VAN DYKE PARKS appreciation thread...

One more vote for Discover America. His calypso period is out there.

Song Cycle must have really blown some minds back in '68. I love it.

Yeah Song Cycle feels like Wilson doing a score for Looney Tunes.

Song Cycle is amazing. i like blasting it and singing along while i'm driving through hollywood or beverly hills.

it isn't hard to listen to, it's just really hard to 'crack'? sort of a maze, it's easy to lose track of.

on the whole i prefer discover america to SC

SC has as much great bits ("the all golden", "the attic") as meh bits ("by the people", "widow's walk")

I've exhausted saying things about this but I love Song Cycle, it is a nearly perfect thing

An appalling lack of appreciation for Jump! here.

It's honestly unbelievable. (I'm finally giving it a real listen tonight.)

Jump!?

well I'm looking for youth not experience

^ Ha.

Anybody have info on that Datsun commercial?

Certainly gotten the best out of Brian Wilson. Surprisingly good album, and easily the best thing he has done since "Till I Die".

(Discounting "sMiLe" of course, but those songs were composed and largely arranged back when he was still in his artistic prime)

Certainly gotten the best out of Brian Wilson. Surprisingly good album, and easily the best thing he has done since "Till I Die".

Which album? Orange Crate Art?!?!

Is anyone sharing "Do What You Wanta" on their site?

I'm really enjoying Discover America right now.

I've been all over this guy for days now and have so much to report.

"Occapella" from Discover America is funky, sexy and brilliant — at least two of which are words I never thought I would associate with VDP.

Clang of the Yankee Reaper is a really interesting record — the title track, obv., but also some really remarkable calypso interpretations of pop songs. By this point, he was literally finding songs that said what he wanted to say and covering them, rather than writing them (and tweaking them: "Cannon In D by Pachabel" is actually not Pachabel at all (or in D) but a Lutherian hymn about God's might). I also like that, according to the credits at least, VDP supposedly only sings here — as if this record could have been created by anyone other than him.

Jump, as previously noted, has some incredible, incredible stuff. The skipping, opening melody of "Many Mile To Go" is one of the best moments of his career, easy. And reviving minstrelry as an artform takes serious balls.

Orange Crate Art has its moments — but is a little harder to dig into because—not in spite—of Brian Wilson's voice.

GREAT and moving six-part Dutch biography on him here: .

(note: There's very little Dutch narration in this, so don't be discouraged by it)

meh bits ("by the people", "widow's walk")

What the fuck?! the disney choir on by the people is amazing and the slide/step rhythms of widows walk are almost funny in a heartbreaking way. This album is inconsistent but never less than great, it's just that the flashes of incandescent genius throw it off kilter a bit

Ah, right: Song Cycle! How could I have forgotten?

Consider me among one of the people who thinks it's a remarkable, ambitious quasi-failure. It's triumph and failure are kind of interchangeable: its disorienting, unrelenting psychedelia. It's almost as if VDP can't bear the notion that a good idea might wear out its welcome.

I'd also add, tho, that the one place it completely and brilliantly comes together is "The Attic," which as a standalone track fairly lords over a lot of the rest of the material.

In many ways it's the album described here on all those Tusk threads, that is, it's a morass of webby sound strung around these strange creeping pop songs. Rich and ornate, but also rough and improvisatory. The structures of songs are chaotic and unfocussed but the long threading vocal lines kind of prick along the surface with these curling lyrical trails. The opening cover of Vine St. is like a curtain pulling away to reveal another curtain, it's a surreal and oddly cinematic way to open an album but immediate impression is not to take anything for granted, which for the remainder of the album is a tenet that holds fast. In fact it's a remarkably visual album, underlined by the snatches of field recordings used mainly as incidental introductions and particularly Park's colourful lyrics splashed with runic expressions and delicately abstract aphorisms.

There's a kind of anxiety in how Parks tries to hide his voice behind a number of studio tricks, particularly the almost dubby echo of "Widows Walk", this element of obscuration becomes a major theme of the album, where the restless collage of sounds becomes a constant masking of areas. To put it another way, each part appears solid and concrete when listened to as part of the whole embellished arrangement, but taken by itself they echo and disappear behind other parts. Maybe this is the great haze of the american songwriting tradition that Parks makes new through a kind of creative archeology. His meta jokes with Public Domain/Van Dyke Parks certainly reveal someone for whom the back alleys of music and the names in liner notes are nearly as important as the music itself. The vast, constantly shifting arrangements, then, are like the endless tangle of archives, record stores, names; not so much a nostalgia for a bygone era, but a love of the means by which we understand it.

for me, tho, the meta jokes and retreats into obscurity and constantly shifting arrangements are kind of what put me off SC!

Um, that's kindof all there is...

Like, I think it takes a certain type of person to be so in love with a time they never experienced, and this album is like the soundtrack to that.

Interesting aside: When I interviewed Van Dyke he said Song Cycle is essentially a very personal and emotional album that documents him coping with the death of his brother. (Maybe I mentioned that once before. Oh well, it's an interesting piece of background info, which has definitely altered the way I listen to the record at times.)

I tried listening to it with that in mind the other day. Other than maybe some of the sentimental elements of it...I didn't really sense the connection.

I think it grounds some of the lyrics, gives them some other meanings.

Apart from the title track I've never been able to get into "Clang OTYR". I used to play "Jump" a lot, but I haven't heard it in years. No love here for "Tokyo Rose"? Didn't like "Orange Crate Art".

Clang... didn't connect with me at first either — but after a while, the calypso tunes started getting deeper, more interesting and, frankly, more catchy to me. And the whole "Cannon in D" (note the misspelling) closing is seriously twisted — sort of what would happen if "Tusk" were performed by a disco band in a church.

BTW, sitting up at 7am w/ my daughter on a Sunday, I just noticed that VDP is doing the songs for HBO's "Harold and the Purple Crayon" animated series. The songs today featured him singing about the cycle of life (Harold's goldfish died, apparently), were catchy as hell (think Jump!) and were scored for orchestra and sitar! Harry Nilsson would have been very, very proud...

i had the honour of interviewing him a few months back and he invited me to his gig with inara george in camden. really charismatic and vocal guy, on and off stage. i had a quick chat with him after the gig but he was being harassed by everyone there. he handed me a card which read:

"Mr. Van Dyke Parks
apologizes for his behavior on the night of .....
and sincerely regrets any damage or
inconvenience he may have caused."

http://www.clashmusic.com/feature/van-dyke-parks-interview

Thanks for the interview link!

*puts on Tokyo Rose*

I'm going to his alleged only australian concert in Sept. What should I expect from a VDP live performance?

when i was in LA i lived near laurel canyon blvd and every time i had to cross it i started humming the song cycle track

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2651/3918635601_01abd3a39b_o.jpg

fans of discover america check this recently reissued recording of the esso trinidad steel band (produced by van dyke parks in 1971):

http://www.othermusic.com/perl-bin/OM/CD_Show_Info.cgi?ID=2443489.18394&catalog_id=86681

i'm about to check this out as well:

mighty sparrow - hot & sweet (produced by parks 1974)

http://www.othermusic.com/perl-bin/OM/CD_Show_Info.cgi?ID=2443489.18394&catalog_id=84140

and i'mma gonna check out "the company" ost, whereon there's 2 van dyke parks tunes that i've never heard anywhere else (curtain calls & blue snake and zebras).

The concert a couple of weeks ago was really awesome. His dad jokes between every song were a+.

He played a bunch of stuff from Discover and Jump which was pleasing.

I also got him to sign a copy this: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41FG4C1NQWL._SL500_AA240_.jpg

and was annoyed how much of a dork I was in front of him

Hey the man himself is on a brief tour right now and in SF tonite and Santa Monica in a few days. Attended his Portland show last night and couldn't recommend higher for anyone even remotly interested- do yourself a favor. Played a pretty representative swath of his material; closed with "He Needs Me"!

Oh and my gf got his same business card from upthread :)

Yep saw him late last year, it was totally fun + awesome

dad jokes? is he a dad?

he is gay, right...?

NO.

nope

just fairly camp

He is a dad,and v v happily married afaik?

Yes.

man, this is something else. i don't even know what to think.

Song Cycle? That record has a lot going on ... and it's just a half hour long right? Feel like you could spend a lifetime listening to it and not get to the bottom of it.

yeah a friend gave me a copy on vinyl cuz he had it forever and didn't like it...

listened for the first time last night and this AM...

sorta like a weird beach boys but with way strange melodies and arrangements.

almost kinda like aaron copeland type stuff in some ways...

not entirely sure how i feel about it.

oh man i envy u yr first play

fave VDP joint might be mojo men's "sit down i think i love you" but "palm desert" is some insanity

yeah, i mean, it's not a record that makes a hell of a lot of sense at first. but it's worth the effort. also just kind of amazing he was allowed to make it!

My friend's fiancee posted a status update at midnight that reads:
"attn music nerds: Van Dyke Parks gets two thumbs down."
Made me laugh.
I don't listen to them very often but I love Song Cycle and Discover America.
His weird version of the "ode to joy" is pretty amazing.

is there a comp of Van Dyke's pre-Song Cycle stuff? Production, arrangements, guest spots, etc.? Don't know how much there is, but he pops up in non-Beach Boy spots occasionally.

Not that I am aware of but it would be great to have.

There are these singles (don't think I've heard them, unless Donovan's Colours is the same as Song Cycle)
# "Number Nine / Do What You Wanta", 1966, single 45
# "Come to the Sunshine / Farther Along", 1966, single 45
# "Donovan's Colours, Pt. 1 / Donovan's Colours, Pt. 2" 1968" single 45 (under the pseudonym George Washington Brown)

I should ask my friend that is utterly OBSESSED with VDP if he could whip something together.
He probably owns all that stuff.
I wish I could have gone with him to see Van Dyke in person in Arkansas maybe six or seven years ago. Heard the show was great.
He's such a charming and funny individual, that Parks.

yeah, i mean, it's not a record that makes a hell of a lot of sense at first. but it's worth the effort. also just kind of amazing he was allowed to make it!

― tylerw, Friday, April 16, 2010 3:03 PM (18 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

yeah it's awesome that there was this weird window of time where that could happen...like now it would have to be some weirdo indie self recorded thing on a small label, but in the 60s it's like hell yeah let's get Lenny Waronker and Bruce Botnick on this

they must've spent a ton on making this record

Hell yeah they lost money:

http://posterscene.com/images/items/full/vandyke1.jpg

haha, was just looking for that ad. hilarious. though it sounds like small potatoes, even for back in the day? maybe not. dunno what that would be inflation-wise these days.

ugh now i really want to hear the early pre-Song Cycle stuff. Doesn't seem like it's ever been compiled ... but someone out there on the internet must've put it all together. Don't let us down, Internet!

It's true that the first time you hear it, it sounds like an underwater gramophone playing scratchy music hall records sung by actual penguins.

well, no

though it sounds like small potatoes, even for back in the day? maybe not. dunno what that would be inflation-wise these days.

Dunno either. I was looking at the liners for Odessey and Oracle the other day, and there was a quote from an A & R guy were he said 4000 pounds (about $6000) was considered an expensive budget back then. IIRC Forever Changes cost $2500-3000.

iirc 'good vibrations' cost $60k? and that was seen as insane, the cost of multiple LPs?

This thread inspired me to listen to Song Cycle. It's been a long time.

Joy - just won tickets to see VDP at Meltdown Festival.

i recently re-watched the brave little toaster and noticed that he had written the songs for it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbBEfZ8fK9Y

Harold / Purple Crayon, too.

Very excited to see VDP at Primavera this year. Re-reading that Warner ad is nutty. $50k is a tonne of money, though I can't imagine how and why Song Cycle cost that much.

the catering was off the hook on that record, i heard.

this has probably been posted a ton of times on this forum but it can't be posted enough

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8xq7hhBipE

I just noticed he wrote the songs for Brave Little Toaster when I re-watched it a couple weeks ago. Funny how my friend tells me how much he loved City of Light and another song at the beginning. I always favored the last 3 songs (at the dump song , future technology song, "it's just a like a movie" song).

Van Dyke Parks is the greatest! Here is a fileshare of some things I put together that are rare, unreleased and live performances including his first singles pre Song Cycle. I'd also like to recommend the short book Song Cycle by Richard Henderson on the 33 1/3 series. It sheds alot of light on that particular psychedelic classic.

http://www.mediafire.com/?7pcob8aaemum3

nice! thank you, as you may have seen upthread, i've been wanting something like this - i tracked down some of the early stuff but not all of it.
my friend met VDP recently and said he was a super nice dude.

daytrotter session!

daytrotter sesh sound radddddd

great musical history/mixtape via pfork: http://pitchfork.com/news/42269-5-10-15-20-van-dyke-parks/

check it out! http://www.bananastan.com/

Well, holy shit! This is exciting! Something about that website is super infectious.
I love the arrangements compilation too, that's a great idea.

yeah, i've always been meaning to do something like that arrangements comp myself. he beat me to it! new stuff sounds cool -- very van dyke! interesting that he says he "doesn't have an album" in him ...

WAU these new songs are amazing!

Note what he charges for the physical copies of those songs! Yiyiyiyi! As it should be!

$70 for six singles! That's ...bananas! At least you can just download them for cheap.

The 33 1/3 book on "Song Cycle" is superb. Just finished it and can't wait to read it again.

Yeah, it's so good. The anecdote about the greyhounds cracks me up

Can anyone confirm/deny that Van Dyke Parks did the arrangements for Dillard and Clark's "Why Not Your Baby?"

The 33 1/3 book on "Song Cycle" is superb. Just finished it and can't wait to read it again.― Lawanda Pageboy (Capitaine Jay Vee)

I am already reading it for a second time!:)

Oh I didn't know about this one. Who wrote it?

VDP's "list of collaborative work" is very accurate in that it meticulously records the exact, official credits he's received. It is inaccurate insofar as album credits are inaccurate. According to the official records, no, he did not.

I haven't read "Song Cycle" but I've started on the 33 1/3s again (on Nation right now, yay); I'll pick that one up.

xp that is, "no he did not arrange Dillard and Clark"

BTW, "Arrangements vol. 1" is *just* *great*. Love esp. the Sal Valentino tracks, the arrangements burn and twist like a distant anthill. Bonnie Raitt's "Wha' she go do".

yeah, it is great -- wonder when vol. 2 is coming?

Who wrote it?

The book about Song Cycle is by Richard Henderson

haha, was just looking for that ad. hilarious. though it sounds like small potatoes, even for back in the day? maybe not. dunno what that would be inflation-wise these days.

― tylerw, Friday, April 16, 2010 11:29 AM (1 year ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Looks like about $235,918.54 in 2010 dollars. A chunk of change!

got the 33 1/3 for Christmas and it is one of the better ones I've read from that series.

I love "Song Cycle" but yeah every time I try to play it for someone it becomes apparent just how weird it is. I think my favorite VDP song is "G-Man Hoover". Sad that youtube doesn't have a video i can embed...

Can anyone confirm/deny that Van Dyke Parks did the arrangements for Dillard and Clark's "Why Not Your Baby?"

― ghosttaster, Friday, April 13, 2012 7:34 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

would also like to know this. my favorite gene clark song btw.

He played piano with Clark in 1966 and would work with Dillard on the "Popeye" soundtrack, but he didn't arrange "Why not your baby", it's not on his CV and it doesn't sound like him

...but I can't find any info that suggests otherwise.

I'd read that he DID arrange it on his official website back when it had a list of his outside work... Strange.

Saying it doesn't sound like him is kinda weird, tho - everything the guy arranges doesn't have to sound like Song Cycle and it's possible they just told him to do the strings rather than the whole session, which sounds like a normal Dillard & Clark arrangement. But I don't know for sure, obviously.

The list from his old website isn't *official*-- it was compiled by a guy named Gerhard. Furthermore, it doesn't have the D&C song on it.

I could post the list, I saved it to disc, but it's long

I coulda sworn.... it was ridiculously long iirc, so I'll take your word for it.

http://www.kennedy-center.org/explorer/videos/?id=M4993&type=A

April 9th 1 hour live show streaming at Kennedy Center website

https://www.barbican.org.uk/music/event-detail.asp?ID=13395

i'm going to this! it was a bit more exciting when it was 'mystery special guests' rather than those two guys, but still, exciting!

Baaaaah why didn't I notice that show that sounds *amazing*

The horse's mouth has just confirmed that he did not write that arrangement but that he did dig Dillard & Clark the most.

the horse's mouth! van dyke is the cool uncle i wish i had.

pretty fabulous live thing here: http://www.npr.org/2012/05/07/152218499/van-dyke-parks-on-mountain-stage

I might be wrong but didn't he "creatively disown" 'Clang Of The Yankee Reaper'?

Seriously? I love that one.

yeah i think that's a cool record! haven't heard him say anything about it that I can recall.
for real, the npr show is really nice, everyone should listen to it.

Checking it out. Still sad I couldn't make it to his gig with a string trio in St Louis.
(I saw Mission of Burma at a local gig that night instead, so not complaining too much)
(except there were hardly enough people at the Burma gig)

Here's something I don't understand: why does Discover America, which is, sure, a covers album, why does it begin with somebody else's recording? On one hand I think it's rebellious and fun, and a nice 'tip of the hat' to the beginning of Vine Street (somebody else's song segueing into somebody else's song). But it confounds me that Track 1 is just, well, somebody else's record.

Because he's trying to educate the rest of us dullards in the world about Trinidadian music I would assume? Also it's a great track! One thing I've never understood about that album is why he credited the tracks written by Trinidadian artists to Van Dyke Parks, I know he explains in the sleevenotes that all royalties from the tracks went to the writers but why not list them? Was it a publishing thing?

Haven't listened to "Clang of the Yankee Reaper" in years, but I remember it being a bit too Trinidad and not enough VDP, apart from the title track... and "You're a Real Sweetheart". I can't imagine him disowning it though, why would he? I doubt he had record company pressure, he seems to have been able to record whenever and whatever he wants throughout his career... a rarity! (Post punk bores like me like to point out that "Clang of the Yankee Reaper" is one of the albums Mark Perry

... is posing with on the front cover of "The Image Has Cracked"

IIRC it's in the final pages of the Song Cycle 33 1/3 book, where he surveys the discography.

Ahh, I haven't read that one, oddly enough. Tom, your explanation makes sense, and I get that tune in my head All The Time.

so at my count, with these singles, VDP is at 11 songs. as a whole, it's seriously a GREAT album (if he'd put it out as such). as good as anything he's done! FOR REAL.

one of them is a solo re-do of "all golden" but it's awesome, so ...

Yes, these are all good. I like the packaging and the "available on iTunes or as a 7-inch" thing, he's a hip geezer.

yeah i've just bought the mp3s, tho the 7 inches look quite nice.

nice fall morning tripping to song cycle. i didn't know about these new singles, exciting!

Took a bit of work but I'm really enjoying Discover America now.

http://devonrecordclub.wordpress.com/2012/10/09/van-dyke-parks-discover-america-round-37-toms-selection/

i got some deluxe CD reissue of that at a used record store--but i can't find any trace of its having existed online. it's a legit european release, maybe it was recalled or only released in a limited edition or something.

anyway it is good but yeah it really takes some getting used to esp if you know many of the songs from other performances as i do.

I don't think I knew any of the original versions - certianly not well enough to recognise them - how different are they in terms of arrangement, performance? I'm assuming they probably didn't have orchestras, for a start, but VDP used stuff like steel drums on some of the tracks. How faithful are they, I guess?

VDP + Scott Walker = Bob Drake

I don't think those are Bob's parents really.

Uncles, perhaps.

arrangements are odder and more strident than originals in most cases, but VDP's voice is also very much an acquired taste. me, i haven't really acquired it per se, i just sort of put up w/ it. anyway arrangements + his singing give songs a kind of arch, vaguely ironic flair that at first kind of irritated me. but at some point on most of the songs the weirdness kind of gels at some point.

have folks heard his arrangement of that bonnie raitt calypso song. at some level it could probably be considered a horrid misstep--almost a kind of blackface routine, w/ ms raitt adopting an outsized patois and the arrangement cranking up the steel drum. but it kind of works. at least, it's interesting to hear her stretch out a bit.

I love that song "G-Man Hoover". So awesome. The vocals on it are so great, too.

Oh wait i said that already early this year.

Rat-ta-tat.....TAT
Rat-ta-tat.....TAT

http://bellaunion.com/2013/02/van-dyke-parks-to-release-songs-cycled-on-may-6th/

his new album Song Cycled is out on May 6. it's a collection of all his recent singles

er, Songs Cycled

i got that train-themed LP on record store day but have yet to listen to it.

It's pretty good!

i love it. super-cinematic

ugh, i need to get that, is it available still anywhere?
this ry cooder vid from 1970ish that VDP made is kind of great. http://bananastan.com/scrapbook.html#videos

also of importance
http://bananastan.com/lightbox2.03a/images/vdp_grace.jpg

http://images.ukfestivalguides.com/gallery_images/van-dyke-parks/van-dyke-parks_10.jpg

His business cards read, approximately:

Mr Van Dyke Parks
would like to apologize for his behaviour at this event
(312) etc.

L.A. not Chicago, sorry

hey tyler i'll sell it to you for $150 ;-)

"I spoke of my love for MacArthur,
The man, not the park in LA"

Got Songs Cycled yesterday, it's a weird one - there's an Esso Trinidad Steel Band track in there completely uncredited, it lifts stuff really unsubtly from his scores, but there's so much good stuff here and I wasn't able to shell out for the 7' series. The Parting Hand and Sassafrass are glorious, and throughout his arranging and production are amazing. <3 Van Dyke.

His lecture at Red Bull Academy on arranging

http://vimeo.com/66822387

this is sounding good. http://lareviewofbooks.org/article.php?type=&id=1895&fulltext=1
liners are great too.

ty!

New single, to mark anniversary of the JFK assassination: http://bellaunion.com/2013/11/van-dyke-parks-announces-limited-edition-7-single-im-history-bw-charm-school/

Just downloaded and it's pretty nice-sounding. A-side is one of the densest things he's done since "Song Cycle"; B-side is a "Clang of the Yankee Reaper"-style Caribbean instrumental.

new single sounds great -- the strings are really nicely recorded. van dyke is on a roll!

Discovered "Discover America" for the first time about two weeks ago and it's so good I'm kind of at a loss to describe it. VASTLY superior to Song Cycle (which I also like quite a bit). I immediately went out & tracked down copies of both the Esso Trinidad Steel Band album he produced, which is also very good, and Jump, which I'm still waiting on to be delivered COME ON.

Discover America is great...
Gotta be a tie between Cale's Academy In Peril, Parks' Discover America and Nitzsche's St Giles Cripplegate as the weirdest records Warner/Reprise ever put out in the early 70s.

Too right. St Giles Cripplegate sounds like it should be on Drag City circa 2002.

has anyone heard this kathy dalton (no, not karen dalton) LP

http://www.discogs.com/Kathy-Dalton-Boogie-Bands-One-Night-Stands/release/2553972

VDP arrangements. it's at the local store but I didn't pick it up (yet), not b/c it was expensive but b/c I have no room for more LPs :(

but if anyone says it's worth a listen I'll pick it up

i've only heard the title track, but i think the backing band is basically little feat so... you probably want it? the song i've heard is not very VDP iirc.

oh why did i not notice the little feat connection?

that's as good as bought, then

at this point I basically have a growing "stuff I bought in the last six months" box since there is no room on my proper shelves

sad

Does anybody know if there's a complete list of everything VDP's arranged/produced online somewhere?

I guess this'll work: http://www.allmusic.com/artist/van-dyke-parks-mn0000838241/credits

Trying to put together a Spotify playlist…

VAN DYKE PARKS aka "Everything's coming up Americana"

2002 one-two punch of silverchair and sixpence none the richer

Had no idea he worked with Toad the Wet Sprocket!

OK, I took a crack at the playlist: http://open.spotify.com/user/evankindley/playlist/16MCXuuEO643X6vm8DRGV7

I limited it to tracks where I could confirm significant VDP involvement, either as producer, arranger, composer, or sideman. Left out covers of "Sail On Sailor" and other Beach Boys songs.

There's a bunch of intriguing-looking stuff that isn't on Spotify (Syd Straw's "Surprise," Cher's "Stars," the 1973 Happy End album, Goldie Hawn's "Pitta Patta"). I might post a few YouTube links later to supplement this.

can you post the list here for those who don't use spotify?

(i'd like to use it, it just consistently hogs too much memory on my computer and often crashes)

Hmm, does anyone know a way to export Spotify playlist information into text? (It's 325 tracks right now, so it'd take a long time to type out!) I know how to do it on iTunes, but have never done it for Spotify before.

don't put too much time into this! :)

Too late…

Randomly: anyone know the German techno track that samples the intro/outro to "The All Golden"? Not the Madlib track.

Hadn't listened all that much to "Discover America" until last night. WOW.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJ8wH_O6Uzs

Really love the guitars in the first verse of this!

Went into this thread expecting it to be bumped because of this: https://twitter.com/thevandykeparks/status/568206586268684288

discover america is such a weird/wonderful record.

Mike Love once again rockin' that serial killer stare

the world wants to know: will van dyke be in the twin peaks reboot

has VDP been posting to the weirdos + Mike Love thread?

i see van subscribes to the theories of "seen and not seen"

That RBSA lecture is AMAZING. He really goes into depth about how he arranges.

gotta watch that. he is a fun speaker.
was just listening to the Byrds' 5D yesterday and imagining a world where VDP joined them instead of Gram Parsons.

"Maybe if you put some rhythm in your strings, a drummer can find some room to lay back and still be involved with great economy."

"Bring the heat of the street into the parlor to meet the elite"

Btw quickly paused this to peruse his wikipedia page, I had no idea he was offered spots in The Byrds and Crosby, Still, Nash, and Young! Someone really needs to write a biography on him.

huh, hadn't heard about the csn offer... can't really imagine what they were thinking!

not a biography, but the 33 1/3 on "song cycle" is a good one

That RBSA lecture is AMAZING. He really goes into depth about how he arranges.

― ©Oz Quiz© (Adam Bruneau), Wednesday, March 4, 2015 4:52 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

where can i view this??

http://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/lectures/van-dyke-parks

"The static in this batcave of bloggery" he has an amazing way with words.

someone ought to employ him as a lyricist!

my heart sings whenever i find some Song Cycle appreciation in the wild- http://pitchfork.com/thepitch/a-brief-history-of-prog-folk-fleet-foxes/

I listened to it for the first time in ages just the other day. It really is great

just listened to this 10 times in a row (got the Sundazed reissue of the single in Toronto the other day)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOmA3sS34ls

Can you imagine is VDP produced a whole album for Randy Newman that sounded like this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8xq7hhBipE

GODDAMN that is fucking great!!

the Harpers Bizarre cover is p sweet too, VDP plays keyboards on it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZmgGcZeayA

he is great on twitter

yeah his twitter is great. if you say anything about how he is under appreciated, his career was sabotaged, mike love is an asshole, or his brilliance knows no bounds, he will smash that fuckin fav & RT immediately. i like his "birthday" series.

Didn't know this

On Aug. 9, '69, just after 3:00 p.m, I rapped on the door at 10050 Cielo Dr., to visit Terry Melcher at home. He'd moved. On that front lawn I'd 1st met Brian. Sharon met me, clued me in. Asked if I wanted to come join her & her guests. Decent! I declined. pic.twitter.com/UTvtlbZtYB

— Van Dyke Parks (@thevandykeparks) November 21, 2017

Saw that as well. Yikes.

According to Karina Longworth on her Manson podcast, every Hollywood celeb of the time has a story about going to the Tate house or being invited that day. Makes me a bit sceptical about VDP.

i was yapping about vdp at a show recently and this dude came up and showed me his biz card

https://scontent.fsnc1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/23509069_10155771033790600_2409688217229193297_o.jpg?oh=7fd7c2035f17535994f7922665ed9bb8&oe=5A919AAB

ha yes!! i was just telling my friend about that business card
also recently converted another friend to the righteous ways of SONG CYCLE...
it is the gospel/disease I spread

Ah yeah I got given one of these when I met him. Totally forgot about that. Hope I still have it somewhere

's weird. I used to follow VDP on Twitter and he also followed me. Then he blocked me. I'll never know why. He's also the only person to block me on there. I still revere the man!

Maybe it was an accident?

he's been having a ball with puns on "he is not your run of the mill Alabama garden variety country fare" lately

lol fuck switch Alabama around

He wanted to look at the 16 mm copy of the Zapruder film I would show in slo-mo, trying to fathom what had actually happened when our brloved JFK got his head blown away in Dallas. I had the only copy in town. https://t.co/wmMh1hpIc6

— Van Dyke Parks (@thevandykeparks) December 9, 2018

Discover America is the Clear Spot to Song Cycle's Trout Mask Replica - don't ask me to choose a favourite.

Their paths intersect through the work of @thevandykeparks.

Here's a non-linear 17 hour tour of Van Dyke Parks' compositions, performances, productions, and arrangements:https://t.co/13ShAMJmmy

— Tim Gurczak (@TimGurczak) May 25, 2021