Van Dyke Parks is an American musician, songwriter, arranger, and record producer who has composed various film and television soundtracks. He is best known for his 1967 album Song Cycle and for his collaborations with Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys. In addition to producing or arranging albums by Randy Newman, Harry Nilsson, Phil Ochs, Little Feat, Happy End, Ry Cooder and Joanna Newsom, Parks has worked with performers such as Syd Straw, Ringo Starr, U2, Grizzly Bear, Inara George, Kimbra, Suzy Williams, Bob Dylan and Silverchair.
The Association is an American sunshine pop band from Los Angeles, California. During the late 1960s, the band had numerous hits at or near the top of the Billboard charts and were the lead-off band at 1967's Monterey Pop Festival. Generally consisting of six to eight members, they are known for intricate vocal harmonies by the band's multiple singers.
Warner Records Inc. is an American record label. A subsidiary of Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the American film studio Warner Bros.
"Heroes and Villains" is a song by the American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1967 album Smiley Smile and their unfinished Smile project. Written by Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks, Wilson envisioned the song as an Old West-themed musical comedy that would surpass the recording and artistic achievements of "Good Vibrations". The single was Brother Records' first release. While it failed to meet critical and commercial expectations, it was nevertheless a hit record, peaking at number 12 in the U.S. and number 8 in the UK.
Harpers Bizarre was an American sunshine pop band of the 1960s, best known for their Broadway/sunshine pop sound and their cover of Simon & Garfunkel's "The 59th Street Bridge Song ."
Feelin' Groovy is the debut album by the American sunshine pop band Harpers Bizarre, released in 1967.
"Wonderful" is a song by the American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1967 album Smiley Smile and their unfinished Smile project. Written by Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks, it was their only collaboration that resulted in a love song, telling the story of a young girl's sexual awakening and its disruption of her devotion to God and her parents.
The Blues Project was an American band formed in New York City's Greenwich Village neighborhood in 1965. The group's original iteration broke up in 1967. Their songs drew from a wide array of musical styles. They are most remembered as one of the most artful practitioners of pop music, influenced as it was by folk, blues, rhythm & blues, jazz and the pop music of the day.
Claus Ogerman was a German arranger, conductor, and composer best known for his work with Billie Holiday, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Frank Sinatra, Bill Evans, Michael Brecker, and Diana Krall.
Song Cycle is the debut album by the American recording artist Van Dyke Parks. Released in November 1967 by Warner Bros. Records, the album unperformed in sales but was largely acclaimed by critics, and it later became a cult classic. In 2017, Pitchfork ranked it the 93rd greatest album of the 1960s.
Discover America is the second album by American recording artist Van Dyke Parks, released in May 1972 by Warner Bros. Its sound is a major departure from his debut album, Song Cycle (1967), featuring all cover versions of previously written songs.
"Cry" is a song by American country music singer Faith Hill. It was released as the first single from her fifth studio album of the same name (2002). The song was originally written and recorded by singer-songwriter Angie Aparo for his 1999 album, The American. In 2003, at the 45th Annual Grammy Awards, Hill won the Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance for "Cry", marking her second win in the category.
Emil Richards was an American vibraphonist and percussionist.
Spin This is a solo album by The Rembrandts' Danny Wilde, released by Elektra Records in 1998. The album is credited to "Danny Wilde + The Rembrandts." As a result, the album is still technically a full Rembrandts album, despite being released during the band's first split.
Clarence Carson Parks II was an American songwriter, music publisher, musician and singer, best known for writing the hit song "Somethin' Stupid". His younger brother is the composer Van Dyke Parks.
"Look" is an incomplete musical piece that was composed by American musician Brian Wilson for the Beach Boys' aborted Smile album. Wilson produced the backing track at the start of the Smile sessions in August 1966. It is theorized that a missing session tape may have contained a vocal track that he recorded with his bandmates in October.
Smile is an unfinished album by the American rock band the Beach Boys that was intended to follow their 1966 album Pet Sounds. It was to be an LP of twelve tracks assembled from modular fragments, the same editing process used for their "Good Vibrations" single. Instead, after a year of recording, the album was shelved and the group released a downscaled version, Smiley Smile, in September 1967. Over the next four decades, few of the original Smile tracks were officially released, and the project came to be regarded as the most legendary unreleased album in popular music history.
"Holidays" is an instrumental by the American rock band the Beach Boys that was composed by Brian Wilson for their never-finished Smile album. In 2003, it was rewritten with new lyrics by Van Dyke Parks as "On a Holiday" for the project Brian Wilson Presents Smile (2004).
Dennis Matthew Budimir was an American jazz and rock guitarist. He was considered to be a member of The Wrecking Crew.
Andrew Wickham was a British native who became prominent in the U.S. music business as a producer, A&R director, and talent scout in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.
