Phil Ochs singing voice...

Subject: RE: Phil Ochs singing voice...
From: M.Ted
Date: 05 Mar 09 - 04:26 PM

I have a recording of Phil live, from 1973, and his singing voice is nearly indistinguishable from the "In Concert..." album, recorded nearly a decade before. I take exception to Genie's comments about Phil's voice, which was really one of the great folk voices--

To show that I am not the only one who thinks that, this is from the Wikipedia,"

Robert Christgau, who had been so critical of Pleasures of the Harbor and Ochs's guitar skills eight years earlier, wrote warmly of Ochs in his obituary in the Village Voice — an irony that Ochs might have enjoyed. "I came around to liking Phil Ochs' music, guitar included,"

Christgau wrote. "My affection [for Ochs] no doubt prejudiced me, so it is worth [noting] that many observers who care more for folk music than I do remember both his compositions and his vibrato tenor as close to the peak of the genre."

Subject: RE: Phil Ochs singing voice...
From: Genie
Date: 04 Mar 09 - 09:32 PM

I never thought of Phil's voice as having a lot of vibrato (and I have a 3-CD album set of his music). It just sounds to me like a naturally good voice that's a bit too nasally and one that needed some good vocal coaching to be used to best advantage.   
Like maybe he was singing from his throat and wasn't giving it as much breath support as would have been ideal.

I'll have to go listen to some of the earlier songs and compare them with the later ones to see if I notice a change in technique.

Subject: RE: Phil Ochs singing voice...
From: GUEST,Peace
Date: 04 Mar 09 - 08:59 PM

Ask his sister, Sonny.

Subject: Phil Ochs no vibrato vs. vibrato
From: GUEST,Popu
Date: 04 Mar 09 - 08:50 PM

If you listen to Phil Och's first two albums All the News...and I ain't Marching anymore, as well as songs recorded for various compilations early in his career, there is no discernable vibrato in his voice. From the rocked up single version of I ain't marching anymore on, his voice is full of (sometimes way to much) vibrato. any theories on why he started using it, or didn't initially.