Phil Ochs in Concert

Infobox Album |
Name = Phil Ochs In Concert
Type = Live Album
Artist = Phil Ochs


Released = March 1966
Recorded = 1965 - 1966 in Boston and New York
Genre = Folk
Length = 51:36
Label = Elektra
Producer = Mark Abramson and Jac Holzman
Reviews =
* Allmusic Rating|3|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:1uq3g40ttv6z link]
Last album = "I Ain't Marching Anymore"
(1965)
This album = "Phil Ochs In Concert"
(1966)
Next album = "Pleasures of the Harbor"
(1967)

"Phil Ochs In Concert" was Phil Ochs' third long player, released in 1966 on Elektra Records. Contrary to its title, it was not entirely live, as several tracks were actually recorded in the studio, owing to flaws in the live recordings made in Boston and New York City in late 1965 and early 1966, but it still retained the feel of a live album, including song patter and audience reactions. Featuring several of Ochs' most enduring songs, it was the culmination of Ochs' folk career, the last of his original albums to be all-acoustic.

"There But For Fortune", which originally opened side two of the LP set, is perhaps the best-known track. Already having been a minor hit for Joan Baez (whom Ochs jokingly credits with its authoring), the tale of fate is an ode to count one's self as fortunate should their placement be better than that of the types mentioned in the track.

The album featured one of Ochs' few love songs, "Changes", an ode pining for the life with his wife and daughter from which he had taken himself out of. "Bracero" was a scathing attack on the practice that let immigrants to come from Mexico to work for a pittance. "Canons of Christianity" attacked the somewhat hypocritical nature of churches and their leaders. "Cops of the World" painted a portrait of America as a nation builder that would do anything they pleased, expecting everybody else to comply. "Ringing of Revolution" presents a utopic vision of proletarian conquest and was the inspiration for the song "Themselves" by San Pedro, California punk rock group the Minutemen. "I'm Gonna Say It Now", a tale told through the eyes of a young college student towards the adults running the college, was the humorous opener to the first side.

Track listing

All tracks composed by Phil Ochs

The time listings for the original LP release of "Phil Ochs in Concert" were shorter than those shown on the CD reissue. In some instances, the CD includes additional patter between Ochs and the audience. The timings listed on the LP are wrong.Shown below are the "actual" times on the original release and the CD reissue.

# "I'm Going To Say It Now" (LP-3:10; CD-3:10)
# "Bracero" (LP-4:05; CD-4:07)
# "Ringing of Revolution" (LP-7:10; CD-7:19)
# "Is There Anybody Here" (LP-3:41; CD-3:27)
# "Canons of Christianity" (LP-5:47; CD-6:02)
# "There But For Fortune" (LP-2:47; CD-2:52)
# "Cops of the World" (LP-4:48; CD-5:04)
# "(The Marines Have Landed on the Shores of) Santo Domingo" (LP-5:55; CD-5:58) (listed on LP as simply "Santo Domingo")
# "Changes" (LP-4:36; CD-4:45)
# "Love Me, I'm A Liberal" (LP-4:33; CD-4:37)
# "When I'm Gone" (LP-4:15; CD-4:19)

Participants

*Phil Ochs - guitar, vocals
*Jac Holzman and Mark Abramson - producers
*Arthur Gorson - concert producer