Phil Ochs as guitarist

Subject: Phil Ochs as guitarist
From: DonMeixner
Date: 29 Sep 01 - 08:50 PM

Because of the events of late I have been revisiting my earliest folk influences. Once again I am taken by Phil Ochs incredible gifts as a writer. "Changes" will always haunt me. As will "When I'm Gone", was he presaging his own life I have wondered. Piles of stuff to down load at Morpheus by the way. Most of it is available for easy down loads. Has anyone looked at him as a guitarist? I hear such a mix of style that I am too quickly lost as to what he was doing. Was he just blistering fast as a flat picker? Did he hold the flat pick and finger pick as well like many Nashvillians do? From the stand point as a writer of music did he just like to pack as many chords in one line as possible? Or was he just a guitar hack and a brilliant lyricist? Any ideas.

Don Meixner

Subject: RE: BS: Phil Ochs as guitarist
From: GUEST,rich r
Date: 29 Sep 01 - 09:38 PM

From a biography of Ochs I read recently I gather that he was competent but not flashy. He had a real tendency to speed up as the song progressed. To counteract this the producers of his early records brought in a second guitar player, which explains some of the sound on those albums. Probably the best display of Phil himself as a guitar player (other than seeing him) would be the There and Now, Vancouver concert which is Phil by himself (well OK Allen Ginsberg plays on "The Bells")

rich r