That kaleidoscope view of music, world culture and even current events infuses Songs Cycled with a global feeling and a personal grounding.
Songs Cycled has everything you’d want from Van Dyke Parks and from an album. By being true to the Van Dyke Parks’ perception of what an album should contain, his music sounds as though it is from a different planet.
This is a close cousin to last year’s Arrangements, Vol. 1; if that was a sampler of what he’s done, this is designed to be a sampler of what he’s capable of doing right now, and it’s a welcome and necessary reminder.
Songs Cycled is a wonderfully engaging, fluent and stimulating listen from start to finish.
Rich, dense moments worthy of human attention fly by one after the other, like a wall where pictures are hung frame-to-frame.
This is an intriguing curio of a forgotten time.
The original Song Cycle sounds more exciting and brave today than this album, which at times has all the energy and ingenuity - and lyrical dexterity - of an am-dram Stephen Sondheim production.