Farewells & Fantasies Collection [Import]

This package represents the most extensive re-packaging of Och's remarkable oeuvre. That said, it is good to have so much of this vital artist's work in one set. Still, with its glaring omissions and poorly arranged order of songs, the set represents a wasted opportunity to do full justice to Och's achievement. Yes, it has a nice book, yes it has a less than stirring one page introduction by Och's daughter (who is more concerned with plugging a few causes her Dad would perhaps endorse, but neglects to say much about his achievement. Perhaps this is explained by the fact that Ochs, like so many others of his generation, was self-involved to an almost shameful degree and not the most attentive of parents). While it is wonderful to hear several previously unavailable or hard to come by gems that stand tall alongside the best of Och's material, the set will be a complete toss for anyone who holds in reverence the original albums. Och's discography is so slim that it is beyond me why it could not ALL have been compiled onto a nice, extensive five or six disc set. Certainly it would have been nice had those behind this farce taken greater care with the running order. The songs appear to have been selected at random, with absolutely no thematic or chronological sense. It thus leaves a very incomplete and patchy representation of Och's work scattered across three randomly assorted discs. AUdiophiles would be advised to either compile their own collection via various sources or wait for someone to finally compile this great artist's recordings in a more careful and comprohensive manner. Oh, and contrary to what folk purists would have us believe (who seem to take issue with anything even remotely Sgt. Pepper influenced) the original studio version of 'Crucifixion' is a fantastic relic from the period (and of which Och's was justly proud) and exhibits far more interest and imaginative power than the rather stark and tedious account substituted in this set. Again, it would have been nice to have EVERYTHING, so that it is not necessary to choose between either version.

Even without the magnificant song "My Life" (on the superb "Rehearsals for Retirement" [perhaps his finest overall album] which is now available from AMAZON.COM in a double CD with the excessively mediocre "Gunfight at Carnegie Hall"), this boxed set shows once again why Phil Ochs was the premier folk singer/composer/lyricist of the 1960s and 1970s. While his melodies could calm the proverbial savage beast, his lyrics evoked and provoked. Few love songs equaled the beauty of the oft-recorded "Changes." Few songs evoked the patriotism of his "Power and the Glory" (even Anita Bryant recorded it, although I've read that she kept complaining that she couldn't understand what the song was about).

I had the pleasure of seeing Mr. Ochs perform about half a dozen times. And while his live performances were always superb, these recordings enable us to remember someone who really was a voice of his generation, a voice smuffed out by his own hand far too soon. If you ever get a chance to see one of the travelling Phil Ochs song fests that his sister organizes, go. And if you can't see one, get this boxed set to relive the beauty, intelligence, energy, and charm of Phil Ochs, truely an American troubadour.

Finally, the comprehensive Phil Ochs collection has arrived, with a representative sampling of some of the best of the late singer-songwriter's work on the A&M, Elektra, Rhino and Smithsonian Folkways labels.

Of the five previously unreleased tracks in this three-CD boxed set, three of them-"Song of A Soldier," "We Seek No Wider War," and "The Confession"-stand out as lyrically impressive if musically unimaginative tunes relating the artist's activism in protesting the Vietnam War.

Overall, however, "Farewells & Fantasies" is an essential anthology for Phil Ochs fans, or for anyone who simply wants to learn more about one of the most controversial and fascinating folk-rock troubadours of the 1960s. The 53 songs on the album fall into a rough chronological order, with the first disc consisting mainly of pro-civil rights, labor union, and romantic ballads, and the second and third discs drawing primarily from Ochs' vast repertoire of antiwar broadsides and his subsequent songs of disillusionment with American society in general and politics in particular.

Perhaps nowhere is this angst more apparent than in the 11 tracks taken from the 1966 "Phil Ochs In Concert" album and the eight works included from the brilliant Ochs' recording "Rehearsals for Retirement" that the musician wrote in a state of depression following the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. The songs "Pretty Smart on My Part," "I Kill Therefore I Am," and "The World Began In Eden and Ended In Los Angeles" not only stand the test of time to remain relevant today, they have too often been missing from previous compilations of Ochs' work.

There are some regrettable omissions in "Farewells & Fantasies" (the absence of the poignant autobiographical tune "My Life" from "Rehearsals" is one example), but this is a minor point in assessing the total package. Indeed, one could quibble with the choice of this or that selection in the body of material represented here, but all of the performer's finest songs appear in one form or another, and to have Ochs' standards such as "The Power and the Glory," "Changes," and "Pleasures of the Harbor" together with the lesser-known masterpieces "Bracero," "Chords of Fame," and "When In Rome" in one place at last is no small accomplishment.

"Farewells & Fantasies" also comes with 100 pages of extensive liner notes and rare photographs (as well as an eloquent introduction written by Phil's daughter Meegan), and a song-by-song account of the creative processes influencing the man's many compositions. Even if you've read the two biographies about him, Marc Eliot's "Death of A Rebel" and Michael Schumacher's excellent "There But For Fortune: The Life of Phil Ochs," this informative text still has something new to add to the story... Rhino Records has produced the definitive Ochs tribute album, which will be an invaluable reference for every folk music enthusiast and historian interested in the development of topical song.

Phil Ochs committed suicide 21 years ago. This remembrance of his life reminds us of how much we lost with his premature death, and how much we have to celebrate in the tracks he left behind.