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Van Dyke Parks' Song Cycle
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 145

Van Dyke Parks' Song Cycle

Posing more riddles than the average sphinx, with its decipherable answers pointing somewhere dark, Song Cycle was anything but passive. I had already witnessed hippie bands playing with their backs to the hall, so the thought of late '60s musicians being interested in their audience struck me as a concept bordering on revolutionary. The debut album from songwriter and pianist Van Dyke Parks, Song Cycle first appeared in 1968 on Warner Brothers Records. Its twelve songs led listeners through Joycean wordplay and sound collages to reveal messages of dissent and personal loss, at odds with Parks' buoyant, riotously eclectic music. Monumentally ambitious and equally expensive, Song Cycle resembled a film - possibly Citizen Kane - more than the pop music of its day; like Kane, Parks' masterwork was adored by critics yet all but ignored by paying customers. In his efforts to plumb the mysteries of this quixotic record and its subsequent fate, Richard Henderson interviews several of the key figures involved with Song Cycle, notably Parks himself and producer Lenny Waronker.

Reading Smile
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 262

Reading Smile

  • Type: Book
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  • Published: 2021-05-31
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  • Publisher: Routledge

First conceived in 1966 but only completed in 2004, Brian Wilson Presents Smile has been called "the best-known unreleased album in pop music history" and "an American Sergeant Pepper." Reading Smile offers a close analysis of the recording in its social, cultural and historical contexts. It focuses in particular on the finished work’s subject matter as embodied in Van Dyke Parks’ contentious yet little understood lyrics, with their low-resolution, highly allusive portrayals of western expansion’s archetypes, from Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts to Diamond Head, Hawaii. Documenting their multiple references and connotations, it argues that their invocations of national self-definition are...

Jump!
  • Language: en

Jump!

A retelling of five folktales in which crafty Brer Rabbit tries to outsmart all the other creatures in the animal community.

Jump!
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 56

Jump!

A retelling of five folktales in which crafty Brer Rabbit tries to outsmart all the other creatures in the animal community.

The Oxford American Book of Great Music Writing
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 456

The Oxford American Book of Great Music Writing

Not only have a breathtaking array of musical giants come from the South—think Elvis Presley, Robert Johnson, Louis Armstrong, Jimmie Rodgers, to name just obvious examples—but so have a breathtaking array of American music genres. From blues to rock & roll to jazz to country to bluegrass—and areas in between—it all started in the American South. Since its debut in 1996, The Oxford American's more-or-less annual Southern Music Issue has become legendary for its passionate and wide-ranging approach to music and for working with some of America's greatest writers. These writers—from Peter Guralnick to Nick Tosches to Susan Straight to William Gay—probe the lives and legacies of Southern musicians you may or may not yet be familiar with, but whom you'll love being introduced, or reintroduced, to. In one creative, fresh way or another, these writers also uncover the essence of music—and why music has such power over us. To celebrate ten years of Southern music issues, most of which are sold-out or very hard to find, the fifty-five essays collected in this dynamic, wide-ranging, and vast anthology appeal to both music fans and fans of great writing.

Reading Smile
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 232

Reading Smile

  • Type: Book
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  • Published: 2021-06-18
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  • Publisher: Routledge

First conceived in 1966 but only completed in 2004, Brian Wilson Presents Smile has been called "the best-known unreleased album in pop music history" and "an American Sergeant Pepper." Reading Smile offers a close analysis of the recording in its social, cultural and historical contexts. It focuses in particular on the finished work's subject matter as embodied in Van Dyke Parks' contentious yet little understood lyrics, with their low-resolution, highly allusive portrayals of western expansion's archetypes, from Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts to Diamond Head, Hawaii. Documenting their multiple references and connotations, it argues that their invocations of national self-definition are part ...

Palm Desert
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 100

Palm Desert

  • Categories: Art

This book grew out of a simple packaging design for an audio CD. It is a tribute to a near mythical figure in the world of American music, Van Dyke Parks, whose prolific career produced six solo albums, numerous movie scores, children's books and uncounted credits as a session musician, lyricist, producer and arranger. In 1998 Rudy VanderLans took a trip to Palm Desert where Van Dyke Parks is said to have written most of the material for his legendary 1968 album, Song Cycle. The trip resulted in hundreds of photographs which Rudy VanderLans says were inspired as much by this remarkable musician's lyrics as by his own impressions. The 68 images published strive to echo Van Dyke's creative approach of blending classical, historical, vernacular, experimental, political and experiential themes.

Jump Again!
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 52

Jump Again!

A fascinating and fun collection of Brer Rabbit with superb illustrations by Barry Moser.

Van Dyke Parks' Song Cycle
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 146

Van Dyke Parks' Song Cycle

  • Type: Book
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  • Published: 2010-06-03
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  • Publisher: A&C Black

An intelligent take on a classic left-field album from the late 1960s, including original interviews with all the key players including Van Dyke Parks. >

Smile: The Story of Brian Wilson's Lost Masterpiece
  • Language: en
  • Pages: 256

Smile: The Story of Brian Wilson's Lost Masterpiece

Smile has become one of the most unavoidable legends of rock'n'roll folklore, and in this searching examination Domenic Priore presents the true story behind the album's 40-year conception. Work on Smile began hot on the heels of the ground-breaking Pet Sounds, when Brian Wilson collaborated with Van Dyke Parks to create a 'musical story of America'. However, production would famously collapse under a tide of internal fighting, record business chicanery and Brian's own health problems. In this unique account, Domenic Priore interviews all the main players and documents every aspect of the Smile experience, from its troubled inception to Wilson's brave attempt to finish what he started in 2005. The book includes detailed accounts of studio work, the triumphant live shows in Europe and the US, and a host of exclusive photos from photographer Guy Webster.