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$15.99 CD
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VAN DYKE PARKS
Songs Cycled
(Bella Union)
 "The Parting Hand"
"Wedding in Madagascar"
Give respect to this man, for he is an American icon who has spent more time in the peripheries than he has in the deserved glow of known recognition and admiration. Known predominantly for his infamous work with Brian Wilson on SMiLE, the Beach Boys' masterful epic of psychedelic Americana, and perhaps also for his work as an arranger and producer for artists from Randy Newman and Harry Nilsson to Haruomi Hosono and Joanna Newsom, Van Dyke Parks has also recorded some of the most beautiful, witty, and thought-provoking albums of American song form in the pop age. His records are often brushed aside more as novelties or curious objects due to their density in both lyrical and musical content; his lyrics are tapestries of intricately woven puns, oblique historical references, and complex rhyme schemes, with the music displaying an equal diversity in its references, rhythms, and instrumental textures.
Songs Cycled is Parks's first album of predominantly new material since 1995's Orange Crate Art, made in collaboration with Brian Wilson. It is essentially a compilation of the singles Parks quietly released via his Bananastan label in 2011 and 2012, sequenced masterfully into what is a gorgeous and perfect summation of the man's remarkable career. The album's titular reference to his debut full-length, Song Cycle, is no accident, either, as the record's lush, breathtaking production and arrangements drift through widescreen vistas of orchestral strings and brass, gentle tropical rhythms, clouds of Caribbean steel pan bands, as well as hefty doses of the vintage Americana that Parks so loves, fusing together back porch blues, Zydeco, ragtime, and even a bit of European classical music into the same dizzying wonderland that Parks first dreamed up back in 1968.
What sets this apart from being a mere sequel to that classic album, though, are his brilliant lyrics, here telling complex tales of an America that is infinitely more complex and screwed up than the freewheeling 1960s; everything from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the post-9/11 financial crisis, the bombing of Baghdad, and the Prestige oil spill are all interpreted through Parks's unique vision. The results are never less than gripping, and the wisdom and perspective that he's gained at age 70 gives these songs an emotional anchor that was hard to approximate in his earlier work. He even revisits Song Cycle's classic "The All Golden" in a beautiful, stripped-down arrangement for just voice, piano, and accordion, and it's touching to hear the gentle weariness in Parks's voice as he revisits the song's lyrics.
At risk of sounding somewhat hyperbolic, I say without hesitation that this is, to my ears, one of the year's most beautiful, accomplished, and best records. Parks has said that this is likely to be his last album, as he is reaching an endgame of sorts both physically and financially to continue such activities to his liking. If this unfortunate news is to be true, I'm pleased to say that this giant of American song craft is going out on top. My recommendations don't get any higher for this one, folks. [IQ] |
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