Fairly lengthy Van Dyke Parks interview at The Quietus with Smile discussion

[rn57]

http://thequietus.com/articles/12337-van-dyke-parks-interview

This turned up last week - the interviewer got on VDP's good side pretty early, and another plus is that the introductory info is accurate as far as I can see. Van Dyke uses "buffoonery" again in describing why he bailed out of Smile but in a context which makes a little more sense than the way he employed the word when talking to the Guardian's writer.  He also offers some interesting thoughts about the arrangements.

Clang Of The Yankee Reaper is discussed at greater length than usual. VDP says he was "brain-dead" when working on it, for the most part, and says that the reason he was so dispirited when working on it was because his best friend, who was also a roommate, had just died. This would have been in the period right after he and Durrie broke up.  I don't know who the friend was; VDP has said this before about Clang in interviews, but never has ID'd the guy.

Anyway the interview is really worth reading. Some interesting asides - VDP expresses great admiration of Steeleye Span but says he never did like Fairport Convention.  Which goes some way toward proving a notion I've had for a while, that the world's population can be divided between those people who are under Sandy Denny's spell and those who ain't.