Pleasures of the Harbor

Pleasures of the Harbor

Editorial Reviews
Product Description
Perhaps Phil's greatest record, from 1967. Includes, 'Cross My Heart', 'Flower Lady' & 'The Crucifixion'. Complete with original artwork and new liner notes. First time on CD. Standard jewel case. 2000 release.

Tracks:

Cross My Heart
Flower Lady
Outside Of A Small Circle Of Friends
I've Had Her
Miranda
The Party
Pleasures Of The Harbor
The Crucifixion

Album Description

Perhaps Phil's greatest record, from 1967. Includes, 'Cross My Heart', 'Flower Lady' & 'The Crucifixion'. Complete with original artwork and new liner notes. First time on CD. Standard jewel case. 2000 release.

Customer Reviews:

A unique product of competition .......2006-12-27

Phil Ochs, the so-called singing journalist, was always (to his frustration) compared to Bob Dylan. Both started out as guitar slinging folkies singing protest songs and putting out simple records with clear social messages. Eventually Dylan, the public's and critics' golden boy, quit putting out straight up folk and broke down the barriers between the genres of folk and rock, still dealing with similar lyrical themes but in a less direct way. Since most of the music consuming public viewed Dylan as the icon, once he made this move (though lots of people hated him for it in the beginning), all bets were off for the other folk musicians. In this climate, Phil Ochs, Dylan's worthy but always less-famous competitor, created his most progressive album and showed listeners that rock and folk could be combined in more ways than one.

Pleasures of the Harbor starts off with a harpsichord-laden, jaunty pop song that's definitely NOT about social injustice lifted from the headlines. This song really sets the tone for the rest of the album--Phil Ochs decided to stretch his music and songwriting to include not only rock instrumentation and themes, but also jazz and classical elements as well, all the while painting lyrical pictures of society's ills using satire and narrative to expertly get the job done.

"Outside of a Small Circle of Friends" is a classic collection of witty anecdotes of hypocrisy that's right up there with "Draft Dodger Rag" as Och's funniest and cleverest works. The sound is unlike anything he ever did--rag! "I've Had Her" is a cutting, cynical love song set to a gorgeous orchestral backing, with Och's heartbreaking refrain "I've had her; she's nothing." "Miranda" is a great character sketch of a Rudolph Valentino fan who manages to escape the pain of the world, performed with some great dixieland backup. "The Party" is also really jazzy, with plenty of types of people satirized in a party setting. "Pleasures of the Harbor" is another classic, impressionistic song that paints a scene with emotion and drama. "The Crucifixion" closes the album in a controversial way. The lyrics are stark and harrowing, supported by avant-garde classical electronic music (crazy, right?!). Also, I'd like to add that many of these songs feature a top-shelf keyboardist (can't remember the name) whose chops really add to the instrumental end of the daring arrangements

Pleasures of the Harbor is a unique album in both Och's catalogue and in pop music in general. The songs are mostly quite long and the style remains unreproduced by anyone else. Phil Ochs, for all the Dylan comparisons, really doesn't sound like Dylan in voice and has a very different style of songwriting. Some critics panned this album as pretentious. I think this really fails to capture the unique nature of the music and Och's courage to put out a record that sounds completely different from anything else. What I really love about his growing approach to songwriting is his skill at showing (rather than telling) the social ills and emotions that are the subjects of his songs. Hopefully this album goes back into print very soon.

Phil's greatest album...........2006-08-09

I love all aspects of Phil's music. But I really enjoy the later stuff that started with this album. Ochs did get away from folk music like his rival Dylan, but Ochs didn't go rock. Instead, his albums became much more poetic and introspective, and they were more pop oriented than Dylan's work. This album was the first one, and it's the best. There isn't one bad song on the album. The songs are some of the most haunting ones Phil ever wrote, and the production here fits them perfectly. The title track is especially haunting (inspired by a great John Ford film, The Long Voyage Home), and Outside a Small Circle of Friends is a great song too. I do like this version of Crucifixion (with its collage of noise going against Ochs's voice). I think it works rather well, even though you have to listen to it a few times before you really get it. The liner notes are especially good, too, especially the line "in such an ugly time the true protest is beauty.". Ochs was eventually destroyed by politics, booze, drugs, and despair, which is a shame, as he had a real gift for great lyrics and for melody. He sang better than Dylan, his songs had more of a coherent storyline, but he didn't have the mystique Dylan has. Phil was moving towards country rock with his final album, the ironically titled "Greatest Hits", and that may have been his niche. Sadly, we'll never know. We'll always miss you, Phil...

All change here.......2006-03-02

I can remember the feeling of total surprise when I first heard this album. I'd expected another solo acoustic album and was faced with the very lush orchestral sounds. Eventually this grew on me as i realised that this was Phil's version of Dylan's experimentalism, only with Dixieland jazz and classical arrangements. Highlight of the album was the classical psychedelic setting of 'The Crucifixion' of the narrator drowning in an orchestral barrage. "Outside of a Small Circle' is Phil setting nasty protest words to breezy uptempo music and, likewise, the lounge piano setting of 'The Party' against his exposure of showbiz corruption. The other songs are very personal observations set against the mellow and reflective to the angst songs. I found that the solo folk version of Phil at Newport 66 with this orchestral version brought up the lyrics in sharp relief. This album is a test for open minds and will immensely reward you if you have one.

Listening Pleasure.......2004-12-25

Strange, sad and beautiful music.

Phil, we miss you very much.

It's so sad about Phil.......2004-05-29

Reviewer: Roni, Talk2roni

Phil Ochs was one of those genius-types, kind of mad with creativity and passion. Because of the time he grew up in, he wound up becoming a political activist. The politics were what I agreed with growing up, but over time I have almost completely made a 360. But that's not what this is about.

It's about Phil being in a time when he could channel his passion into "causes" and "anti-somethings". (We were all anti-something in the 70s).

I find that this album, however, is a lot less political, and a lot more personal, and very revealing with regard to the demons he was fighting in his life at that time. The poetry alone was --and is--absolutely dazzling. If you read these lyrics, they are beyond this world. He was a superb writer and his lyrics were haunting and ethereal. There was always a biting edge and sarcasm to it, and a lot of passive-aggressive anger (i.e. "I've Had Her"---the song fascinated me in a weird sort of way). And I thought it was touching about the Flower Lady and nobody buying flowers from her. I think he was P.O.'ed about it.

Next, the music. Beautiful. These songs are works of art. That's how I would have any album I ever made to be like. Not just little song ditties---rather, "experiences", "experiental art". It seems to me that Phil was kind of spiritual, although I don't think he admitted to being a believer in anything of God....I hope that changed although he did ultimately commit suicide so I can't pretend to know what could have been going on in his mind; I do know that it is easier to do such a thing when one is being ruled by drugs or alcohol....but, anyway,

I don't know...you hear a song like "Rehearsals for Retirement" and then find out Phil hung himself. How very very sad.

I met him briefly, and got to know some people who were AROUND him (best friend and girlfriend) and they were very, very nice, caring people. I think Phil was caught in that terrible whirlpool of just not having a grasp of a life purpose when the U.S. was kind of going through a blah phase. Now the call it some sort of Adjustment Disorder....interesting.

Mostly, I don't think he had a grasp of being loved, or knowing how to love others. But, I know he was loved. By those in his personal life and his thousands of fans, loyal fans.

But, I don't want to get too speculative. It's just that I loved Phil Ochs' music, and I am so very sorry that he did not want to go on. I believe he succumbed to alcohol problems, and that the odd phase of gold lame was the beginning of the end for him.

But, if you take an hour and put on some headphones, get lost in this music, you realize there was SO MUCH to this man. He was truly an artist and a great influence in my life. I hear his brother, Michael, has one of the greatest rock and roll photography archives that exist. He's pretty successful too. And when I think of Phil, and that haunting music, I think: "sadness."

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