Van Dyke Parks Undercover

Van Dyke Parks is the dynamo that is producing Marley's Ghost's new CD.

Who is he? I'll try to tell you in one breath:

He's an American composer, arranger, producer and musician. Not only has he put out several albums of his own, he's worked with The Byrds, Randy Newman, Little Feat, Phil Ochs, Harry Nilsson, Arlo Guthrie, Bonnie Raitt, Harper's Bizarre, Judy Collins, Tim Buckley, Ringo Starr, Ry Cooder, the DBs, Joe Henry, U2, Fiona Apple, Rufus Wainright, Manhattan Transfer, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Vonda Shepard, Steve Poltz, Syd Straw, Gordon Lightfoot, Carly Simon, and many others, He's written TV and film music as diverse as "Sesame Street," "Melrose Place," "The Two Jakes," "Popeye" and "Private Parts."

Whew! And that's not all…

Van Dyke was lyricist for Beach Boy Brian Wilson's CD, SMiLE. For 38 years, it's been called "the greatest album never heard," "the Masterpiece that got away," or "the American Sgt. Pepper." It's the album that Wilson abruptly abandoned in 1966. After years of isolation, Wilson came back into the spotlight and completed the album, which has just been released. Van Dyke was called to help Wilson bring it back, working as chief lyricist, collaborator, keyboard player, harmony vocalist, musical secretary and memory jogger.

On the Internet, you can find more about this in articles by Newsweek, CNN, NPR, Rolling Stone, etc. Reviewers say that SMiLE was worth the wait.