VDP today on NPR said.....

[Dave in KC]

He thought the BB were an Eisenhower era nostalgia boring band until he came along just at the right time. He saw BW was trying to break out of that "funk" and was more than happy to help. Introducing the cello on GV for example and something about the triplet used. Lot's of chatter about Pet Sounds which he said he played on. Talked also about Sail on Sailor and the announcer said the song saved the album as the record company said no release without a hit single. Strangest thing about this half hour program was no mention of SMiLE. I couldn't believe the broadcast was ending without Van Dyke saying SOMETHING about it.

[alf wiedersehen]

VDP was probably relieved that there was no mention of Smile. I can imagine it would be tiresome to talk about someone else's album for 40+ years when you have your own work to talk about. Also, did he actually play on Pet Sounds? I've never seen mention of that before, and he's not listed in the personnel on our-Lord-and-Savior, Wikipedia.

He always comes off as such an ass to me, as though the Beach Boys were no good without him.

[Mayoman]

Doesn't VDP say in the "An American Band" documentary that he wrote songs on Pet Sounds?

[Orange Crate Art]

Doesn't VDP say in the "An American Band" documentary that he wrote songs on Pet Sounds?

Van Dyke never claimed that he wrote songs on Pet Sounds. There's a piece of footage on Endless Harmony where he holds up a notepad that read something like "I wrote for the Beach Boys...Heroes And Villains, Surf's Up, Mostly In 1966".

[EgoHanger1966]

Introducing the cello on GV for example

Was this not Carl's idea?

[Orange Crate Art]

Introducing the cello on GV for example

Was this not Carl's idea?

Well, according to the Doe Tobler Guide Book..."Revolutionary in its modular structure, use of cello as a rhythm instrument (played by Jesse Erlich and suggested by Van Dyke Parks, who declined a request to supply new lyrics) and its use of theremin, it was Brian's satisfaction with this song that gave him the confidence to attempt Smile..."

[guitarfool2002]

Introducing the cello on GV for example

Was this not Carl's idea?

Sept '89 guitar magazine interview which I posted here, Carl said he blurted out "cello" when Brian mentioned needing to add an instrument on the low end to the track. And VDP has repeatedly said he suggested the cello play triplets on the root note of the chords during the choruses.

So I'd take a combination of the two to get to the full answer, and suggest Carl recommended using cello and VDP may have *also* recommended that, but suggested what rhythms the cellist actually played.

[c-man]

Doesn't VDP say in the "An American Band" documentary that he wrote songs on Pet Sounds?

Van Dyke never claimed that he wrote songs on Pet Sounds. There's a piece of footage on Endless Harmony where he holds up a notepad that read something like "I wrote for the Beach Boys...Heroes And Villains, Surf's Up, Mostly In 1966".

Without digging it out to verify, I believe there's also a VDP clip or voiceover on the "American Band" documentary which can be taken as VDP implying he had something to do with "Pet Sounds". But his name is nowhere on any of the "Pet Sounds" AFM contracts, nor his is voice heard or his name mentioned on any of the session tapes for that album. Unlike "SMiLE", which he is all over.

[Mayoman]

"I wrote lyrics for Brian Wilson. Most of them went on an album that was done called Pet Sounds which readied us for the next record which is uh, still an unexplained event. I don't understand it. It was just after the Beach Boys were in litigation with Capitol Records."

The VDP quote from "An American Band".

[Orange Crate Art]

Doesn't VDP say in the "An American Band" documentary that he wrote songs on Pet Sounds?

Van Dyke never claimed that he wrote songs on Pet Sounds. There's a piece of footage on Endless Harmony where he holds up a notepad that read something like "I wrote for the Beach Boys...Heroes And Villains, Surf's Up, Mostly In 1966".

Without digging it out to verify, I believe there's also a VDP clip or voiceover on the "American Band" documentary which can be taken as VDP implying he had something to do with "Pet Sounds". But his name is nowhere on any of the "Pet Sounds" AFM contracts, nor his is voice heard or his name mentioned on any of the session tapes for that album. Unlike "SMiLE", which he is all over.

I pulled out the video. Van is outside of a Tower Records store, it looks like the mid-late 1970s, and he says, or at least mostly sounds like he says, "I wrote lyrics for Brian Wilson. Most of 'em, when an album was done called Pet Sounds, uhh, which readied us for the next record, which uhhh...still is an unexplained event, I don't understand it. It was just after the Beach Boys were in litigation with Capitol Records."

[Orange Crate Art]

Oops, sorry Mayoman, ya beat me to it!

[Orange Crate Art]

But we're hearing it differently.

[Orange Crate Art]

Watch it again Mayoman and read along to both our quotes.

[guitarfool2002]

Before going too far I'd like to hear what he actually said in this new interview. If he said he played on Pet Sounds sessions, then I think that would be a mistake.

But he knew Brian in passing and through mutual friends like Loren Schwartz and Terry Melcher, in fact it was Melcher who recommended Van Dyke to Brian partly because of Van Dyke's song "High Coin". Keep in mind too how David Crosby had invited Van Dyke to come with him to hear Brian play an early mix of Sloop John B, which would date before Pet Sounds, and through Loren and their work around LA Brian and VDP had crossed paths well before they were formally introduced and started working together. Brian up through the Smile sessions would invite people to the house for listening sessions with whatever tracks he was working on, and solicit opinions - at one of these or at any other random social gathering Van Dyke could have mentioned the triplet thing on GV.

It's similar to how David Anderle was around Brian and the band as early as "Today" from earlier in '65, through family who knew the band (and Loren's hangout sessions with Tony Asher among the guests) , yet he didn't formally work with them until later. Same with Danny Hutton, through Anderle his manager, it was more interconnected of a scene than I think is assumed.

The tendency is to take a few reported dates in history and apply them overall when in reality these guys would naturally be crossing paths through friends and acquaintances, through being at the same studios, and through being at places like Loren's pad at random times much more than a timeline would report.

But again if VDP said he was a musician on Pet Sounds, that could be proven incorrect. If he said he was around Brian or whatever during the making of Pet Sounds, that's entirely true.

[mikeddonn]

Brian has said Carl came up with he idea for the cello.  I think I may have been during a C50 interview.  

[Mayoman]

Watch it again Mayoman and read along to both our quotes.

I did and I put the captions on as well. The captions back up what I wrote, although I would guess that he was probably actually saying what you typed. He kind of slurs the middle of the sentence a bit.

[Orange Crate Art]

Watch it again Mayoman and read along to both our quotes.

I did and I put the captions on as well. The captions back up what I wrote, although I would guess that he was probably actually saying what you typed. He kind of slurs the middle of the sentence a bit.

Yeah he does slur a little bit. He seemed liked his thoughts were rushing through his mind.

[joshferrell]

well maybe Van Dyke was part of the Pet Sounds era "Good Vibrations" in some form or fashion before helping with the latter single version....

[alf wiedersehen]

well maybe Van Dyke was part of the Pet Sounds era "Good Vibrations" in some form or fashion before helping with the latter single version....

That wouldn't really explain his claim of writing lyrics (if that's what he said).

[clack]

Haven't listened to this interview, but if VDP is being quoted accurately, then he is being both self-serving and ignorant.

Far from being Eisenhower-nostalgia leftovers, the Beach Boys were strongly connected to the pop-musical zeitgeist 1962-66. It was only after VDP hooked up with Brian that the group lost touch with the cutting edge of what was happening in pop music (through no fault of VDP, granted).

And, boring? Is he including Pet Sounds in that evaluation? And has he ever listened to Today!?

[Moon Dawg]

  Parks has had a burr up his butt the last few years. Clearly his relationship with Brian is not what it once was. The Beach Boys, like Parks, all grew up in Eisenhower America, which isn't such a terrible thing.

[Magic Transistor Radio]

 Parks has had a burr up his butt the last few years. Clearly his relationship with Brian is not what it once was. The Beach Boys, like Parks, all grew up in Eisenhower America, which isn't such a terrible thing.

Has their relationship faultered since 2004?

[c-man]

  Parks has had a burr up his butt the last few years. Clearly his relationship with Brian is not what it once was. The Beach Boys, like Parks, all grew up in Eisenhower America, which isn't such a terrible thing.

Yeah...I like Ike!

[Moon Dawg]

  Parks has had a burr up his butt the last few years. Clearly his relationship with Brian is not what it once was. The Beach Boys, like Parks, all grew up in Eisenhower America, which isn't such a terrible thing.

Has their relationship faltered since 2004?

 I don't know any details, but things seemed good when BWPS came out. Something seemed to sour by the time of THE SMILE SESSIONS; consider Van Dyke's semi-snarky comments the least few years. AGD probably has some details and/or insights.

[Moon Dawg]

  Parks has had a burr up his butt the last few years. Clearly his relationship with Brian is not what it once was. The Beach Boys, like Parks, all grew up in Eisenhower America, which isn't such a terrible thing.

Yeah...I like Ike!

 Ike offered the GOP a template for success that was sadly discarded. Since this is not The Sandbox I'll leave it at that.