The Smiley Smile Message Board

Is Song Cycle ever going to remastered? I read somewhere it was supposed to happen this year, and would rather wait to get a fresh remaster than buy a copy now only to have it come out for christmas....

If it is, we can only hope it wont be brick-walled! :'(

As far as I know, legal rights to the master returned to VDP about a year ago. He planned  (or is already working on) a 5.1 mix of the album, which might be a stunning experience, given the complex arrangements of the set.

I have the Rykodisc CDs of his first three albums. They sound fantastic, but I don't really know whether these are remixes too.

Van Dyke emailed me that he can't be specific, but he's "trying to get it done the right way with the right people." To me, that means that a re-release is an eventual near-certainty, but not necessarily imminent. You may not want to hold your breath on it. Besides, VDP deserves your cash! Buy now, buy again next year, the year after, or whenever the re-release happens.

I know he deserves my cash, it's a question of whether or not i have the cash to give to him, sadly  :( It's good to hear that it's getting done, though

I checked the Rykodisc material. Yes, these are remasters, and have bonus cuts on them. I am a fan, so I have all the vinyl (some of it twice), and all the first, second, and third CD releases.

Van Dyke, did you read this?  :smokin

I once wrote Van Dyke about a song of his called "Wall Street". My message:


> I downloaded this song a few years ago and was
> absolutely floored by it. It was described as a work
> in progress and I was very interested in buying a cd
> that contained it. That cd never emerged and now I am
> wondering, is there any chance of releasing it?
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Eric Thomas Lapp
> a.k.a. Mr. Elvis Turnips Buttocks

His response:

Dear eric
It's coming along fine. Paint is drying.
Work in progress.
Buy the album by inara George,
On everloving label-- within 2 months.
More soon. Van dyke

Um, where is the new cd?

I'd imagine his priorities lie within the work he gets paid for, such as the Inara George album he mentioned in that email--a very good album, by the way, and one he called his favorite collaboration ever (which I took as a knock on Joanna Newsom, with whom he had worked a year or two before). He's done work with Ringo Starr more recently. With his solo stuff really not ever remotely near big-seller categories, a person can't blame him for prioritizing.

He plays on the new album by Timothy B. Schmitt (Glad, Eagles)

Coming next year - as he told the audience during his concert in Berlin last Sunday.

I still believe that a boxed set of Van Dyke's work would be a revelation for some of the folks that may not have followed him for 40 years like myself.

That would be beautiful. What would be put on it? Would you stick on his production/arrangement work too.... maybe a representative track from his other work, like a Nilsson bit, a BB's bit, a Esso bit.... that might be interesting.

Yep. VDP is an acquired taste. People who hear his stuff in some fleeting way tend to miss the point. And even if they remember his name in a record shop, chances will be that they don't have anything in stock. If you concentrate and soak his stuff in, it is revelatory, full of poetry and melancholia.

What made you think it was a knock on Joanna Newsom?  That was a great album...

The remainder of his email (which I didn't post here) was pretty pointed. I, for one, LOVE Ys. I thought it was one of the best couple albums of that year.

I've mentioned this in another thread but I also love Ys, mindblowing stuff.

The Ringo album with a VDP co-write is out. I bought that track--which also features a Paul McCartney harmony vocal in the refrain--is called "Walk With You." It's ok, though at 4:41 it feels pretty excessive.

I'd take that as a knock on SMiLE!

If you'd read the rest of the email, you wouldn't.