As a folk songwriter he wasn't quite Bob Dylan, and as an avant-pop experimentalist he wasn't quite Brian Wilson-- so Phil Ochs unjustly remains on the sidelines of history. So when Kind of Like Spitting not only revives his songs but studies and evangelizes them-- per the liner notes, KOLS has performed these in concert with explanations of who Ochs was and why he still matters-- they deserve praise, especially when they pull it off this well.
Ochs wrote lyrics that were topical to his times, from the early '60s through his personal decline (as well as the decline of the anti-war movement) in the early '70s. But in KOLS' hands, they never sound dated. Protest folk songs are a thing of the past but at their best, Ochs' lyrics remain inspired and witty, like the chorus from "Draft Dodger Rag": "I've got a dislocated disc and a racked up back/ I'm allergic to flowers and bugs/ And when the bombshell hits, I get epileptic fits/And I'm addicted to a thousand drugs." "That's What I Want To Hear" calls for the downtrodden to come together and form a union, and it's still relevant-- it's just missing a line about rising health care costs. The anti-war anthem "I Ain't Marchin' Anymore" recalls the young men sent to die throughout our history, and it would be easy enough to update it for the present-- but thankfully, KOLS leave it alone.
Ben Barnett and David Jerkovich share duties on vocals and acoustic guitar, and they do the songs justice with love, enthusiasm, and not too much reverence. Urgent and precise, they find the right tone for this style of brisk folk music, and they only fall short on the vocals: they miss Ochs' dry delivery-- for example, on "Outside of a Small Circle of Friends", which comes out with too-obvious scorn-- and also, both singers sound like they've got head colds.
It's a common question why, no matter how bad things get, we can't cough up a great protest singer today. But the answer is right here in Ochs' songs: again and again, he criticizes the listener for non-particiation-- for supporting the war but dodging the draft, for skipping out on the riots at the '68 convention, for not stopping a rape or helping the poor. Ochs turned his angriest words on the liberals who talked big and did nothing.
But he had no idea where we'd be in the '00s, when staying politically active means keeping your Kerry-Edwards sticker on your bumper a year after the election. Protest music today reeks of nonparticipation and even impotence, from the abstract anxiety that fills Radiohead's '00s albums, to Conor Oberst's "When the President Talks to God"-- a puerile trainwreck of a song, but also a timely one, because all of the cussing and television-kicking mirrors how Blue Staters act after hearing about Bush's latest adventures on "All Things Considered". Today we lack the literacy, the specificity and the argument of a Phil Ochs song because we don't participate, and we have nothing at stake.
So my solution is simple: bring back the draft. Sen. John McCain, who wants us to win in Iraq, has probably been thinking about this all along as he calls for higher troop levels and more engagement from the public; and while Rep. John Murtha got the spotlight for saying we should pull out, he has also said that he would love to bring back the draft, drum up the army we need and go back and win this thing-- but he knows it'll never happen. Well, I say that it can. If the Bushies step it up a notch and demand sacrifice, in lives and treasure, from the American people, we will step it up in kind and get serious about complaining and protesting. We won't wag a finger at the TV; we'll march in the streets. And if we don't give it everything we've got, here's hoping the next Phil Ochs shows up to call "bullshit" on us all.
