Early Years
It was Phil Ochs's burden to have emerged just asBob Dylanwas hitting his stride. It seemed that Ochs was constantly playing catch-up, if not in his own mind, certainly in the consciousness of 1960s folk fans. Vanguard's 20-songEarly Yearscollection offers seven tracks recorded in the early-60s for theirOriginal New Folksanthology series while the remainder come from Newport Folk Festival performances from the mid-1960s. (Two previously unreleased tracks from theNew Folkssessions, including "Davey Moore," surface here; interestingly enough, the ill-fated boxer chronicled in Ochs's song was also the subject of a Dylan tune.) Ochs, like Dylan, would become more introspective with the changing times, but this set captures the Texas-born firebrand at his most idealistic and topical, as he rails against war ("Draft Dodger Rag," "What Are You Fighting For") and oppression ("Ballad of Medgar Evers," "Talking Birmingham Jam"). The from-the-headlines tirades that dominateThe Early Yearsmay be dated, but Ochs sings them with such rousing conviction that a strange sense of immediacy seeps through.--Steven Stolder