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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