Van Dyke Parks has collaborated, over the years, with the likes of Randy Newman, Ringo Starr, the Byrds, Harry Nilsson, Ry Cooder, and others. More recently, he has been issuing a series of seven-inch vinyl singles, the most recent of which was “Sassafrass”/”The All Golden.”
Yet, for more music fans, he will always be associated with Brian Wilson’s troubled late-1960s Beach Boys project SMiLE, the on-again, off-again follow up to Pet Sounds. After Parks and Wilson met steep resistance, from the band and its label, Parks eventually left the project in 1967 and it was effectively shelved for decades — though fragments from the sessions continued to leak out.
[SOMETHING ELSE! REWIND: The Beach Boys’ new single ‘That’s Why Got Made the Radio’ finds them achieving a harmony — both in studio, and in life — unimaginable only a few years ago.]
Re-recorded versions of “Heroes and Villains” and “Wind Chimes” could be found on the Beach Boys’ replacement effort Smiley Smile; “Cabinessence” and “Surf’s Up” later appeared on 20/20 and Surf’s Up; and “Cool Cool Water” showed up on Sunflower. Parks later collaborated with Wilson on his 1995 solo album Orange Crate Art, but the legend of their work together on SMiLE only grew — until finally came Brian Wilson Presents ‘SMiLE’ in 2004, following by a massive box set called The ‘SMiLE’ Sessions in 2011.
Despite the project’s many ups and downs, Park tells Billboard that he remains proud of his contributions — in particular, he says, because so few get to see their work presented on such a grand stage.
“I feel as I did 40 years ago, when I walked away from the project,” Park says. “It’s been an entire success, and from my standpoint … it was a great success for a couple of kids in their mid 20s to be able to hear their music in the face of the fact that there are so many musicians who never get to hear a damn note. To me, the best way illustrate my contentment about ‘SMiLE’ is to remember that Vincent Van Gogh had sold only one painting when he died — and that was to his brother.”
His more recent single have included specially created artwork from Klaus Voormann, Billy Edd Wheeler, Sally Parks and others. Parks tells Billboard that more new songs are percolating, including one called “I’m History” — “which, of course, I think is my best song. … I have had a lifetime of great fortune, and I’m very grateful for it. But I don’t feel that the past can possibly provide what the future promises. The rearview mirror is so much smaller than the windshield that I am looking through now.”
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Here’s a look back at our recent thoughts on the Beach Boys. Click through the titles for complete reviews …
THE BEACH BOYS – THE SMILE SESSIONS (2011): Wilson’s long-awaited mythical masterpiece was issued in expanded form as The SMiLE Sessions, nearly 45 years after its conception. Be warned, though: While the original album has been referred to as the Beach Boys’ Holy Grail, this massive collection of studio recordings will probably be more well received by musicians and the serious music fan. Novice passersby need not apply. That said, despite the newly recorded version of this project released by Wilson in 2004, no one could have expected what depth and quality Sessions would bring to the table.
SOMETHING ELSE! FEATURED ARTIST: THE BEACH BOYS: As the Beach Boys prepared to celebrate their 50th anniversary with the 2011 release of The SMiLE Sessions, an updated version of the 1968 track “Do It Again” and a proposed world tour, we took a look back at some fun, fun, fun old favorites — including tracks from Surfer Girl, Pet Sounds, Holland, Smiley Smile and Sunflower.
BRIAN WILSON – MIDNIGHT’S ANOTHER DAY (One Track Mind, 2008): While completing his own version of SMiLE in 2004, Wilson at long last regained his foothold on feel-good popcraft, a sturdy piece of ground he’d largely conquered by the mid-1960s. Unfortunately, Wilson doesn’t advance that notion over the balance of The Lucky Old Sun, so much as confirm that SMiLE was his own personal vista. Sun is, really, a grand-sounding yet somehow empty album — from the staid “Forever She’ll Be My Surfer Girl” to the outdated linking narratives by SMiLE co-writer Van Dyke Parks. Still, “Midnight’s Another Day,” with its gospel-tinged piano signature, can’t be denied. It’s a direct link between “In My Room” and the modern-day Wilson.
THE SOUND OF SUMMER: CELEBRATING THE BEACH BOYS’ LASTING JOYS: Think Beach Boys, and many remember a group perhaps irrevocably reduced by its tragicomic storyline. Admittedly distracting plot points, beyond the 36 Top 40 hits (most of any U.S. rock band), include shocking revelations involving drugs and mental breakdowns, one never-finished Musical Statement, a slow decline into moldy oldies caricature, several different touring ensembles trying to lay claim to the franchise, various resulting suits and countersuits, and a remarkable moment of jackassery at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Fifty years later, too, there is the unironic visage of old men still playing the part of fun shirt-wearing purveyors of a long-gone California surfer lifestyle. Forget all of that. They remain, at least on the 1960s records, the very sound of summer.
Here are the Beach Boys’ ongoing 2012 tour dates:
05/15 – White Plains, NY @ Westchester County Center
05/17 – Bethlehem, PA @ Sands Bethlehem Events Center
05/19 – Atlanta City, NJ @ Borgata Hotel Casino
05/21 – Chicago, IL @ Chicago Theatre
05/22 – Chicago, IL @ Chicago Theatre
05/25 – Chula Vista, CA @ Cricket Wireless Ampitheater *
05/26 – Indio, CA @ Fantasy Springs Special Events Center
05/27 – Las Vegas, NV @ Red Rock Casino
05/28 – Santa Barbara, CA @ Santa Barbara Bowl
06/01 – Berkley, CA @ Greek Theatre
06/02 – Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Bowl
06/03 – Irvine, CA @ Verizon Wireless Ampitheater
06/08 – The Woodlands, TX @ Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
06/10 – Manchester, TN @ Bonnaroo Music Festival
06/12 – Cincinnati, OH @ Riverbend Music Center
06/13 – Cuyahoga Falls, OH @ Blossom Music Center
06/15 – Columbia, MD @ Merriweather Post Pavilion
06/16 – Camden, NJ @ Susquehanna Bank Center
06/17 – Bethel, NY @ Bethel Woods Center for the Arts
06/19 – Toronto, ON @ Molson Ampitheatre
06/20 – Montreal, QC @ Bell Centre
06/22 – Bangor, ME @ Waterfront Park
06/23 – Saratoga Springs, NY @ Saratoga Performing Arts Center
06/24 – Wantagh, NY @ Nikon at Jones Beach Theater
06/26 – Boston, MA @ Bank of America Pavilion
06/27 – Holmdel, NJ @ PNC Bank Arts Center
06/29 – Darien Lakes, NY @ DTE Energy Music Theatre
06/30 – Clarkston, MI @ DTE Energy Music Theatre
07/01 – Milwaukee, WI @ Markus Ampitheater (Summerfest)
07/03 – Virginia Beach, VA @ Farm Bureau Live
07/04 – Provo, UT @ Stadium of Fire
07/10 – Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Ampitheatre
07/13 – Woodinville, WA @ Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery
07/14 – Eugene, OR @ Cuthbert Ampitheater
07/15 – Stateline, NV @ Harvey’s Lake Tahoe Ampitheater
07/26 – Rome, IT @ Ippodromo delle Capannelle
07/27 – Milan, IT @ Civic Arena
07/29 – Gothenberg, SE @ Tradgaardsforeningen
07/31 – Oslo, NO @ Spektrum
08/01 – Aarhus, DK @ Musikhuset
08/03 – Berlin, DE @ O2 World Arena
08/04 – Stuttgart, DE @ Hanns-Martin-Schleyerhalle
08/05 – Munich, DE @ Hockey Park
08/07 – Lokeren, BE @ Lokerse Festival
08/16 – Tokyo, JP @ QVC Marine Field
08/17 – Osaka, JP @ Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium
08/19 – Nagoya, JO @ Gaishi Hall
* = w/ Foster the People
- Ernesto Cervini’s Turboprop, “When I Fall” (2024): Video premiere - March 15, 2024
- Disaster Pony,“Dead Neon & The Noon Sun” from ‘Disaster Pony’ (2024): Video premiere - February 27, 2024
- Christopher Hoffman, “Farewell Forever” from ‘Vision Is The Identity’ (2024): Streaming premiere - February 19, 2024
