Song Cycle by Van Dyke Parks

Song Cycle

Available from Amazon
Usually ships in 24 hours

Song Cycle

Features

Audio CD (May 18, 1990)

Number of Discs: 1

Label: Warner Bros / Ada

Catalog Number: 25856

Reader Reviews
Van Dyke Parks did the arrangements on Sam Phillips's debut 'The Indescribable Wow', an album I love so much I thought I'd give 'Song Cycle' a shot. What a feeerocious disappointment! I'd give it zero stars if I could, but amazon wouldn't let me! My god, that singing voice of his reminds me of David Bowie... "The Laughing Gnome" Bowie, that is... I've seen the word "coy" pop up in a lot of reviews to describe his singing, er, style, but I'll go them all one better... "smug". All I hear in it is "Ooh, I'm so smart. What a clever lad am I." The arrangements or orchestrations, or whatever you call them are all pointless. It gives me the feeling that Van's dad bought him an orchestra and said, "Here, son, have fun." So young Van did... without ever really learning how to use it properly. Randy Newman KNOWS how to use an orchestra; check out his best album 'Sail Away'. The arrangements are tasteful and, key word here, SPARE. He never clubs us over the head with them. The lyrics, if we can call them such, have no attachment whatsoever to the music.... but then again since I wrote that the arrangments are pointless I guess it's to be expected. So, what we have is a trifecta of awfulness: bad voice, bad lyrics, and bad music. HOWEVER, he did make 'Song Cycle' in 1968 and worked on 'The Indescribable Wow' in 1988... so he did learn a thing or two in 20 years, namely that arrangements are NOT songs; they're used to highlight a certain verse or chorus the singer really wants to put across to the listener... maybe Randy pulled him aside once to tell him that...

Back To Top