All the News That's Fit to Sing (CD - 1964)

Includes liner notes and poems by Agnes (Sis) Cunningham, Gordon Friesen and Phil Ochs.

This 1964 album was Phil Ochs' first for Elektra, which was at the time one of the premier folk music labels. On ALL THE NEWS THAT'S FIT TO SING, Ochs's songwriting is motivated by outrage at the day's social and political climate. There's a mix of songs on the album that fall more or less into two different categories: those that are specific to the era, such as "Talking Vietnam" and "Talking Cuban Crisis," and others that are more timeless, such as "One More Parade," which looks toward world peace. On "The Bells," Ochs sets to music Edgar Allan Poe's poem of the same name. Throughout this sparely rendered collection, Ochs accompanies himself on acoustic guitar, and is joined by second guitarist Danny Kalb (who, within a couple years, achieved recognition on his own with the Blues Project). minimize