"It [Los Angeles] intrigues me like a beautiful sensual morgue"
Another great live offering from Mr. Ochs! I think this CD was released, oh 20 or so years ago. Phil remarks in a short intro that this gig was his first appearance in Vancouver, surprisingly.It has a pretty varied set list, featuring the standards like "The Bells," and "I Ain't Marching Anymore," as well as a good helping of songs from Pleasures and Rehearsals in stripped down form, much like the Montreal recording. Hooray for Canada? Its humorous to hear him forget a few of the lines of "Outside A Small Circle..." improvising with "da dada da da." This performance wasn't long after the infamous 1968 DNC, and Phil says some words on the matter in between "Where Were You in Chicago?" and "William Butler Yeats...". The audience laughs at some of his remarks, but Ochs' depression about the matter is subtly clear, especially when he bluntly states that America died in Chicago. That illuminating track alone is worth the entire album. Oh, and Allen Ginsberg playing the bells on...well, you should be able to figure that out.This wouldn't be Phil's last appearance in Vancouver, as two short years later he would play with Joni Mitchell and James Taylor for Greenpeace, as documented on the Amchitka live album.
I think I'm gonna take a break from posting Phil Ochs for a while (briefly I swear!) to post some punkier stuff, because The Fest 9 was utterly amazing, and I'm still riding that high two weeks later. I think I've got some cool stuff in my laptop vault. In the meantime, go check out BesidesAsides!
