Orange Crate Art (BW/VDP solo)

[Keri]

I'm glad to see there are others that love this album. For me VDP has done two great albums this one and Jump!

OCA is artfully nostalgic it Creates an America that should have been and which can live gorgeously sunset in our imagination. Brian's voice grounds it in California and to me he suits the material perfectly, the vocal arrangements are gorgeous.

I loved it when it came out and I still do it takes me to a great place, it is a welcome addition to the work of both of these guys.

[punkinhead]

I'm glad to see there are others that love this album. For me VDP has done two great albums this one and Jump!

OCA is artfully nostalgic it Creates an America that should have been and which can live gorgeously sunset in our imagination. Brian's voice grounds it in California and to me he suits the material perfectly, the vocal arrangements are gorgeous.

I loved it when it came out and I still do it takes me to a great place, it is a welcome addition to the work of both of these guys.

I haven't heard Jump but I have heard OCA, Discover America, and Song Cycle....from those 3 albums, I see them as VDP creating a place...he can make something normal (much like Brian does with Busy Doin' Nothing or I'd Love Just Once To See You) and make it interesting or hip, in my opinion.

[rab2591]

I'm glad to see there are others that love this album. For me VDP has done two great albums this one and Jump!

OCA is artfully nostalgic it Creates an America that should have been and which can live gorgeously sunset in our imagination. Brian's voice grounds it in California and to me he suits the material perfectly, the vocal arrangements are gorgeous.

I loved it when it came out and I still do it takes me to a great place, it is a welcome addition to the work of both of these guys.

I haven't heard Jump but I have heard OCA, Discover America, and Song Cycle....from those 3 albums, I see them as VDP creating a place...he can make something normal (much like Brian does with Busy Doin' Nothing or I'd Love Just Once To See You) and make it interesting or hip, in my opinion.

Get Jump ASAP.

I actually bought it because of this thread - and it's become one of my favorite VDPs albums.

[Curtis Leon]

Four stars. One of my favorite VDP albums. Brian's vocal arrangements really make the songs shine. Minus one point for Movies is Magic and the fact that some songs have cringe worthy moments. The synths don't drown out the tunes like they do in Imagination or BW88.

High points - Title track, Wings of a Dove

Low points - Movies is Magic

[Rocky Raccoon]

Four stars from me.  Perfect companion piece to "That Lucky Old Sun."  "Wings Of a Dove" and "Sail Away" are particularly great songs.  I do think that the album didn't really need Brian's vocals.  Van Dyke Parks has a live album called "Moonlighting" that has some great versions of these songs done by himself.  However, I do like Brian's vocals anyways and the album itself fits in well with the rest of his solo catalog (I would argue it fits better than "Imagination" does).

[Dudd]

Had a listen and didn't mind it at all. Nice and nostalgic.

[Lonely Summer]

Four stars from me.  Perfect companion piece to "That Lucky Old Sun."  "Wings Of a Dove" and "Sail Away" are particularly great songs.  I do think that the album didn't really need Brian's vocals.  Van Dyke Parks has a live album called "Moonlighting" that has some great versions of these songs done by himself.  However, I do like Brian's vocals anyways and the album itself fits in well with the rest of his solo catalog (I would argue it fits better than "Imagination" does).

I watched VDP do a couple of these songs on youtube, but they sound so much better with Brian singing them. I like the idea of a concert featuring OCA and TLOS.

[punkinhead]

Has anyone heard Love is Here to Stay and Rhapsody in Blue from these sessions? Wonder if they're anything like Brian's versions over 10 years later...I wonder how they went about recording Rhapsody, like if they did wordless vocals for it.

[Lonely Summer]

Hadn't listened to this one in a few years, put it on last night....still works its magic on me. In fact, i may have to move this one up on my BW solo list. BW88, TLOS and OCA are my favorites - although IJWMFTT is up there, too, really the only knock against it being there were no new songs, and they included that demo of Still I Dream of It. But OCA may be my favorite of the bunch - really beautiful melodies that keep surprising me, and i do like the wall of Brian's on the vocals. I kept listening for "shouty" last night, didn't hear it, except maybe "Hold Back Time". No, i find Brian's vocal performances on this album very impressive.

[Julia]

I'm going to say something controversial right now, and you guys will likely hate me for it. I...don't care for Van Dyke Parks's music or lyrics at all. I think he did great with the SMiLE lyrics, but that's about it.

The one aspect of Brian Wilson solo-related albums that I struggle with the most is listening to 35-40 minutes of continuous Brian Wilson lead vocals. It grates on me, the "shouting", the over-layered harmonies. And, unfortunately, this album is the "shouty-ous".

Too clever for it's own good. I don't like the 1920's vibe on many of the songs. Boring to me, Brian sounds very bored. The title track is ok, but even that is wordy overlong. The vocals are not so hot. Whatever AGD thinks of GIOMH I think of this. Well I don't hate anything THAT much.

^These three quotes sum it up for me. Besides Tokyo Rose and the song Palm Desert, I don't like VDP's music (and even TR grates after awhile). MBE's "too clever for its own good" sums up VDP for me. It was perfect for SMiLE but otherwise he's just too...i don't know...try-hard, political, schmaltzy Americana, self-consciously old-fashioned...for my liking. I wish he had challenged himself to step outside the "Yankee Reaper" aesthetic and just write good music that didn't try to evoke specific scenes of middle America. Also have to agree with SJS about Brian's grating vocals--it's by far the biggest handicap of his solo career sans Thomas.

This album is so generic sounding--it's shopping mall music. One of the most annoying things about my recent SMiLE research is how much the post-90s authors fall over themselves to mention OCA and pretend it's great. It just felt so performative, and there was nothing worse than tracking down a VDP/Brian interview or book and finding out a significant chunk of the length was devoted to this far inferior effort. It's another case where, if you removed the principals' names from the cover, I seriously wonder if some of these positive reviews wouldn't change to middling or outright negative.