Thursday, November 09, 2006

LA LUPE WOLFS DOWN PHIL OCHS

At last! Illfolks offers Phil Ochs!
One of Phil's more unusual songs was "That's The Way It's Gonna Be," where gloomy minor key clouds keep breaking for a resolute melody line that forces optimism. Phil co-wrote it with Bob Gibson. Here, it gets a bizarre Latin twist from the legendary La Lupe.
La Lupe usually sang in Spanish, and as the photo shows, she was such a legend that a Spanish Harlem street was eventually named for her. Sizzling to the point of becoming a charred Charo, she somehow creates an interpretation that is both amusing and riveting, kind of funny but also fierce.
Phil, who once wrote a tune called "Bracero," and was devoted to the cause of peace in Chile, was no stranger to Latin stylings. And no Latin version of an Ochs song, including Jose Feliciano's take on this very same tune, is as strange or as singular as this one from La Lupe.
That's The Way it's Gonna Be Wait and See. Actually, no wait. This is not a Rapidshare or Megaupload or any other wait 45 seconds, "peer through a zillion ads to find the download link" deal. It's INSTANT. Hear on line or download.

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