Best of Broadside: 1962-1988.

during the Dust Bowl days of the 1930s many people from Oklahoma were forced to pack their bags and move to greener pastures. Sis Cunningham and Gordon Friesen moved a bit later to escape the anti-Communist witchhunts. After going through especially hard times during the McCarthy era, the two ended up in New York City where, still impoverished but inspired by what seemed to be a burgeoning topical song movement, they began publishing lyrics and melodies to new songs in a small, aptly named mimeographed magazine called Broadside.

The couple quickly became mentors to hordes of radical troubadours and, with little distribution outside Greenwich Village, the modest publication became a major force in music while giving a strong impetus to the creation of the underground press. Sis Cunningham dutifully transcribed the songs, many of which were later compiled in book form and released on a dozen or more Broadside albums.

Initially the magazine had to be smuggled out in a baby carriage because businesses weren't allowed in the housing project where the couple lived. In a strange way this conjures up samizdat, the custom that appeared a few years later in the USSR whereby censored writers would disseminate their work by typing it with multiple sheets of carbon paper and then pass it on to others to do the same -- a practice later adopted by Russian rock bands producing cassettes and asking friends to copy them.

The magazine that paranoid right-winger David Noebel referred to as `a folk journal of naked Communist propaganda' has now been paid the ultimate tribute: a 5-CD set in an attractive slip-case that includes a 158-page ringbound book. The package is chock-full of information on the artists and their songs, not to mention testimonials, lyrics, photos and artwork, discographies and facsimiles of original pages. It's ironic that two individuals who were ignominiously blacklisted most of their lives have now been paid such a dignified tribute by a company that is part of the US Government's most important cultural institution, the Smithsonian.

In its 1960s heyday, the magazine published Bob Dylan's `Blowin' in the Wind', Bonnie Dobson's `Take Me for a Walk' (an ominous song about a nuclear holocaust that became famous as `Morning Dew'), Janis Ian's `Society's Child' in its embryonic form, as well as songs by Pete Seeger, Tom Paxton, Buffy Saint-Marie and dozens more. Broadside's schedule became more and more irregular over the years and finally ceased publication in 1988 after 187 issues.

The spirit of Woody Guthrie -- quoted as saying `a good song can only do good' -- looms large but Dylan (alias Blind Boy Grunt) has an especially strong presence along with Phil Ochs, who actually contributed the most songs.

The collection is divided thematically by topic, such as nuclear concerns, labor issues, civil rights, Vietnam, social injustice and feminism. Of course, one person's inspirational verse is another's doggerel and it's hard to deny that a few songs are dated or less than memorable. The earnestness of the performances sometimes calls out for a bit of comic relief, which does show up occasionally. And there is only the odd foray away from the folk aesthetic, Nina Simone's `Mississippi Goddam', for example.

Broadside lost its relevance in later years, which may account for the fact that so many of these songs date from the turbulent 1960s. Some worthy songwriters aren't represented, although the British influence is acknowledged. The Best of Broadside isn't the definitive collection of topical material (Songs for Political Action, a 10-CD Box Set on Bear Family comes closer), but Broadside does reflect a time when an unflinching and less cynical mindset prevailed, one which led people to believe that music could change the world.

Other publications have sprung up in recent decades that deal with politics and music, most notably Rock & Rap Confidential and the defunct Sounds Celebrating Resistance, but Broadside was unique in its mandate and in its stature.

The Best of Broadside 1962-1988 (5-CD boxed set) is published by Smithsonian Folkways SFW CD 40130.