{"product_id":"9780826429179","title":"Van Dyke Parks' Song Cycle","description":"\u003cstrong\u003eVan Dyke Parks' Song Cycle\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor(s): Richard Henderson\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003ePosing more riddles than the average sphinx, with its decipherable answers pointing somewhere dark, Song Cycle was anything but passive. I had already witnessed hippie bands playing with their backs to the hall, so the thought of late '60s musicians being interested in their audience struck me as a concept bordering on revolutionary.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe debut album from songwriter and pianist Van Dyke Parks, Song Cycle first appeared in 1968 on Warner Brothers Records. Its twelve songs led listeners through Joycean wordplay and sound collages to reveal messages of dissent and personal loss, at odds with Parks' buoyant, riotously eclectic music. Monumentally ambitious and equally expensive, Song Cycle resembled a film - possibly Citizen Kane - more than the pop music of its day; like Kane, Parks' masterwork was adored by critics yet all but ignored by paying customers. In his efforts to plumb the mysteries of this quixotic record and its subsequent fate, Richard Henderson interviews several of the key figures involved with Song Cycle, notably Parks himself and producer Lenny Waronker.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eReview(s):\u003cbr\u003e“\u003ci\u003eSong Cycle\u003c\/i\u003e is an animated mash-up of parlor pop, calypso folk, movie scores, and anything else that struck Parks's fancy, and Richard Henderson admits its manic nature makes the collection a hard sell for the uninitiated. But he makes a persuasive case, not only detailing \u003ci\u003eSong Cycle's\u003c\/i\u003e creation (it was rumored to be the most expensive pop album of its time-which made it the biggest commercial failure of its time) but arguing for it as an unheralded artifact of the psychedelic era.” —Stephen M. Deusner, \u003ci\u003ePitchfork\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eISBN:  9780826429179\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e ","brand":"Continuum","offers":[{"title":"Paperback \/ softback","offer_id":40596972306638,"sku":"9780826429179","price":14.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0600\/7029\/7806\/products\/getimage_5049f77c-d70c-4e42-a259-9e5a9b0d76a3.jpg?v=1637871143","url":"https:\/\/pickwickbookshop.com\/products\/9780826429179","provider":"Pickwick Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}