Disco de Brian Wilson: “Orange Crate Art”

With all the recent praise heaped on Smile, Orange Crate Art still remains largely under-recognized and under-appreciated. Sure, Smile was supposed to be this grand Copelandesque landscape of America, from Plymouth Rock to The Grand Cooley Dam. But for my money Brian and Van Dyke Parks did it so much better with Orange Crate Art. Having written, what everyone unanimously agrees to be the most California of all anthems, Fun Fun Fun, I Get Around and California Girls, Brian turns his attention to a California not of Hot Rods and Surf, but of sun drenched valleys rich with citrus and vine. Here Wilson and Parks celebrate and pay homage to the likes of Jack London and John Steinbeck. And if all this were not enough, we're treated to My Hobo Heart, a latter day Van Dyke Parks / Michael Hazelwood masterpiece. There's also the lovely Palm Tree & Moon, a dreamy little ode to a moonlit beach, territory not unfamiliar to Brian. And Summer In Monteray is so unabashedly nostalgic it would even make Clint Eastwood Blush. If you haven't become familiar with this so very underated collection yet, you really can't call yourself a Brian Wilson / Van Dyke Parks fan until you give this one a fair shot. You might even find yourself humming Sail Away or Hold Back Time while in the shower. I know I did.

Some music can encapsulate the stress and strain of being alive and thus provide a catalyst for tears. In this case the catalyst for tears is provided but the tears are tears of joy.

Van Dyke Parks provides the idiosyncratic, heartfelt, positive songs about a California long gone and Brian Wilson provides the sincere vocals. How Van Dyke actually got Brian to sing these melodic but harmonically complex songs is amazing in itself considering Brian's voice has been ravaged by time. That curiosity alone is worth the purchase of this masterpiece.

The CD booklet art is beautiful and perfectly paints the picture of these vibrantly orchestrated songs. Songs that were obviously written for the love of writing songs. I doubt Van Dyke Parks and his crew ever considered whether this CD would be a hit. Who cares? This is art. And it is realized in a most honest way here.

An Americana oddity well worth having in any CD collection.

This one certainly is a masterpiece(stayed in my cd player for months).Mosy aspects have been covered here.Bottom line is it's a Parks album,no input from Bri,so many of Bri's fans hate it.As a VDP fan,I find it's his greatest yet(the Live Moonlighting disc is right up there with this one).This music is timeless and gorgeous.A true gem!

A musical journey designed by Wilson and Parks to evoke the California that Brian's parents and his other ancestors would have found when they made their pioneering treks there at the turn of the century. This is beautiful songmaking, every bit as good as "Holland" and "Song of the Yankee Reaper," and on a par with Van Morrison's "Tupelo Honey" and "Veedon Fleece" for atmosphere. Essential.

This is a wonderful CD, a nostalgic look at living in the California of the '40's and '50's. But, despite the nostalgia, this CD is chock full of inventive and clever lyrics, arrangements, vocals, and tunes -- the boys put their own spin on all sorts of musical genres, all, that is, except rock and roll. It's wonderfully melodic and laid-back music, but never bland, and the consistently best set of music that either Van Dyke or Brian has put together in decades.