I tried to dig this one, but just couldn't. Sounds very of its time. This is the first time I've ever listened to Phil Ochs - and to be perfectly honest, I'm not big on folk music or singer/songwriters. Of course, there are exceptions to that, Dylan, Elliott Smith, Leonard Cohen, and so on. But it aint my kinda music.
And this album ramps it all up with overblown production and arrangements. When I do listen to folk, I prefer it to be somewhat minimal. Everything sounds so flowery and ornate - it feels like the auditory equivalent of setting doilies on my table before dinner and lighting the candles next to an expensive set of ottomans before I check how my 401k is doing.
And good grief, every song is sooooo long. Most feel like they go on forever. And they're all decorated with a mixture of woodwinds, string arrangements and harpsichords and flavors of dixieland jazz. To that effect, I will give credit - it's a very "full" sounding record, if that's the right word to use. Though it may be meandering and by virtue or vice of its length, it gets tiring, but there's a lot of different sounds going on here.
The problem I suppose is that I just don't really like much of them. Ochs seems like a decent singer (not to my taste, but not bad per se) and his lyrics are interesting and well thought out. He can tell a story rather well - but remove his vocals from this album and I could see the music fitting rather well as accompaniment to a '60s Disney movie. For some that might be a good thing, but not for me.
I'd be willing to bet there's other Phil Ochs records I'd like more, but as for this one, I can't see myself revisiting it any time soon. There's nothing compelling here for me. Sorry rs.
4/10
P.S. "Smoking marijuana is more fun than drinking beer" - for some perhaps, but they're better together methinks
