.
I attended one of a very small number of launch gigs last night, in Leamington’s Temperance, and, largely just stripped back to Kettle’s guitar and Odgers’ voice, an evening of powerful control ensued, with Odgers giving a between song history of the man.
Seek the album(s) out. The songs are every bit as important and memorable as anything by Woody Guthrie, possibly a fairer comparison than the tousle-haired singer who, felt Ochs, sold out.
The Ochs revival starts here……
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I haven’t heard this yet but Swill covered Flower Lady on his solo album, The Ghost of Rock and Roll with Long Ryder Sid Griffin.
And he played it, last night.
I have a lovely original 1964 US songbook which I bought with a collection of Dylan books, I’ve scanned a couple of pages below.
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The first Phil Ochs tribute from Odgers & Kettle is titled ‘Far Rockaway – The Songs Of Phil Ochs’ I have it and a fine tribute it is too. I’ll let you off for your mistake Retro because I was unaware of ‘The War Is Over’. RareWaves herecI come.
I remember a tale from the mid 60’s Dylan was giving Phil Ochs a lift in his chauffeur driven car and asked P.O. what he thought of his new song ‘Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window’ which he played for him on the car music system, 8 track? Anyhow Phil Ochs replied (this is not verbatin) “Man that is a pile of shit”
Dylan had him thrown out of the car.
And clearly stopped toot sweet. Never mind, still great records.
I’m a big Phil Ochs fan.
I bought ‘Far Rockaway – The Songs Of Phil Ochs’ after hearing a track from it on the Ian A. Anderson “Podwireless” podcast. Yeah … I like the album quite a bit. Keen students of my duco01 albums of the year lists will recall that it made no. 20 in my “60 Favourite New Albums of 2024” list. My favourite bit on the album is where Odgers whispers “The Thresher” before singing the song of the same name.
So, retropath. thanks for alerting me to “The War is Over”. I’ll almost certainly get it.
P.S. Is Odgers pronounced Odd-gers, or to rhyme with “Lodgers”?
Swill posted the At The Barriers review on FB yesterday
I saw that, bless his cottons.