Track Listing

1. I'm Going to Say It Now
2. Bracero
3. Ringing of Revolution
4. Is There Anybody Here?
5. Canons of Christianity
6. There But for Fortune
7. Cops of the World
8. Santo Domingo
9. Changes
10. Love Me, I'm a Liberal
11. When I'm Gone

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #67238 in Music
• Released on: 1995-07-18
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Live

Customer Reviews

An important and vital voice, still relevant today.
This album was my introduction to Phil Ochs. I was 14 years old when my brother brought home the album. To say that I was stunned is a huge understatement. I was floored.

The anger, the eloquence, the irony and the hope in Phil's words and in his voice cut through me then, and cuts through me now, 31 years later. How can you listen to "Love Me, I'm a Liberal," and not realize that those same people live in our neighborhoods even today? How can you listen to "Canons of Christianity" and not recognize the same hypocrisy today? How can you listen to Phil's wonderful casting: "John Wayne plays Lyndon Johnson and Lyndon Johnson plays God," and not laugh from amusement and the grim reality of the truth of that line?

And then, almost eerily, Phil delivers his epitaph 8 years early on "When I'm Gone." Hearing the song today still sends shivers through me.

He left us far too early, but Phil Ochs left behind a wonderfully rich legacy. Buy this CD if you haven't already. You will not regret it for a minute.

do you think you've read today's paper before?
Do wars in Afghanistan, the Phillipines, and maybe Chechnia seem vaguely familiar? When the NY Times says (as it did on the front page 3/5/02) that the numerically and qualitatively superior American forces will eventually defeat the enemy, do you feel that you have seen this before? Are you feeling oddly out of step with the rest of the country?

Then perhaps it's time to revisit this CD - especially if you still have it in record form. "Cops of the World" has never seemed so fresh or appropriate. "Love me I'm a liberal" has the right sentiment, but it's a little old. "Changes" is still beautiful.

Buy it.

The essence of Ochs captured well right here...
I saw Phil in concert just a few months before this album was issued back in the days, and he did at least eight of these 11 songs while standing about 20 feet from my seat. It's one of my treasured memories. There are compilation CD's available now which are perhaps better values ("There But for Fortune" is the one I own) but this one is a great introduction to some of Phil's best songs. And the reviewers who are posted here already have it right...the more things change, the more they seem to stay the same. Many of the issues Phil was distressed by are still with us. I wish Mr. Ochs himself had found the grace, mercy or courage to conquer his demons and stick around this life. He's been missed.