REVIEW: Van Dyke Parks, Moonlighting (Warner)
- Tim Kennedy
This collection of songs, performed live last year in a cozy atmosphere at the Ash Grove is a superb showcase of the strange but potent talent who weaved his mercurial way through the West Coast scene of the sixties and collaborated on the majestic Beach Boys Smile album-that-never-was.
The album is at once soothing and inspiring. The orchestral and piano backing provides a far more satisfying backdrop for VDP's theme of yesterday's America than the jarring 'modern pop' production on 1997's Orange Crate Art. Whilst VDP has a pleasant voice, it would be nice to hear Brian Wilson also singing to this altogether preferable backing as he did on the studio Crate album.
The melodies are lilting yet still challenge, and at least to these ears provide a welcome antidote to stale familiar guitar patterns. The songs recall a little of Newman, Wilson with a touch of Gershwin. This ain't rock 'n' roll, and it is often sedate music but nonetheless it is music with a lot of heart, music that knows no cynicism.
An echo of the Smile sessions is clearly to be heard here, with its harking back to old times. The rustic theme of "C-H-I-C-K-E-N" recalls the still unreleased Smile song "Barnyard", as does the inherent humour of this album.
VDP jokes and chats in between songs, on occasions reading poetry by the likes of Robert Frost. He reads from the travel writings of Louis Moreaux Gottschalk, leading into the Latinesque "Night In The Tropics".
Fans of Van Dyke's solo work, his work with the Beach Boys, lovers of romantic music from older times, and maybe people who just like unusual stuff will love this CD. Suffused with humour and intelligence, this music is timeless.
