Van Dyke Parks' Song Cycle

Front Cover
A&C Black, Jun 3, 2010 - Music - 142 pages

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.

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Selected pages

Contents

Acknowledgments
6
Photo credits
10
Introduction
13
I Came West Unto Hollywood
31
Dreams Are Stillborn In Hollywood
45
Lets Assume That We Form A Company
54
Song Cycle
61
Bruce Botnick on Song Cycle and Van Dyke Parks
94
To Market To Buy
105
Constant Commentary By The Wayside
118
What Is Up The Canyon Will Eventually Come Down
125
Time Is Not The Main Thought
129
That Brought Us Coots To Hoot
136
Postscript Lenny Waronker producer
138
Bibliography
140
Copyright

Enveloped
98

Other editions - View all

Van Dyke Parks' Song Cycle
Richard Henderson
Limited preview - 2010
Van Dyke Parks' Song Cycle
Richard Henderson
No preview available - 2010

Common terms and phrases

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About the author (2010)

Richard Henderson is a writer, music editor and occasional music supervisor for feature films. Born in Detroit, he leads a nomadic existence in California. His film credits include "Bruno," "Borat," "Into The Wild" and "The Life Aquatic"; his writing has appeared in "The Wire," "Billboard," "The Beat" and "Murder Dog."

Bibliographic information

TitleVan Dyke Parks' Song Cycle
Volume 74 of 33 1/3
AuthorRichard Henderson
Editionillustrated, reprint
PublisherA&C Black, 2010
ISBN0826429173, 9780826429179
Length142 pages
Subjects › 

Music / History & Criticism
  
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