There But for Fortune

by Phil Ochs

Overview

It's often difficult to create a compilation album that does a musician justice when they recorded for more than one label, and this is certainly the case with Phil Ochs. Ochs' first three albums for Elektra were the work of a gifted but earnest topical songwriter armed with an acoustic guitar, while the five albums that followed for A&M found Ochs exploring both personal as well as political issues, and broadening his musical approach. Unfortunately, outside of the three-disc box set Farewells & Fantasies and the out of print double-LP collection Chords of Fame, none of the many Ochs compilations that have emerged have featured material from both periods of his recording career, and There but for Fortune devotes itself strictly to Ochs' Elektra recordings, with a special emphasis on his best known political songs. Given its boundaries, There but for Fortune is a fine collection that cherry-picks much of the best material from this catalog, with a special emphasis on the excellent Phil Ochs in Concert -- all but one of its 11 songs appear on this disc, though sadly most of his witty between-song banter has been left on the cutting-room floor. If you're looking for a definitive Ochs anthology, you're going to have to shell out the big bucks for Farewells & Fantasies, but There but for Fortune does a fine job of skimming the highlights of Ochs' early political material, and demonstrates why he was considered second only to Bob Dylan as the leading protest balladeer of the day. ~ Mark Deming

Product Details

Release Date:	10/25/1990
Label:	Elektra / Asylum
UPC:	0075596083225
Rank:	2229

Tracks

1. What's That I Hear?
2. One More Parade
3. Too Many Martyrs
4. Power and the Glory
5. I Ain't Marching Anymore
6. Draft Dodger Rag
7. The Highwayman
8. Here's to the State of Mississippi
9. There But for Fortune
10. I'm Going to Say It Now
11. Is There Anybody Here?
12. Cops of the World
13. Ringing of Revolution
14. Santo Domingo
15. Bracero
16. Love Me, I'm a Liberal
17. Changes
18. When I'm Gone

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Phil Ochs   Primary Artist,Guitar,Vocals

Technical Credits

David Gahr   Photography
Larry Freemantle   Art Direction
Carol Bobolts   Art Direction
Sam Feldman   Mastering
Carol Shadford   Printer
Jac Holzman   Production Supervisor,Producer
Mark Abramson   Producer
Paul Rothchild   Recording Director
Lenny Kaye   Liner Notes
Phil Ochs   Composer
David B. Jones   Engineer
Bob Gibson   Composer