Pleasures of the Harbor

Pleasures of the Harbor was Phil Ochs' fourth full-length album and his first for A&M Records, released in 1967. It is one of Ochs's most somber albums. In stark contrast to his three albums for Elektra Records which had all been basically folk music, Pleasures of the Harbor featured traces of classical, rock and roll, Dixieland jazz and experimental synthesized music crossing with folk, in hopes of producing a "folk-pop" crossover. The best known track is "Outside of a Small Circle of Friends", a sarcastic jab at the apathetic nature of people in certain situations, at its base the story of the Murder of Kitty Genovese in New York City (which numerous people witnessed, doing nothing to help), set to a Dixieland backing. The mention of...