Parks, Van Dyke

A certified genius of American music, the prodigiously talented musician, composer, arranger, lyricist, and vocalist Van Dyke Parks is responsible for records that see modern pop elevated to levels normally reserved for the classical masters. A child prodigy and sometime actor, Parks is most acclaimed for his work with the Beach Boys ( the fabled SMiLE sessions) and Brian Wilson and his own solo masterpieces, such as 1968's Song Cycle and 1972's discover America. But Parks also arranged for or appeared on pivotal recordings by the Byrds, Paul Revere & the Raiders, Sonny & Cher, Judy Collins, Tim Buckley, and many others. Heavily Baroque, highly literate, and sweeping in scope, the music of Van Dyke Parks will surely resonate with fans of such similarly ambitious acts as the Millennium and Sagittarius and contemporary artists like Rufus Wainwright and Antony & the Johnsons.