AMG Review of Orange Crate Art

Stephen Thomas Erlewine
All Music Guide

Brian Wilson enlisted Van Dyke Parks as his collaborator for SMiLE, the follow-up to the Beach Boys' groundbreaking album Pet Sounds. One single, "Heroes and Villains," was released from the sessions and became a hit, but the rest of the album remained on the shelves. Over the years, the legend of SMiLE continued to grow, as bootlegs circulated and selected songs were recorded by the Beach Boys (including "Sail on Sailor," from 1973's Holland). Parks and Wilson didn't work again until 1995, nearly 30 years after the SMiLE sessions. However, the resulting album, Orange Crate Art, isn't quite a collaboration -- it's a collection of Parks songs as sung by Wilson. Van Dyke Parks' approach is intellectual, not instinctual, which means his compositions are complex; similarly, his lyrics are dense and laden with poetic imagery and metaphors. Then again, Orange Crate Art isn't a pop album -- it's a self-conscious work of art.