Search - Inara George, Van Dyke Parks :: An Invitation

My Low Expectations Were Abolished

Mark L. Ayala | Los Angeles, CA | 12/27/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The L.A. Weekley mentioned in passing that the great Van Dyke Parks had made a new album with someone I've never heard of. First thing I did whne i got home was check on Amazon for this album. When I saw the album, I was worried. It looked like it could be potential hipster garbage. So, I took the risk, coughed up thirteen bucks, and bought the CD.



I remember when I opened the brown Amazon box, I was very impressed by this little CD's colorful and cute packaging. As soon as I noticed the little rabits and birds in the pile of food, I couldn't help it, but smile in glee. I went straight toward my stereo, plopped in the CD, and hit play.



What I heard threw me off. It sounded like Van Dyke Parks, with all the odd key changes and lush orchestration for smaller broadway style groups. Then on the second track came the vocals. I usually avoid most contemporary music so I was caught off guard when this quiet, mousey, jazzy voice came through the speakrs, singing something closer to poetry than just lyrics on a page.



I listened to about half the album, and then had to go somewhere. Everyday since, I've avoided that and tried listening to it the whole way through everyday. Every song has a simple joy to it, something severally lacking in art today. This CD is most definatly up there with the best contemporary popular music albums I've heard in the last few years."

All hinges on what you think of Van Dyke Parks

Eric J. Anderson | Ankeny, Iowa | 07/30/2009

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I'm trying to find something positive to say about this album. Inara George's voice is clear and beautiful. I believe she wrote the lyrics, which are also quite good (if sometimes oblique), and some of the melodies are uncommon and intriguing.



That said, the main accompaniment is Van Dyke Parks and his string arrangements. I wont argue with anyone who likes them, but I have to be blunt about my own reaction: the orchestral parts are busy, harmonically dense, the rhythms lope, flit, and lurch uncomfortably without a steady beat, and they basically just dance all over the place, with unrelenting hyperactivity. Not only are the arrangements hyperactive, they seem dynamically constricted. There is a want of pianissimo and fortissimo. Furries of notes and chord changes cannot substitute for dynamic contrasts between loud and soft to add life and drama to the music. I guess this is a factor that doesn't concern Van Dyke Parks.



This album contains a number of good songs (Duet), even beautiful songs (Rough Design), struggling to get out from under the weight of the arrangements.



For me, listening is a fatiguing experience. I loved Inara George's other solo CD, All Rise, and her work with The Bird And The Bee. This is something in another vein altogether. While I do not begrudge the artist an opportunity to stretch and try something new, I can't bring myself to pay for that experimentation when it simply has no appeal for me. So, I'm not buying this, and I would strongly urge people to listen to cuts or sound samples before purchasing, to make sure you really want to pay for 40 minutes of this stuff. If you like it, for whatever reason, great. For me it was something I could endure, with only a few points of enjoyment."