Oh that rascally Van Dyke Parks. His fame comes from the rock
world, but he's no part of it. The legendary lyricist for Brian
Wilson's SMiLE sessions has been a go-to guy for dozens of folks looking
for his idiosyncratic style over the decades, but almost always as an
arranger. From Harry Nillson and Loudon Wainwright III to Rufus
Wainwright, Joanna Newsom and Grizzly Bear, if you want something unique
and intricate, with orchestration, Parks is a worthy and complicated
presence. Along with several movie scores, his own albums have featured
calypso, Japanese, orchestral, Gershwin-esque and modern classical
sounds, as well as a connections to kooky cartoon music. There's a lot
going on in that boy's brain.
Over the past couple of years, Parks has been recording again,
this time in a series of 45 rpm releases, which are now collected here.
It's a mix of new and old themes, some of which date back to his first,
infamous 1968 solo album, Song Cycle. That's the failed project that
showed, despite his pop associates, he'd never be close to the
mainstream, and he still isn't. Instead these are richly orchestrated
numbers complete with his own fun voice, sort of what I imagine Mark
Twain might have sounded if he sang. There's a grand theatrical feel to
each number, and certainly something from classic Disney scoring as
well. Parks has neatly wrapped up much of his career in these dozen
cuts, from his beloved steel drum ensembles to his bouncy accordion
South Seas melodies. And surprise, he even gets political, raking oil
companies, Wall Street and any who value money first. With such a wide
palette, this is now the best Parks album, and the one that may finally
get him considered as fine a composer as his reputation has long
suggested he should be.
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