Tina Alvarez
EMOL
Tina's Korner
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Brian Wilson & Van Dyke Parks
It was over a good twnety years since they had worked together, but Van
Dyke Parks, who collaborated with the Beach Boys in the mid-60's, phoned
his buddy, rian Wilson and asked himif he'd be interested in helping him
on his album.
Wilson nabbed the opportunity to see what they could come up with this time.
With Parks, writing, arranging and producing, and Wilson handling vocals,
their efforts have become "Orange Crate Art," on Warner Brothers
Records. In describing the type of music, Park attested the feel of the
melodies were post-1954.
"Look at the history of popular music," he laid out. "It
was a certain animal until 1954 and then something happened -- Elvis Presley
and the emanacipation of rock 'n' roll of Memphis. That changed popular
music forever. It became a more physical creature. These tunes, I think,
pre-date that. They actually feel like a re-visitation of my youth, coming
out of my earliest experiences.
He also explained that he felt that the album draws on the California dream.
"California to me was a place where oranges came from, a very far away
place and exotic place. It's a romanticized ideal. I wanted to capture
that place whre everything was possible and larger-than-life and perfect
before human intervention," Parks clarified. "So these lyrics
and this music are filled with intimate references to the California saga."
Wilson agrees that it's a much different LP than the Beach Boys, saying
while the vibe is still there, it's a bit lazier. Influences for the songs
were inspired by a variety of sources. The only non-California song, "My
Jeanine," was motivated by Parks while he was in an apple orchard in
Appalachia's Blue Ridge Mountains.
"Virtually every track was inspired by a painting form the Plein Air
School of Western Artists," he acknowledged. "'Palm and Tree'
grew out of a painting of a Chinese fishing village in Monterey Bay in 1880."
There's also a George Gershwin tune, "Lublaby," which Parks had
performed in Tokyo in the past. He thought it would be a good way to end
"Orange Crate Art."
"I had 65 musicians sitting in the room one day, and they had less
than a minute of music to perform. It seemed to me to be a vulgar waste
of talent and money to let them go."
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Fleetwood Mac
"The making of this album was truly wonderful to us,"discloses
drummer Mick Fleetwood, about Fleetwood Mac's new Warner Brothers releases,
"Time." The album is undeniably Fleetwood Mac. But gone are
Stevie Nicks' dramatic, raspy vocals drenching over the adventurous music,
as well as Lindsay Buckingham's svelt and sultry guitar work. "It
not oly represents traditional Fleetwood Mac, with four long-time residents
of the band, but also a healthy changing of the guard." Besides Fleetwood,
those remaining on board on John McVie Christine McVie and Billy Burnette.
New additions are noted guitarist/singer Dave Mason and singer Bekka Bramlett
(daughter of Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett). In fact, it's like one big happy
family. Mason and Burnette have known Bekka since her toddler days -- and
Bekka and Fleetwood worked together in The Zoo -- and Burnette performed
with Bekka's father. The 13 tracks on th ealbum have a little of something
for everyone-- "I Got It In For You" (blues-rock), "Blow
By Blow" (rock), and "These Strange Times" (cosmic rock),
to name a few. "The refrain can be read 'God is nowhere' or 'God is
now here," said Fleetwood of the latter tune, which deals iwth addiction
and redemption. "It's simplistic, but no matter how shitty things
get, there's light at the end of the tunnel. This is the first time in
30 years I came out from behind the drums to say something. I hope the
song may reach some people and maybe even do some good." The Big Mac,
together in various forms for 30 years, proves their ever-evolving collective
merge more than equals the sum of their parts -- once again.
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© 1996 Entertainment Magazine On-Line, EMOL.
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