Van Dyke Parks' "Song Cycle" (Vinyl)

As I mentioned in an earlier blog http://tamtambooks-tosh.blogspot.com/2012/11/richard-hendersons-song-cycle-book.html Van Dyke Parks' "Song Cycle" is probably one of the weirdest albums I have ever heard -and one that I keep coming back to.  I must have bought and sold this album so many times, because it was always a record that goes over my head.  And believe me, I like a lot of strange albums, but this one really 'huh' for me.  And its not Parks doing, it is me getting my head wrapped around the album.  And now, today I once again bought "Song Cycle" on vinyl.  Which I think is the best format for this album because you really have to sit in front of the speakers and put the volume up.

As anyone who follows my blogs, knows that I am a mega-Scott Walker fan.  And today, it dawn on me that there is a tad of the Scott Walker feeling in this record.  Scott always uses historical information but relayed in a very poetic and some times shocking juxtaposition.   Van Dyke does the same for "Song Cycle" as well.

The lyrics are poetic, abstract, but deals with images of early Southern California.  Randy Newman's "Vine Street, is an odd cover because it sounds like a Van Dyke song - but saying that it strikes one as a weird song for a musical - in fact this whole album has a visual sense that maybe it can work as a theatrical piece.  But then again, listening to it brings images to the head - so maybe that is not necessary.  

The arrangements are off-the-wall, but one thing comes clear to me is that this is very much a work by an American.  It has roots in the avant-garde, but also rooted in a mixture of Southern California and slightly Southern gothic sensibility.  Bruce Botnick, who I believed worked with the Doors, is credited as doing 'Stereo & Monaural compositons,' which means he worked with the material and perhaps added the sound affects and echos that comes up on this album in the most unexpected moments.  In many ways its a Looney Tunes cartoon but written by a visionary - and Van Dyke Parks is truly an original recording artist.  1968, what was in the drinking water?

Richard Henderson's "Song Cycle" A book about Van Dyke Parks' masterpiece album

For years i have purchased and sold back my various copies of Van Dyke Parks' "Song Cycle."   There are albums one gets right away, and then there are others that are a total head scratcher.   And for me, "Song Cycles" is an album to this day I don't have an understanding of it.  Yet I keep downloading/buying this album.   Mostly due to friends who swear to this album, but also there are sounds on this record that doesn't leave me.   It is so eccentric, and believe me I own and love a lot of 'strange' recordings.  But "Song Cycle" is like listening to someone's inner thoughts that are not connected to other thoughts.

Richard Henderson's short book (part of the great 33 1/3 series) on "Song Cycle"  and its making is an essential text to this weirdo album.  One of the great things about the book is that it doesn't expose the mystery - because this is a recording that you are going to get or not get.  And with frustration I have been stuck on the fork on the road where I don't know which avenue to take.  

So in a nutshell for reasons I don't fully understand this album is quite remarkable, and its nice to have Henderson's text exploring "Song Cycle's" themes and early Americana, which to me, makes the U.S. a foreign world.  Also it is great that something that was recorded 40 years ago is still a puzzle to the ears.  I sense many future listenings to this particular sound known as "Song Cycle."


Van Dyke Parks' "Song Cycle"


Interview with Van Dyke Parks