VAN DYKE PARKS appreciation thread...

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