Van Dyke Parks

Van Dyke Parks (born January 3, 1941) is an American composer, arranger, producer, and musician, widely known for his lyrical collaboration with Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys on Heroes and Villains' and the unreleased cult-classic-album, Smile''.

As a child Parks acted in the 1956 movie The Swan which starred Grace Kelly. Early on, Van Dyke Also played in the folk group, "The Greenwood County Singers" with his brother, Carson Parks.

Parks then worked as a studio musician and songwriter, writing hits for many artists such as "Harpers Bizarre for Warner Brothers and was commissioned by Brian Wilson to write lyrics for Smile. In 1968, after his work on Smile, Van Dyke released the critically acclaimed album, "Song Cycle." "Song Cycle" was a head trip of orchestral textures and traditional Americana-meets-psychedelic pop song structures. 4 years later, his many travels to the West Indies inspired his album, "Discover America." Discover America was, among other things, a rich tribute to the Islands of Trinidad and Tobago and the native Calypso music. Van Dyke Parks was clearly at home re-arranging and re-producing many obscure songs and calypso classics. The laidback tropical feel of the songs and procution made "Discover America" and VDP fan-favorite.

Van Dyke Parks 5th album, "Jump" featured songs centered around the tales of Brer Rabbit. Jump solidified VDP as a pop songwriter with some childlike tendencies. Production was slick and the sound was focused and cohesive.

In 1995 Van Dyke teamed up again with Brian Wilson. This time to create the album "Orange Crate Art." Parks wrote all of the songs on Orange Crate art and the vocals were done by Brian Wilson. Orange Crate art is a beautifully harmonic tribute to the Southern California of the early 1900's. The songs are rich and beautifully orchestrated.

Parks has produced, done string arrangements or played on albums by artists such as U2, Randy Newman, The Byrds, Cher, Rufus Wainwright, Sam Phillips, Ringo Starr, Keith Moon, Silverchair, Carly Simon, T-Bone Burnett, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Victoria Williams, Bonnie Raitt, Peter Case, Gordon Lightfoot, Fiona Apple, Sheryl Crow, Ry Cooder, The Everly Brothers, The Esso Trinidad Tripoli Steelband and others.

Parks has also scored a number of motion pictures, including Jack Nicholson's The Two Jakes, Casual Sex, Private Parts, Popeye (with Harry Nilsson ) and others.

Discography

"Number Nine/Do What You Wanta", 1966, single 45
"Come To The Sunshine/Farther Along", 1966, single 45
Song Cycle, 1968 album
'\'Discover America'', 1972, album
Clang of the Yankee Reaper, 1976 album
Jump!, 1984 album
Tokyo Rose, 1989 album
Fisherman & His Wife, 1991 album
Orange Crate Art Brian Wilson & Van Dyke Park, 1995 album
"Idiosyncratic Path: Best Of Van Dyke Parks" 1996
Moonlighting: Live at the Ash Grove , 1998 album

Website

http://www.vandykeparks.com