Phil Ochs - There But for - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Phil Ochs was a topical songwriter who was at the forefront of the folk music scene in the 1960'S-70'S. In the spring of 1973, he made a small U.S. tour that among other shows, included this stop at The Stables in East Lansing Michigan. This previously unreleased recording sparkles in performance and recording. It features a mix of tunes through the entirety of Phil's career in a generous program of eighteen songs. The disc also features Ballad of a Carpenter recorded in March of 1974 in Chicago. It is amazing that this gem of a recording has taken over forty years to be officially released

I met the great pianist Martin Jones as a consequence of writing the Concert Study Wild Cherries and Honeycomb as a test-piece for the Scottish International Piano Competition, circa 1998. Martin heard about this piece from the chairman of the competition jury, Bryce Morrison, and this eventually led to my writing more Concert Studies over the next fifteen years, as well as the other works on this album. © Graham Hair

Phil Ochs is known primarily as a songwriter but his talents extend far beyond that - to short stories, poetry and satire. More than a torrent, less than a flood, the songs poured out of Phil so quickly that not all were able to find their place on his albums with some of those songs only emerging decades later. - The Warner/Chappell demos which make up the main portion of this represent a time period spanning Ochs' last two albums for Elektra when Phil was finding his full strength as a songwriter and moving to include the lyrical in his repertoire, alongside the topical and satirical.