losanjealous
Home Archives

Review: Inara George with Van Dyke Parks, An Invitation
By - Wednesday September 10th 2008

The Inara George/Van Dyke Parks partnership on An Invitation is a wonderful symbiosis, an amphibian that treads through two almost opposing elements, one stark and timid, the other well-crafted and delicate, though I’m not always sure which is which. The latter is usually the musical arrangement by Van Dyke Parks, so after listening to the opening number, “Overture,” with its instrumental loveliness pouring out all over the place, I nearly wrote something stupid like “this album is better than Smile!” Well, it’s not: but with its lush yet spare strings and woodwinds, it definitely bests Stephen Sondheim (Sweeney Todd, slash your throat out!).

It’s to Van Dyke Parks’ credit that he can arrange such sonorous and American music without sounding like an incidental tune from Oklahoma. But he’s obviously been helped by the fortified framework Inara’s given him to build from. Van Dyke Parks is an orchestrator of the most lovingly dogged kind, sticking his notes daintily but steadfastly to the tunes as Inara wrote them. And while they are not precious, the songs definitely are charming, the accents and crescendos cleverly woven around her meandering, slightly jazzy vocals, which bring to mind Julie London’s phrasing and Regina Spektor’s throaty beauty.
»continue reading Review: Inara George with Van Dyke Parks, An Invitation



Recent Comments

Record Surplus: Now Over on Santa Monica Blvd.
ryan: Killing me. I have always thought the same thing(s) about that store...
MOCA Presents X @ Pacific Standard Time @ Geffen Contemporary This Saturday 1/28–Win Sold Out Tickets #PSTinLA
C.W.: ...
MOCA Presents X @ Pacific Standard Time @ Geffen Contemporary This Saturday 1/28–Win Sold Out Tickets #PSTinLA
B.G.: ...
Photos: Wu-Tang Clan @ Club Nokia, January 21, 2012
Victor: Clearly these chaps are not anything with which one would want...
Dengue Fever @ El Rey Theatre This Friday 1/27–Win Tickets
Adam: I would love to win these tickets! Thank you for...
Warm Weather Is Back with “Looking Through” e.p.
MAX PANYAGUA: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v =ynzqyyj6ew4 Here...
800 Degrees–Neapolitan Pizza in Westwood
EL CHAVO!: Now that’s the kind of food reviews we need. Fucking...
800 Degrees–Neapolitan Pizza in Westwood
ryan: How much for the miller lite do rag?

Follow Us
 Follow losanjealous on Twitter

Contact Us
Tips, feedback, questions, & submissions:

Write for Losanjealous