Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Overlooked Influential Classic Finally On CD, December 6, 2000
Thank the people at Collector's Choice Music for finally putting this and other classic late-60's Phil Ochs albums on CD for the first time.This record was Ochs' first for A&M, and a departure from his signature strict-folky "singing reporter" style. He dives into the pop and burgeoning experimental scenes of Southern California for musical inspiration, and uses more poetic, but straight-forward lyrics and longer, more free song-structures to create an album that is an early blueprint for what is now known as Chamber-Pop. The individual songs are among his finest, and most experimental to date. "Outside of a Small Circle of Friends," is a great parody of social apathy in the form of the murder of Kitty Genovese, and was even a hit (at least in my neck of the woods,) and "Cross My Heart" is a pop classic with a hidden message that would subvert anyone who actually can concentrate on the lyrics. "I've Had Her" is a put down on the level of the nastiest Bob Dylan song, and "Pleasures of the Harbor" is one of many Phil Ochs epics with a nautical theme. The only disappointment is the classic "The Crucifixion," a narrative epic of modern martyrs, such as JFK. The musical arrangement by Joesph Byrd, while being quite excellent on it's own, and very forward-thinking in a subverted-pop style, takes away from the beauty and sadness of the lyrics. . . Luckily one could always listen to a wonderful acoustic version of this song on "Live in Vancouver," so it's kind of a moot point! The reissue sounds very good, even though it wasn't remastered with the most start-of-the-art equipment, probably due to the small market for this album, but it is still good enough to not detract from this beautiful, challenging and heartfelt music of the genius Phil Ochs.
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Outstanding reissue of a great American Artist, July 8, 2003
Whether the lyric lilt of his voice or the tremendous passion of his articulate poetry, Phils Ochs had a profound impact on listeners. He could be politically outlandish (sometimes even more outlandish that his own personal views) but more often incredibly insightful. His lyrics are some of the the most intelligient written by the modern day folks artists or songwriter of any ilk. And his later work, although not in the least classic folk style material, showed an artistic maturity that could be dazzling. The lyrics could be at once cinematic, portraying a physical scene, and at the same time evocative of intense emotions. And he used his voice with a keen sense of timing and phrasing -- it's fun just to listen to how he wraps a line around the tempo. During his short life he was known as much for his politcs as his artistry, and he probably wouldn't have had it any other way. The material here is that of his first "non-folk-music" albums and contains some of his poetic masterpieces.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A unique product of competition , December 26, 2006
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.
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by Phil Ochs 
