Pleasures Of The Harbor Free MP3, Song Download, Lyrics, Album Track List

Pleasures Of The Harbor

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Song	Lyrics	Save	Buy
PLAY QUEUE 1 Cross My Heart		save
PLAY QUEUE 2 Flower Lady		save
PLAY QUEUE 3 Outside Of A Small Circle Of Friends		save
PLAY QUEUE 4 I've Had Her		save
PLAY QUEUE 5 Miranda		save
PLAY QUEUE 6 The Party		save
PLAY QUEUE 7 Pleasures Of The Harbor		save
PLAY QUEUE 8 Crucifixion		save

MOG Editorial Review

Few members of the folk revival movement had as much intelligence, wit, and musical versatility as Phil Ochs did around the period of his masterpiece, 1967's Pleasures of the Harbor. While many of his peers seemed to embrace either bare-bones acoustic guitars or flower-power organs, Ochs' seemed to add unique elements to his folk sound, often incorporating strings ("Flower Lady"), woodwinds ("Cross My Heart"), and even vaudeville elements ("Outside a Small Circle of Friends") while still sounding like a part of the movement. The subject matters on the album, meanwhile, were unabashaedly political, taking on poverty and class on the afformentioned "Flower" and "The Party," and more telling is his disgust at apathetic activists on "Friends," a track that serves as a reminder that we must keep our compassion in tact.
AMG Review of Pleasures of the Harbor

William Ruhlmann
All Music Guide

Going into the studio after Dylan's move into rock accompaniment and Sgt. Pepper's vast expansion of pop music, Ochs wanted to make a record that reflected all these trends, and he hired producer Larry Marks, arranger Ian Freebairn-Smith, and pianist Lincoln Mayorga -- all of whom had classical backgrounds -- to help him realize his vision. The result was Pleasures of the Harbor, his most musically varied and ambitious album, one routinely cited as his greatest accomplishment. Though the lyrics were usually not directly political, they continued to reflect his established points of view. His social criticisms here were complex, and they went largely unnoticed on a long album full of long songs, many of which did not support the literal interpretations they nevertheless received. The album was consistently imbued with images of mortality, and it all came together on the abstract, electronic-tinged final track, "The Crucifixion." Usually taken to be about John F. Kennedy, it concerns the emergence of a hero in a corrupt world and his inevitable downfall through betrayal. Ochs offers no satisfying resolution; the goals cannot be compromised, and they will not be fulfilled. It was anything but easy listening, but it was an effective conclusion to a brilliant album that anticipated the devastating and tragic turn of the late '60s, as well as its maker's own eventual decline and demise.