By 1964, Bob Dylan was moving away from topical folk songs just as Phil Ochs—his only legitimate creative threat on the Greenwich Village folk scene—was mastering the art form in ways that pleased the politically minded audiences and fellow folk singers of the civil rights movement. This was only natural, for politics and a sense of justice were on Ochs' mind, and the ways of the world would eventually doom Ochs and his idealism. With this set, modern listeners who aren't politically and socially aware of the names and places of 1964 may find songs about Lou Marsh, William Worthy, and even the Cuban missile crisis and the Vietnam War a bit beyond their reach. But any ears attuned to acoustic music should find Ochs' take on Edgar Allan Poe ("The Bells") and his tribute to Woody Guthrie ("Bound for Glory") to be touching and true. Where Dylan had a tough, cutting rock 'n' roll heart, Ochs had a stronger grasp on melody and more baroque taste in arrangements. Even here on his debut album, it's obvious just how great a singer Ochs really was.

TRACKLIST

A1 One More Parade

A2 The Thresher

A3 Talking Vietnam

A4 Lou Marsh

A5 Power And The Glory

A6 Celia

A7 The Bells

B1 Automation Song

B2 Ballad Of William Worthy

B3 Knock On The Door

B4 Talking Cuban Crisis

B5 Bound For Glory

B6 Too Many Martyrs

B7 What's That I Hear

B8 Bullets of Mexico