Van Dyke Parks has produced Phil Ochs, written for the Beach Boys, arranged for Joanna Newsom, acted onTwin Peaks, written children's books, and has a CV so long and spectacular a mere glimpse of it will make you pack your bags and leave town or get right to work. His first album, Song Cycle is still on record for being one of the most expensive albums ever produced, but it also holds up as a contender for one of the greatest albums ever made. The record's influence has slowly seeped through the popular conscious, influencing people like Newsom and Jim O'Rourke, who said: "Everyone I know who loves [Song Cycle], myself included, finds a new association, a new layer, a new lyrical twist every time. A richer album you can not find." But the rest of Van Dyke Parks' discography is a treat as well. He performed earlier this year at the Primavera Sound festival, and will be embarking on a short tour of the United States with Clare and the Reasons next month. WFMU broadcasted the performance from Primavera, and it's available here for streaming (original BWOB post on performance is here). I interviewed Van Dyke via email.
How was your experience playing at Primavera Sound?
I was honored to be included in the ranks with such present tense groups such as Grizzly Bear. It makes me feel my work has a shelf life longer than a jar of Yogurt.
Is it strange to play to a predominately younger audience who may not be familiar with the kind of music that you play, or have you found that your music has resonated with crowds of all ages?
I think the present youth audience has really been subjected to wild experimentation in the song form (witness Joanna Newsom or Silverchair, for both of whom I've arranged)---they seem ready for anything I can throw at them.
It seems that the members of an audience at a festival like Primavera Sound who were not too familiar with your work would know you best as the person who crafted the string arrangements behind Joanna Newsom's Ys record. How do you feel about that record being an introduction to your work for many young listeners?
I feel such artists today have taken song writing to such imaginative heights. Likewise, my work has always attempted to take the listener outta the Bachs (pun intended).
I've heard Newsom quote Song Cycle as a big influence on her record, but I don't think that influence is heard strongly on her album.
I believe Joanna took courage from my license to kill (dogma!). Courage is contagious. That's a good thing.
I was watching an interview you did for a Dutch website, in which you said you approach listening to music with a "world beat sensibility." Are there any artists you have heard recently that have particularly interested you? Do you listen to a lot of music around the house?
I obsess on Fado. Likewise, I have a jones for Pan Am music. My world is Spanglish. Great melodies and compelling rhythms, with "real" roots that dig back into Africa---a sense of tradition in new works gives me something to chew on...and beats the navel-gazing pop-star pap I find so boring. Beautiful People with the Blues,nursing their "First World" problems seem so Narcissistic and hung up.
I go to third-world Africa and traditional Euro music to find emotional force. My favorite singer/songwriter alive today is Paolo Conte (his retro disc on Nonesuch, Reveries shows why.) Of course, as a genre, Calypso is still tops (David Rudder, from Trinidad is the main man in this form).
Has your approach to writing and producing music changed much since you first started? Your resume lists a varied group of artists, everyone from U2 to The Byrds. Has it been difficult working with such different people, or is that more of a welcomed challenge?
I like everything that speaks from the heart. I have few musical prejudices--- but Rap and Hip Hop are like Ear Candy to me....lots of snap crackle and pop, but it doesn't stick to the ribs--- there's not much to remember, without a nourishing melody.
With this idea of collaborating with other artists, are there any people who you have dreamed of working with and have never gotten around to?
Too many for this space. Like all else that's good in life.... so many attractions, so little time....
Do you have any advice for budding songwriters?
Yeah---reach high---pursue your madness---reserve the right to fail,and learn from your failures---or you'll never reach any heights. An audience will eventually gather around you, if you're true to yourself.
For a long time, I wondered about something in his "Discover America" album package, and two years ago, I finally got the nerve to email him:
"Ever since the mid-1970s, I've puzzled over the "Space Available" section
of the liner notes from your "Discover America" album. You may recall how
intense some of us fans' interpretations of album ephemera would get under
various influences.
Well, when I re-visited it in the 1990s, my amazement grew.
Do you realize what's written is also a description of how packet
switching happens in computer networks, a set of protocols which is the
basis for the Internet?
And then there's the "computer font" of "Space Available," which adds to
the wonderment.
So I'll answer the question posed: Yes, there's somebody out here. ..."
his reply:
"I just reviewed the print you cite--
I wrote that article. I chose the type
face. I meant every word of it.
In fact, I still hold to its emphases.
I expected the critical abbatoire, but
was determined to hold my own--
if they took everything but my last squeal. I used that precious space
to say something that I felt needed saying.
Raw competition doesn't always produce the finest results, and in
some matters, is totally nihilistic.
The bat caves I visited in Trinidad
inspired the focus.
As for your (somewhat belated)
remarks, I'm amazed that you remember this passage, and it
makes me feel validated in my
effort---so gratified that this positive
brings the yield to more than zero!"
Posted by: just john | September 27, 2010 at 07:27 PM
that's a amazing, John!
Posted by: Alex Goldstein | September 27, 2010 at 07:43 PM
I tried to get him to contact Hellpope Huey, even tho HH was a synth composer, because both seemed to have roots in the music of Louis Moreau Gottschalk.
Me, I've swiped shamelessly from VDP, including the lyrics-masquerading-as-liner-notes of Song Cycle that I have on my Ayatollah of Understatement. My cover was deliberatly Neon Park-ish, too.
(WFMU may still have a copy.)
Posted by: just john | September 27, 2010 at 09:55 PM
thank u man
Posted by: دردشة عراقية | September 29, 2010 at 12:08 AM
thank you for the brilliant broadcast from spain. new fabulous material, even.
@just john: i was just reading those mysterious and puzzling notes from discover america yesterday. I am still delightfully dazed by them 37 years later. we are out here, and in, apparently, ever growing numbers.
Posted by: john ttegguls | October 05, 2010 at 03:10 AM