| | Van Dyke Parks Song Cycle CD Van Dyke Parks Discography of CDs
 (5 Customer Reviews)
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When this album was released in 1968 it stood apart from everything else--and still does today. This is not because SONG CYCLE was ahead of its time--rather, it belongs to another time and place, a parallel world that draws breath irrespective of calendar, clock, or map. Van Dyke Park's debut carries an apt and simple title. These dozen selections are of a piece, both because of their arrangement and their composition. Parks was already considered a talent to be reckoned with following his collaborative work with Brian Wilson, penning lyrics for The Beach Boys--evocative nuggets of seductive inscrutability. Here again the sounds and the lyrics dart in and around each other like poetic dancers. A song such as "The All Golden" has no clear antecedents. It's musical theater filtered through a hallucinogenic kaleidoscope. The whole work is rich with a sense of place. It feels quintessentially American, but of the sort that celebrates the strong individual voice. This is an album of singular vision and rare beauty.
Live Recording
Personnel includes: Van Dyke Parks (vocals); Ron Elliott (guitar); Nicolai Bolin, Vasil Crienica (balalaika); Misha Goodatieff (violin); Virginia Majewski (viola); Trefoni Rizz, Orville "Red" Rhodes (strings); Gayle Levant (harp); James Horn, Ted Nash (woodwinds); Carl Fortina (accordion); Richard Hyde, Thomas Shepard (brass); George Washington Brown (piano); James Gordon, Hal Blaine (percussion); Jack Glaser, El Supremo (sound effects); Gaile Parks, Durrie Parks (background vocals); Randy Newman, Tommy Tedesco, Ron Elliot, Tom Scott, Steve Young.
Uncut (p.110) - "Pursuing its own sense of pace and geography, SONG CYCLE is a musical travelogue billowing amid a Joycean stream-of-consciousness..."
The Wire (3/99, pp.62-63) - "...SONG CYCLE appeared...in the foaming wake of PET SOUNDS and SGT. PEPPER. Strange times and a very strange album, highly rated by many cognoscenti....A dense and glorious jungle of color, the arrangements on its short songs push the studio to its limits..."
Goldmine - Highly Recommended Van Dyke Parks Song Cycle Songs Song Cycle Music Review Average Rating: (4.6 out of 5 stars)   classic
think i've done this already. vdp is a genius and this is a classic. what more can i say? check out my reviews of Tokyo Rose, Discover America, Clang, and Jump.
Submitted by a reviewer (carmel, ca, usa) 
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No
a retro classic
guess you have to remember the 60's and 70's. Parks is a genius. phenomenal arrangements and orchestration. he said it all. time to listen again with what's going on in Iraq.
Submitted by a reviewer (carmel, CA, USA)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No An Artist's Artist
I first heard Song Cycle in '68 and purchased a copy from Warner Brothers for one cent (a promotional gimmick). A work of genius, this album has remained in my personal top ten for 40 years, along with "Pet Sounds", "Sgt. Pepper", "Revolver", and "The Who Sell Out". You should own this masterpiece.
Submitted by Ed (Seekonk, MA, USA)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No When pop music almost became classical
I have loved this album unreservedly for 35 years, so far, ever since 1968 when I heard it at a friend's house. I was 17 years old, the product of a rigorous classical music education. This is the first music I can remember liking that wasn't 100 years old, and no wonder. It is meticulously composed, diabolically clever stuff from start to finish. Anyone whose musical taste is the slightest bit evolved owes it to themselves to give it a spin. If you can't like it after a fair trial, then "you will know why hayseeds go back to the country."
Submitted by a reviewer (Seattle, WA)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No  Even in retrospect, I just don't know
inexplicably i was one of the few buyers of
This record in it's initial release, just to
have it disappear along this long way.
I thought it was, rather than eclectic, hyper
insular, a solipsistic exercise, and too
damn arty!
But it was fascinating. All over the place,
yet very much of one place and time.
In some ways it was like listening to an autistic Randy Newman.
The headline says it. If you like well arranged oddities from talented people, you might want to try it.
Submitted by spuzola (Middlesex)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No
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Purchase Song Cycle CD To buy, Click on price to add to cart | Best Of Ernest Ashworth CD (1991)
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The Cinderella-esque climb from lo-fi indie cult artist to Grammy nominee/major label darling must have been a perilous one for Smith, who makes the leap to the big time here after three well-regarded albums on small labels. He's lost none of his bite, though. The production values on XO may be slightly higher, but Smith's vision remains undiluted.
The production, centered around acoustic guitar augmented by keyboards and lush vocal harmonies, recalls pop icons like the Beach Boys (especially on the closing acapella cut), Beatles and Big Star, but this is no sunny Cali-pop album. Leavening the instrumental ...
| | Van Dyke Parks Jump! CD (1984)
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This wonderful 1984 album was Van Dyke Park's first release in nine years. He made up for the wait with a timeless set of interlocking songs that draw upon Joel Chandler's 19th Century (but timeless) UNCLE REMUS stories. JUMP! is full of surprising twists, turns, and charms and is as rich as anything Broadway was producing on the musical front. Parks' music rolls out like a parade through Anytown, USA--or, rather, like the emotional impressions and memories of such a parade.
Each song has its own distinct character and leaves an unforgettable ...
| | Van Dyke Parks Discover America CD (1972)
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Van Dyke Parks' DISCOVER AMERICA came four years after his audacious debut. Where SONG CYCLE created its own orchestral tapestry of poetic and hallucinogenic Americana, its successor adopted Caribbean styles. Far from leaving the USA behind, however, this record is a series of glimpses into the social, cultural and political headlines from the first half of the twentieth century in America. Herein are celebrations of the Mills Brother, Franklin Roosevelt, Jack Palance, and Bing Crosby.
Parks' interest in Trinidadian steel-drum bands was given full flower (he also produced an album by the Esso Trinidad Steel Band around this same time), and their color ...
| | Arcade Fire Funeral CD (2004)
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Favorably compared to the Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev, and Broken Social Scene, the Arcade Fire's sound seems to come from a lifetime of listening to the Cure, Talking Heads, Elvis Costello, and many others--even a dose of soul gets worked into these grand anthems. Chassagne delivers some spellbinding vocals on "Haiti," while the tinkling piano and strings on "Crown of Love" conjure up a heartbroken surfside prom. In 2004, this made many critics' year-end lists, and it's no wonder--the songs on FUNERAL are so packed with unique instrumentation, mesmerizing build-ups, ...
| | Brian Wilson Smile CD (2004)
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Between 1967 and 2004, the SMILE sessions were pretty much the Dead Sea Scrolls of pop music. Well documented as head Beach Boy Brian Wilson's answer to the Beatles' masterpiece SGT. PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND (which was itself largely an answer to the Beach Boys' PET SOUNDS), the tracks laid down in '67 for the projected SMILE album were the furthest afield anyone nominally operating under the pop/rock umbrella had ever ventured. Notoriously, intraband conflict (Mike Love, in particular, found the Wilson/Van Dyke Parks-penned conceptual work too far out) kept the record from being released. With several oceans' worth of water under the bridge, Wilson finally decided to finish the aborted project three-and-a-half decades later, adhering closely to the original blueprints. The results are as timelessly breathtaking as the original version must have been to the lucky few who first heard the initial tapes.
With sterling support from his backing band the Wondermints, Wilson meticulously pieced together the conceptual, orchestral puzzle of SMILE into a rewarding, cohesive whole. Even decades down the line, it still sounds ...
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Chad Supreme Records would like to say thanks to the One and Only God Almighty for the inspiration that this CD has given to us and to others. Sherell Rosegreen is one of many artists to record for Chad Supreme and has performed this CD with the star quality perfection that will rival any other artist. Chad Supreme has inspired many artists, some well-known and some not, to achieve a higher level of musical understanding and given opportunities to many to showcase a variety of talents and music genres. We have some of the very best in quality and quantity of musical beats and rhythms that are sure to please any style. We take great pride in our worksmanship, and we invite the general public to access our many CDs and songs that have required much time and patience to produce in order to obtain the sound quality that we possess. Bernard Hall (producer) has the dubious distinction of being one of the first sound technicians for the Reggae Sunsplash Festival in Jamaica. He is from Kingston and has worked with and written lyrics and beats for some of the best in the music business. Over the years the culmination of his work has included ...
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Recorded between 1990 & 1996.
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