Customer Reviews

I've Got to Know

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was introduced to Utah by Ani DiFranco with The Past Didn't Go Anywhere. I loved it and went out and bought this cd. I listen to it quite a bit. This cd talks about war and politics and has really influenced my thoughts about the u.s government and politics in general. Buy it!

The fervent folkie who has toured with Ani DiFranco, U. Utah Phillips 1991 recording "I've Got To Know" has just been re-released on Daemon Records. Quoted as saying "My car won't run on Blood", in response to the first Gulf war, Phillips is an avid pacifist; singing and fuming about war and peace. The re-issue reflects the current times, and with the exception of the title track by Woodie Guthrie, (whom he acknowledges in the recording) it shines through as remarkably original and poignant. Guthrie's influences can clearly be heard throughout the 33 track album. Produced by Dakota Sid Clifford, the album is nearly half spoken word, interspersed with credited poetry and ranting. Please check out the website at www.daemonrecords.com

A lot of spoken word on this CD, which is all right if that is what one is looking for. Also much is commentary on politics and war which is dated (although I agree with his opinions).

Originally recorded in 1991 during the first Gulf War and re-released by AK Press in 2003 at the start of the current Gulf War, this brilliant Utah Phillips recording is a wonderful combination of his political folk songs and working-class stories about war, peace, pacifism, and anarchism. A veteran of the Korean War, Utah speaks openly and honestly about his experiences in the military, dealing with homelessness and alcoholism upon his return home, and eventually becoming an anti-war activist and anarchist via the Catholic Worker movement. In addition to his songs and stories, he also recites some great anti-war poetry, some of it his own, some of it by others like Bertolt Brecht. As a person living with AIDS, I especially found moving his modernized version of the classic Woody Guthrie song, "I've Got To Know", in which he questions the stupidity of wasting so much money on the military budget while millions of people suffer needlessly from AIDS, cancer, poverty, and hunger. More relevant than ever, this is really an outstanding CD. Thank you AK Press for making this awesome anti-war CD once again available!

Great music, great stories and an intelligent and heartfelt condemnation of war (that is neither sanctimonious nor wishy-washy) are what this album is made of. His best in my opinion.

in June of '06 I edited this. I wanted to change it to 3 stars but that isn't an option so I'm just typing it. 3 stars from me, not 4.

Talk about a timely reissue! Actually this is even more relevant right now than it was when it was initially released during the first Gulf War. Oh wait I forgot, the war is over. I guess we can comfort all the grieving families on both sides of the line with that fun fact. Those friends and loved ones they lost must be a myth.

From poems by WW1 vets, verses from old labor magazines, to the rants and ramblings of Utah and those he has known, this is a lovely little statement in favor of clearheadedness, rather than once again sinking ourselves deeper into one of the USA's favorite blankets of comfort... War.

I actually give this one 3.8 stars because it isn't live in front of people. Not that an album has to be live to be great (far, far from it), but Utah is a bit more stiff in the studio than he is in front of people. An audience really seems to loosen him up and allow his voice to gain even more character, and allow his deep compassion and humor to shine even more brightly. Plus, a couple of the poems here don't do alot for me. I tend to prefer my Utah speaking straight from the heart of Utah. There is certainly some very good stuff here, it's just that some of his other discs have some even better stuff.

Even so, more people in this country need to hear this release. I wish the people of my country were more engaged, curious, and thoughtful. It saddens me to watch so many Americans hand our country over to corporations. "FEAR THIS FEAR THAT and see that I am your savior... now go make money for me even if it kills you" is a tough pile to purchase, but alot of Americans are eating it up.

This review was originally written as a commentary on Utah Phillip's Songbook- Starlight on the Trail issued in 2005. Looking it over I believe that the comments made there can be applied to this CD as well, obviously noting the differences in format. Utah has been consistent throughout his career in both the kind of songs he writes and sings about. He has also maintained his same basic political philosophy so my comments about our political differences also apply here. Nevertheless, treasure any CD of his you can get your hands on.

The political consciousness developed in my youth coincided with an expansion of my musical tastes under the influence of the great blues and folk revivals of the 1960's. Unfortunately my exposure to the blues greats was mainly on records as many of them had been forgotten, retired or were dead. Not so with the folk revival this was created mainly by those who were close contemporaries. Alas, they too are now mainly forgotten, retired or dead. It therefore is with special pleasure that I review Utah Phillips Songbook while he is very much alive.

Many of the folksingers of the 1960 had attempted to use their music to become troubadours for social change. The most famous example, the early Bob Dylan, can be fairly described as the voice of his generation at that time. However, he fairly quickly moved on to other concepts of himself and his music. Bob Dylan's work became more informed by the influences of Rimbaud and Verlaine and the French Symbolists of the late 1800's and thus moved away to a more urban, sophisticated vision. From the start and consistently throughout his long career Utah has acted as a medium giving voice to the troubles of ordinary people and the simpler ethos of a more rural, Western-oriented gone by day in the American experience. He evokes in song the spirit of the people Walt Whitman paid homage to in poetic form and John Dos Passos and John Steinbeck gave in prose. He sits conformably in very fast company. Utah Phillips can justly claim the title of a people's troubadour.

A word about politics. Generally, one rates music without reference to politics. However, Utah has introduced the political element by the way he structured the Songbook. Each song is introduced by him as to its significance heavily weighted to his political experiences, observations and vision. Thus, political comment is fairly in play here. Utah is a long time anarchist and unrepentant supporter of the Wobblies (Industrial Workers of the World, hereafter IWW). Every militant cherishes the memory of the class battles led by the IWW like the famous Lawrence strike of 1912 and honors the heroes of those battles like Big Bill Haywood and Vincent St. John and the militants they recruited to the cause of the working class in the first part of the 20th century. They paved the way for the later successful organization drives of the 1930's.

Nevertheless, while Utah and I would both most definitely agree that some old-fashioned class struggle by working people in today's one-sided class war would be a very good thing we as definitely differ on the way to insure a permanent victory for working people in order to create a decent society. In short, Utah's prescriptions of good moral character, increased self-knowledge and the creation of small intentional communities are not enough. Under modern conditions it is necessary to take and safeguard political power against those who would quite consciously deny that victory. History has been cruel in some of the bitter lessons working people have had to endure for not dealing with the question of taking state power to protect their interests. But, enough said. I am more than willing to forgive the old curmudgeon his anarchist sins if he'll sing `I Remember Loving You' the next time he tours the Boston area.