Jim O'Rourke has referred to Song Cycle as his Holy Grail, but I haven't heard much of O'Rourke's solo work. Where is this influence most evident?
I strongly suspect that Avey Tare & Panda Bear are familiar with the album. Some of the swirly production and oddly paced vocals on Spirit They’re Gone, Spirit They’ve Vanished bring Song Cycle to mind.
Also, the first time I heard something by Dose One and Boom Bip I was strangely reminded of Parks's masterpiece.
― Marcus Barr (Marcus Barr), Tuesday, 7 October 2003 03:19 (twenty-two years ago)
― gygax! (gygax!), Tuesday, 7 October 2003 03:28 (twenty-two years ago)
― Annouschka Magnatech (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 7 October 2003 03:35 (twenty-two years ago)
― the surface noise (electricsound), Tuesday, 7 October 2003 03:38 (twenty-two years ago)
― JasonD (JasonD), Tuesday, 7 October 2003 03:44 (twenty-two years ago)
― Annouschka Magnatech (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 7 October 2003 03:45 (twenty-two years ago)
― Annouschka Magnatech (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 7 October 2003 03:46 (twenty-two years ago)
― Annouschka Magnatech (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 7 October 2003 03:49 (twenty-two years ago)
― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Tuesday, 7 October 2003 04:13 (twenty-two years ago)
― Annouschka Magnatech (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 7 October 2003 04:16 (twenty-two years ago)
well then, he clearly had an influence on it ;-)
― JasonD (JasonD), Tuesday, 7 October 2003 04:22 (twenty-two years ago)
"DON'T FUCK WITH THE FORMULA!!!"
― gygax! (gygax!), Tuesday, 7 October 2003 04:27 (twenty-two years ago)
"everything with an emphasis on orchestration over songwriting"
I see where you're coming from with this to an extent, but do you feel the orchestration supersedes the songwriting on Song Cycle? I don't. Show your love or hate for your fellow Melbourner, Phil Judd. (See my thread:)
"wasn't parks' involvement in smile solely as a lyricist?"
Yes, but some of the arrangement ideas, the instrumentation, and Americana flourishes have Parks's stamp on them.
"momus is influenced by this album... he just doesn't know it."
I agree, and Momus's Holy Grail is The Incredible String Band's The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter, but he doesn't know it yet.
― Marcus Barr (Marcus Barr), Tuesday, 7 October 2003 04:38 (twenty-two years ago)
― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 7 October 2003 06:47 (twenty-two years ago)
― Tom (Groke), Tuesday, 7 October 2003 07:34 (twenty-two years ago)
― Tom (Groke), Tuesday, 7 October 2003 07:42 (twenty-two years ago)
― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 7 October 2003 10:37 (twenty-two years ago)
― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 7 October 2003 10:47 (twenty-two years ago)
― charltonlido (gareth), Tuesday, 7 October 2003 11:08 (twenty-two years ago)
― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 7 October 2003 11:16 (twenty-two years ago)
― Chuck Tatum (Chuck Tatum), Tuesday, 7 October 2003 14:41 (twenty-two years ago)
― Andrew L (Andrew L), Tuesday, 7 October 2003 18:54 (twenty-two years ago)
― hstencil, Tuesday, 7 October 2003 19:04 (twenty-two years ago)
agreed... I think maybe people are thinking of newman's debut which was produced by parks
I respect parks but would never listen to it for fun, it feels like doing one of those really hard cryptic crossword puzzles or something - way too much work for the pay-off. i can see how song-writery types would dig it more for the same reasons
― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Tuesday, 7 October 2003 19:16 (twenty-two years ago)
― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 7 October 2003 20:12 (twenty-two years ago)
― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 7 October 2003 20:13 (twenty-two years ago)
I respect parks but would never listen to it for fun, it feels like doing one of those really hard cryptic crossword puzzles or something.
Heh, last time I listened to it, it was a Sunday and I was doing the Times crossword (which is also fun!).
― hstencil, Tuesday, 7 October 2003 20:24 (twenty-two years ago)
― hstencil, Tuesday, 7 October 2003 20:27 (twenty-two years ago)
― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Tuesday, 7 October 2003 20:53 (twenty-two years ago)
― dog latin (dog latin), Tuesday, 7 October 2003 21:12 (twenty-two years ago)
"1962 found [Van Dyke] Parks and his older brother, Carson, playing guitar, raquinto and Indian harp in various California coffee houses. (He became proficient enough on raquinto to subsequently perform with Los Tres Ases at the Mexican Pavilion at the 1964-65 World's Fair in New York.)
"'I was playing boleros--Mexican love songs from the '30s and '40s. All the girls looked like Rickie Lee Jones. They wore fishnet stockings. We were discussing Marx and the Industrial Revolution.' (VDP, e-mail to the author, 3.27.97)"
― Annouschka Magnatech (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 8 October 2003 01:37 (twenty-two years ago)
― Dadaismus (Dada), Wednesday, 8 October 2003 10:40 (twenty-two years ago)
Yup, yup, yup Tom.
Also, I get the VDP feeling on listening to stuff like DJ Shadow or Kid Koala. In that I am pretty certain VDP would be layering piles of samples if he was born later - its that onion-like feeling I get listening to Song Cycle, peel off a layer of Mahler and you'll get Woody Guthrie and Dylan and then earlier Beach Boys then Bernard Herrman etc etc etc.
Although this might be because I've been reviewing Kid Koala's new one today...
― Jim Robinson (Original Miscreant), Wednesday, 8 October 2003 19:01 (twenty-two years ago)
― Andrew L (Andrew L), Wednesday, 8 October 2003 19:48 (twenty-two years ago)
You realize he's done quite a bit of acting in his life right?
― gygax! (gygax!), Wednesday, 8 October 2003 21:14 (twenty-two years ago)
― Dadaismus (Dada), Thursday, 9 October 2003 09:48 (twenty-two years ago)
this is quite interesting, as they do 'sample' "Canto a Veracruz" for Song Cycle.
― beta, Thursday, 9 October 2003 12:58 (twenty-two years ago)
― Dadaismus (Dada), Thursday, 9 October 2003 13:09 (twenty-two years ago)
― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Thursday, 9 October 2003 20:24 (twenty-two years ago)
― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Thursday, 9 October 2003 20:25 (twenty-two years ago)
― joan vich (joan vich), Thursday, 20 November 2003 13:27 (twenty-two years ago)
In order:
1. Song Cycle2. Discover America3. Jump!4. Tokyo Rose5. Clang of the Yankee Reaper6. Orange Crate Art
Actually, only the first two are essential. Didn't he do a live album recently?
― Dadaismus (Dada), Thursday, 20 November 2003 13:35 (twenty-two years ago)
― Marcello Carlin, Thursday, 20 November 2003 13:39 (twenty-two years ago)
Wow, I was just about to post this, I can't believe someone else did.
― dleone (dleone), Thursday, 20 November 2003 13:41 (twenty-two years ago)
― Dadaismus (Dada), Thursday, 20 November 2003 13:42 (twenty-two years ago)
― Marcello Carlin, Thursday, 20 November 2003 13:47 (twenty-two years ago)
― Dadaismus (Dada), Thursday, 20 November 2003 13:55 (twenty-two years ago)
― Jay Kid (Jay K), Thursday, 20 November 2003 13:59 (twenty-two years ago)
― Beta (abeta), Thursday, 20 November 2003 15:07 (twenty-two years ago)
i somewhat prefer "discover america" but i love them both - total masterpieces.
and my favorite david ackles song is the one about the veteran who gives pornography to children at the candy store. amazing.
― j fail (cenotaph), Thursday, 20 November 2003 17:35 (twenty-two years ago)
You learn something new every day.
― Broheems (diamond), Thursday, 20 November 2003 18:16 (twenty-two years ago)
Teh only songs on it that I feel like listening to right now though are "Palm Desert" and "Laurel Canyon."
― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Monday, 14 March 2005 07:55 (twenty years ago)
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Monday, 14 March 2005 10:53 (twenty years ago)
i HATED this album the first few times i heard it, and then one day it just clicked, and now i absolutely adore it.
my question: are there any other VDP albums worth checking out?
― The JaXoN 5 (JasonD), Monday, 14 March 2005 17:53 (twenty years ago)
― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Monday, 14 March 2005 19:04 (twenty years ago)
― edd s hurt (ddduncan), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 02:26 (twenty years ago)
― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 06:37 (twenty years ago)
― Drew Daniel (Drew Daniel), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 07:19 (twenty years ago)
― Mr. Snrub, Saturday, 24 March 2007 00:50 (eighteen years ago)
― Moodles, Saturday, 24 March 2007 03:05 (eighteen years ago)
― Tom D., Saturday, 24 March 2007 12:03 (eighteen years ago)
― QuantumNoise, Saturday, 24 March 2007 13:44 (eighteen years ago)
― Moodles, Saturday, 24 March 2007 16:04 (eighteen years ago)
― scott seward, Saturday, 24 March 2007 16:29 (eighteen years ago)
― M.V., Saturday, 24 March 2007 17:33 (eighteen years ago)
― I know, right?, Saturday, 24 March 2007 18:28 (eighteen years ago)
― I know, right?, Saturday, 24 March 2007 18:43 (eighteen years ago)
― Mr. Snrub, Saturday, 24 March 2007 20:29 (eighteen years ago)
― I know, right?, Saturday, 24 March 2007 20:34 (eighteen years ago)
― QuantumNoise, Tuesday, 27 March 2007 13:13 (eighteen years ago)
― QuantumNoise, Tuesday, 27 March 2007 13:15 (eighteen years ago)
This album is so fucking awesome. Listening to it now, watching the sunset that will eventually just turn into a sunrise without the night in between. I think of how it begins with Vine St. and the curtain being pulled back, like a flashback. Also, the echo. How the whole album is placeless, a mess of signifiers with no dot that says "you are here." The words he uses, the juxtapositions, the way they accumulate and then break with just the way he sings on the Attic "And then I came to see in baggage the memories of truncated souvenirs. The war years. High moon"
― plax (ico), Monday, 21 June 2010 22:40 (fifteen years ago)
also, what a fox
http://vandykeparks.com/images/VDPchair.JPG
― plax (ico), Monday, 21 June 2010 22:51 (fifteen years ago)
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r206/craigfraid/Brer_Fox_in_a_Disney_park.jpg
― Don't Make Me A Burrito (Craig D.), Tuesday, 22 June 2010 00:03 (fifteen years ago)
i think today was probably the first time ["a little touch of schmilsson in the night"] actually like clicked with me'. never really realized how much this album sounds like van dyke parks' "song cycle" (which i just got the 33 1/3 book for. super stoked to start reading it)― jaxon, Saturday, June 19, 2010 7:05 PM (3 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
― jaxon, Saturday, June 19, 2010 7:05 PM (3 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
― jaxon, Tuesday, 22 June 2010 04:27 (fifteen years ago)
My mind was blown when I found out that VDP did the music for the Brave Little Toaster movie. Funny that Randy Newman is listed upthread as someone who took Parks as an influence because Pixar would later hire Newman (and plenty of future Pixar people worked on Brave Little Toaster)
― Cunga, Tuesday, 22 June 2010 04:47 (fifteen years ago)
Taking sides: Van Dyke Parks's music in Brave Little Toaster v.s. Glen Campbell's songs in Rock-A-Doodle v.s. Randy Newman's work in Pixar
― Cunga, Tuesday, 22 June 2010 04:49 (fifteen years ago)
I'm not sure about "clearly" because it could be a case of someone having similar influences to those that influenced VDP in the first place. But...
Pill Wonder the 3 O'ClockAriel PinkAnimal Collective
...maybe?
― ImprovSpirit, Tuesday, 22 June 2010 18:12 (fifteen years ago)
Interesting, picked up the recent remasters of a couple of VDP lps recently so was wondering what the story was on Song Cycle's influence. If anybody got anything more coherent from taking it as an influence since it seems to kaleidoscopically change instead of getting into a groove or staying with the same thought and developing it. & I thought of James O'Rourke who is mentioned at the beginning of the thread.
Nice lp Song Cycle but it does seem to task some people that it doesn't really develop anything in a coherent way. Does seem to be a collection of snapshots or something though.
― Stevolende, Sunday, 29 September 2013 18:57 (twelve years ago)
just watched this short video about the album. http://vimeo.com/44236360
― tylerw, Sunday, 29 September 2013 19:17 (twelve years ago)
o'rourke said song cycle is his favorite album right after he released bad timing. abstract as those four camoufleur-era suites are i always think of them more than eureka vis a vis song cycle
― reggie (qualmsley), Sunday, 29 September 2013 19:45 (twelve years ago)
Of Montreal songs tend to have the kind of schizophrenic arrangements you find throughout Song Cycle.
― Emperor Cos Dashit (Adam Bruneau), Monday, 30 September 2013 23:46 (twelve years ago)
this is quite interesting, as they do 'sample' "Canto a Veracruz" for Song Cycle.― beta, Thursday, October 9, 2003 8:58 AM (thirteen years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― beta, Thursday, October 9, 2003 8:58 AM (thirteen years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
holy shit, just discovered this song is the basis of "Public Domain"
― flappy bird, Monday, 9 January 2017 06:22 (eight years ago)
Yes, and I always thought it sounded Irish before I found that out.
― Eats like Elvis, shits like De Niro (Tom D.), Monday, 9 January 2017 08:41 (eight years ago)
I wish there was a compendium of the references in Song Cycle and its intertextuality. Richard Henderson's 33 1/3 book is great but it could be ~600 pages longer.
― flappy bird, Monday, 9 January 2017 17:41 (eight years ago)