Orange Crate Art

[EgoHanger1966]

I like a lot of the songs, but don't dig the production at all.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

[Camus]

I love it.  Favourite song is San Francisco which I also think has the best Brian vocals of the album

[FatherOfTheMan Sr101]

I love half of it, I think if "Clang Of The Yankee Reaper" and this album were mixed with Jump production and Broan vocals, I'd have to say itd be one of the best ever.

[Lonely Summer]

This album was a great gift after many years without new music from Brian. Is he shouting? I don't here that, I find his vocal work on the album very, very impressive. Sounds like he put a lot of work into those layered harmonies. Love those melodies, too - really would love to have some chords/tabs for those songs. Glad Van Dyke chose Brian to sing these songs. Only track that sounds slightly 'off' is the Wilson/Hutton duet "Hold Back Time". But maybe they did that deliberately. Sounds like two guys not really singing with each other. I will buy the vinyl if it ever comes out!

[AndrewHickey]

Love the album, but love Van Dyke's live performances of the songs even more. As great as it was to hear those two men working together again, I don't think much of Brian's vocals on the album.

[The Shift]

Love the album, but love Van Dyke's live performances of the songs even more. As great as it was to hear those two men working together again, I don't think much of Brian's vocals on the album.

I've come around to feeling the same way. Van Dyke's voice somehow sounds right.

[meltedwhiskeyinmyhand]

I love it. I was working in a record store in the late 90s in college and just getting into the BB's and this came into the store. I gave it a listen and didnt like it but I tried again several years later and really fell for it.

[HeroAndVillain]

At first listen, Orange Crate Art, didn't really work for me. But the more I listen to it the more I like it. IMHO there's a good balance between melody and sophistication. Pity Brian didn't write on it, but it's overall a fine album. I'm pretty sure I'm going to buy it now.

Pity he didn't write it? Van Dyke Parks wrote it! He's a genius too.

Yes, I should have thought more about how I worded that. I personally think that if Brian and Van Dyke had fully collaborated on writing the album, the result would have been better. VDP is a skilled songwriter/composer. But Brian is better at writing melodies that lodge straight in the brain. If they had worked together more (and I know why it was a big ask that they didn't), I think the result would have been better. Not that I have anything against VDP's writing, but I think that Brian, at his best, is better.

[EgoHanger1966]

I went honkin' down the highway on this sunny morning and had Orange Crate Art on. It's a much better album for driving than it is straight listening. And blared at top volume, I wasn't as bothered by the production as I had previously been. It's very tinny, but at least the drums sound good, and Brian's vocal has a grit to it that is missing from his current work (not that I'm saying OCA's vocals are better than TLOS or TWGMTR, they aren't). But the quality of the songs shined through, the strong melodies and the clever wordplay that pains images of a sunny California. It's a cool album.

[Ed Roach]

Love the album, but love Van Dyke's live performances of the songs even more. As great as it was to hear those two men working together again, I don't think much of Brian's vocals on the album.

I really love hearing Van do these songs himself, too, (although I do love Brian's vocals on the album), and I'm so surprised that nobody has mentioned Van's great album "Moonlighting: Live at the Ash Grove".  The Ash Grove was revived, albeit all too briefly, on the Santa Monica Pier, and Ed Pearl was able to once again host some very, very memorable shows.  However, this one was bar none the best that I was fortunate enough to see & hear - and Van was lucky enough to record both sets.  While it has his version of several of Orange Crate Art's songs, it also includes some great covers, (including Little Feats' "Sailin' Shoes" - which he dedicated to Dennis at one show), as well as many back catalog songs of his own. 
By all means, check it out!

[hypehat]

Yeah, I love that album.

[davywheatdyke]

Holy moly,  am I am amazed by the positive views of OCA.  this album is dire (apart from Wings of a Dove! sail away and possibly my Janine which is just a bit dull).  Brian's vocals are terrible, it sounds like VDP tried to do him a favour by getting him the gig but had not realised his voice was shot. Considering how bad his vocals were, it is AMAZING what he has done since. i speak as a huge fan of the BB and esp BW, but come on, lets not switch off the critical faculties.

Apologies for the negative debut, I just find the apparently universal positive regard for this album weird.

Best regards.

[Wirestone]

Love the vocals especially.

Some of Brian's finest from the 1990s.

[Outtasight!]

When this album was released close to I Just Wasn't Made for these Times and the rumours of the Paley sessions began to emerge it was an exciting time as we had been waiting since '88 for new BW recordings after Sweet Insanity did not get a release. I love OCA dearly, I love the songs and Brians performance. I am a sucker for the wall of Brians. Pity we got Imagination in '98 rather than the Paley collaboration.

[Lonely Summer]

When this album was released close to I Just Wasn't Made for these Times and the rumours of the Paley sessions began to emerge it was an exciting time as we had been waiting since '88 for new BW recordings after Sweet Insanity did not get a release. I love OCA dearly, I love the songs and Brians performance. I am a sucker for the wall of Brians. Pity we got Imagination in '98 rather than the Paley collaboration.

I'll take Imagination over the Paley stuff I've heard, but agree with the rest of your post. Can't believe anyone thinks Brian's voice is "shot" on OCA. No, it's not the sweet voiced Brian of Surfer Girl, Don't Worry Baby or Caroline, No, but he sings very well with his "grown up" voice on OCA.

[Outtasight!]

When this album was released close to I Just Wasn't Made for these Times and the rumours of the Paley sessions began to emerge it was an exciting time as we had been waiting since '88 for new BW recordings after Sweet Insanity did not get a release. I love OCA dearly, I love the songs and Brians performance. I am a sucker for the wall of Brians. Pity we got Imagination in '98 rather than the Paley collaboration.

I'll take Imagination over the Paley stuff I've heard, but agree with the rest of your post. Can't believe anyone thinks Brian's voice is "shot" on OCA. No, it's not the sweet voiced Brian of Surfer Girl, Don't Worry Baby or Caroline, No, but he sings very well with his "grown up" voice on OCA.

I agree, most singers voices change over time, especially those who don't take care of them, Brian is one of them. It doesn't mean he can't sing it just means he sings differently. I love his 90's singing voice just as much as his 60's voice, it's different, but to me he was still amazing. Fast forward to 2012 and he's different again, somewhere between his 60's and 90's voice and still sounding great to these ears.