Van Dyke Parks / Ry Cooder / Bonnie Raitt / Sal Valentino / Others
Arrangements Volume 1

Sealed, Out Of Print 2011 180gm Gatefold Original. “During The Golden Age Of Record Making In The 1960s And '70s, Some Acts Would Simply Roll Into The Studio And Record, But Most Were Accompanied By Hands-On Producers Who Would Partner Them With Musicians And Arrangers Who Could Help Them Create A Unique And Compelling Sound With Greater Skill And Efficiency Than If Left To Their Own Devices, And A Few Musicians Of The Era Created Some Of Their Best And Most Enduring Work For Other People. Van Dyke Parks Helped Brian Wilson Write The Songs For Smile And Recorded A Handful Of Fine And Critically Acclaimed Albums In The 1960s And '70s, But He Earned His Bread And Butter As A Producer And Arranger, Creating Striking Musical Backdrops For Other Artists. Arrangements, Vol. 1 Is A Collection Compiled By Parks Himself That Features 15 Tracks He Arranged; Five Were Released Under Parks' Moniker, But The Rest Found Him Working For The Likes Of Ry Cooder, Bonnie Raitt, Arlo Guthrie, And Sal Valentino During His Tenure As A Staff Producer At Warner Bros. Records. Most Of These Tracks Reflect The Same Grand, Outsized Personality That Parks Brought To His Solo Work; Parks Is A Man In Love With Musical Americana, But He's Even More Fond Of The Way Other Cultures Stretch And Shape American Ideas, And His Dandified Vision, Full Of Snappy And Textural Percussion, Playful Keyboard Fixtures, Bold Horns And Woodwinds, And Strings That Dance And Sway With The Melodies, Truly Defines Each Of These Selections, Even More Than The Folks Who Sing Them.“ Mark Deming, AMG.