Phil Ochs - Pleasures Of The Harbor

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.

From the liner notes by Richie Unterberger:
"If ever a record by a major 1960s artist was a "transitional" album, Phil Ochs’ Pleasures of the Harbor was it. The LP was his first recording to use full band arrangements; his first to almost entirely depart from the topical protest folk songs with which he had made his reputation; his first to be recorded for a then-young A&M label; and his first to be recorded in Los Angeles, the city to which he moved from New York in the late 1960s. It is undoubtedly his most sonically ambitious work, and if the almost ludicrously huge scope of his ambitions guaranteed an uneven album, it nevertheless contained some of his most enduring and successful songs and performances."

Phil Ochs - Pleasures Of The Harbor
(192 kbps, front cover included)

Unterm Arm die Gitarre - 15 Jahre Singebewegung 1966 - 1980 - Ein Report (Amiga 1981)

"Singe-Bewegung" and "Oktoberklub" in East Germany, part 8. On 7 October 1949, the founding of the GDR (German Democratic Republic, often called simply East Germany) was proclaimed in Berlin. At the end of the Second World War, there were already violent disagreements between the four victorious allies: the USA, England, France and the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union wanted to found a socialist German state, while the Western powers wanted a democratic Germany. The political officials in the Soviet-occupied zone (as the GDR was named before its foundation) carried out the preparations for founding a state very systematically. They started up the “Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands” or SED (Socialist Unity Party) and the organisation “Freie Deutsche Jugend” or FDJ (Free German Youth). The proclamation of the constitution of the German Democratic Republic sealed the division between east and west in legal terms. Two states had arisen in Germany, both of which claimed to be the core and model for a single united Germany that was to be created in the future. With elections based on “Unity” lists of candidates, strict control and direction of government and society by the Socialist Unity Party, the GDR followed the pattern of the “people’s democracies” set up as Soviet protectorates in eastern central and southeastern European states. Today it will have been 63ears since the founding of the German Democratic Republic (GDR). The so called "Tag der Repblik" commemorates the 7th October 1949, at which the German Democratic Republic was constituted . This is a good occasion to continue our series of postings dealing with the "Singebewegung" in the GDR. This double album is a report about the "Singing movement" in the GDR, released in 1981 and giving an overview about the last 15 years. It has liner notes by Gisela Steineckert about the experiences in the years 1966 to 1980. Gisela Steineckert was a politician or functionary as well as a writer and poet, now honorary chairman of the dfb ("Democratic Women´s Association"). The "Singebewegung" was the East German variant of the Hootenanny and other folk movements and was channeled by SED and the FDJ, which does not always succeed. The songs on this album are partly shaped by this conflict between governmental control and slight irony and subversion. Unterm Arm die Gitarre - 15 Jahre Singebewegung - Ein Report (256 kbps, cover art included)  Tracklist: LP 1: 1. Oktoberklub Sag mir, wo du stehst 2. Oktoberklub Schau her 3. Singeklub "Geschwister Scholl" Wismar Lied vom Schiffsbau 4. "Gruppe Pasaremos" Dresden Dran und drauf 5. Oktoberklub Friedenslied 6. Perry Friedman Wenn die Neugier nicht wär 7. Kurt Demmler Was machen wir zu Pfingsten 8. Singeklub der Lessing-Oberschule Hoyerswerda Budjonny-Reiterlied 9. "Venceremos-Club" Berlin Es beginnt erst der Mensch 10. Oktoberklub Oktoberklub 11. Songgruppe der Tu Dresden Zugvögel 12. Kurt Demmler und der "Venceremos-Club" Berlin Lied aus dem fahrenden Zug zu singen 13. Reinhold Andert Im Treptower Park 14. "Venceremos-Club" Berlin Hüttenwerk 15. Singeklub Neubrandenburg Der Tag hat uns bei der Arbeit gesehn 16. Singeklub der N.V.A. Neubrandenburg Mein kleiner Bruder 17. Singegruppe "Spartakus" der PH Potsdam In Potsdam wird gebaut 18. Kurt Demmler Dieses Lied sing ich den Frauen (Maria) 19. Jahrgang '49 Fahnenlied LP 2: 1. Jahrgang '49 Jahrgang `49 2. Liedertheater Karls Enkel Oma Amler 3. Skiffle Schwerin Sonderschicht 4. Gruppe Schicht Gavroche 5. Oktoberklub Hier wo ich lebe 6. Oktoberklub Neutronenbombe 7. Bernd Rump und Gruppe Schicht Vor der Karte 8. Oktoberklub Wir sind überall 9. Jahrgang '49 Trassentrinklied 10. Oktoberklub Saigon ist frei 11. Singegruppe "Spartakus" der PH Potsdam Hamburg `78 12. Gruppe Schicht Regenbogenlied 13. Liedertheater Karls Enkel Sektlied 14. Singeklub der P.O.S. Maxim Gorki Salzwedel Mensch denkste denn 15. Singeklub der B.B.S. Des Wälzlagerwerkes Luckenwalde Wenn`s Uus Lehrlinge nicht gäbe 16. Singeklub der E.O.S. Carl von Ossietzky Berlin Betrachtendes Lied 17. Oktoberklub Da sind wir aber immer noch