Phil Ochs & Pete Seeger
by Kerry Dexter
What's That I Hear?: the Songs of Phil Ochs and Where Have All the Flowers Gone?: the Songs of Pete Seeger were issued within three days of each other earlier this year. "That's ironic," said Gene Shay, producer of the Phil Ochs project. "I don't know if it's a blessing or a curse. Tribute albums are by their nature uneven, and difficult for reviewers, since their only theme is the artist himself. But we didn't really intend this as a tribute album." What then? "It was coming up on the twentieth anniversary of Phil's death. I always had loved his music and his politics and respected what he did. Then I happened to hear this group disappear fear — Sonia Rutstein and her sister Cindy — do the song 'Is There Anybody Here?' " Shay said. "That just clicked the light on, you know, that here's a young group in their twenties, doing Phil Ochs material and doing it in a really dynamic way. I was really inspired. That demonstrated to me that the songs were still valid, still vigorous, and could be done in contemporary way."
Jim Musselman, who produced Where Have all the Flowers Gone? sees that project as a celebration rather than a tribute. "Pete's songs have touched so many people all over the world. He won't be touring around the world much any more, but I thought we could send his songs around the world with this record," Musselman said. "I've been an admirer and friend of Pete's for many years. I looked on this almost like a movie, showing many sides to his life and his music."
This is an excerpt from Dirty Linen #77
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