Common
Song Cycle (album)
1967 album by Van Dyke Parks
Song Cycle (album)
Song Cycle is the debut album by the American recording artist Van Dyke Parks, released in November 1967 by Warner Bros. Records. Named after the 19th-century classical format, it is an autobiographical concept album centered on Hollywood and southern California in an orchestral pop style, combining elements of Tin Pan Alley songwriting, bluegrass, ragtime, and musique concrète. Its lyrics follow his usual style of free-associative wordplay while traversing subjects ranging from war and artistic struggle to societal disparity. Granted unprecedented creative control and funding for an unproven artist, Parks wrote Song Cycle during a label-sponsored retreat to Palm Desert, California following collaborations with Brian Wilson (Smile), Harpers Bizarre, and the Mojo Men. Recorded over seven months at Hollywood studios such as Sunset Sound Recorders, the sessions were produced by Lenny Waronker, engineered by Lee Herschberg and Doug Botnick, and mixed by Bruce Botnick. Over 50 session musicians...
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