Customer Reviews

Pleasures of the Harbor

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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.

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.

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.

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...

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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Mr. Beck does a fine job describing this wonderful CD. This is the first release of the album on CD in the US, but it was released on CD in Japan many years ago, along with other A&M albums like Tape from California and Rehearsals for Retirement.

If you are lucky enough to have the Japanese CD, you can skip this issue. Despite the great advances in remastering technology over the years, the sound quality of this issue is very similar to the Japanese issue - some things sound a little better, others a little worse. I'm still mulling over which to keep and which to trade.

For most Phil Ochs fans this will be a moot point, and you will want to grab this and its companions right away. Who knows how long they will be available, and when if ever we might see better remasterings?

I've been waiting for this classic to be reiussed on CD since I wore out the LP in college during the early 1970s. Pleasures of the Harbor is hauntingly beautiful and complex, and Outside of a Small Circle of Friends, a seering retelling of the story of neighbors who "didn't want to get involved" and let Kitty Genovese be murdered in front of them in NYC, has never been more relevant. Miranda, I've Had Her, the Crucifixion, all are incredible.

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.

No, don't forget him actually. Listen to his wonderful music; just don't use it to compare Phil Ochs's music to.

This is a truly extraordinary and unbelievably underrated album. It is Ochs' first album that is comprised mostly of popular rather than protest songs, and his best. The songs are unflichingly honest and increasingly somber, from the first one:

"I don't know
But it seems that every single dream's
Painting pretty pictures in the air
And it tumbles in despair
And it starts to bend
Until by the end its a nightmare"

To the last:

"And the night comes again to the circle studded sky
The stars settle slowly, in loneliness they lie
'Till the universe expodes as a falling star is raised
Planets are paralyzed, mountains are amazed
But they all glow brighter from the briliance of the blaze
With the speed of insanity, then he died."

Though Ochs' language, studded with alliteration and assonance, is often heavily Romantic he is never romanticising what he sings about. Whether it's the frailty of human dreams, the indifference of Americans to their fellows' suffering or the hollow emptiness of a high-class party, he always hits straight at the nail and does it in the most gorgeous language recorded by any songwriter. Yet speaking about his lyrics in this way we only get half the point: it is the music that really makes them soar. It is Ochs' sense of melody and harmony and unmistakably human voice, but also Lincoln Mayorga sprawling, highly melodious piano accompaniment and Ian Freebairn-Smith's tantalizing arrangements, that propel these songs to heights not often reached in popular music.

Where could I begin? The "Pleasures of the Harbor" album is an item that can really change your life or, better, change the way you look at things or the music. It could be so great as the "Blonde on Blonde", or the "Aftermath", or the "Pet Sounds". Phil was sure of it and he couldn't understand why was a cold response. If "Harbor" doesn't go right into the Billboard, nothin' could.Terryfic (I read in Michael Schumacher's book that the Phil's voice was short to perform songs like "Flower Lady": What an absurdity! Hear it), and even the erratic arrangements for "Crucifixion" seem now reveal what great giant of the music was Phil. Maybe my greatest hero.