Rehearsals For Retirement – PHIL OCHS****

Pretty Smart On My Part/The Doll House/I Kill Therefore I Am/William Butler Yeats Visits Lincoln Park & Escapes Unscathed/My Life/The Scorpion Departs But Never Returns/The World Began In Eden But Ended In Los Angeles/Doesn’t Lenny Live Here Anymore/Another Age/Rehearsals For Retirement

Rehearsals For Retirement was Phil Och’s most pessimistic album, prompted by his disillusionment with the turn of events at the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago. (US:167)

"Rehearsals For Retirement is probably Och's most personal album. Considering his demons then, this may be somewhat harrowing an experience for some listeners. The music, however, is the best of his career - ranging from beautiful to rocking. As for the lyrics, RFR captures his typical sarcasm, this time around dealing with the underwhelming results of the 1968 Democratic convention protests. Evidently, though, the event was life-changing for socially-conscious Ochs, and thus accounts for much of the disillusionment he sings about here.”

“At this time in his career and life, Phil was immensely depressed about everything from the endless war in Vietnam to civil strife at home, and for being involved in, and witnessing, the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago. His depression is echoed in this album.”

“The greatest Phil Ochs album. From the lean acoustic chords of Pretty Smart On My Part, to the eerie piano intro on The Doll House, to the heartbreaking title track and Doesn't Lenny Live Here Anymore, Ochs proved on Rehearsals For Retirement that he could go head-to-head with any of the great songwriters of the sixties.”

“This is probably Ochs' strongest album - not a bad song on it and you get a fairly devastating parody of Bob Dylan's singing style on The Doll House. Recorded shortly after the 1968 Democratic National Convention at which Ochs lost so much of his faith in humanity, it features My Life, one of Ochs' finest songs and a plethora of intelligent, very moving, tuneful, ironic and iconic songs that even someone new to Ochs can enjoy.”

“Ochs' albums shifted gradually from Dylan derived political protest and righteous outrage to allegory through the '60s. By RFR, the externalized social concerns expressed early on are largely subsumed under a shroud of resignation, with wholesale hints of encroaching paranoia.”