Van Dyke Parks on upcoming projects, SMiLE sessions release

Composer/songwriter and Brian Wilson collaborator Van Dyke Parks tells Mojo mag he's planning to release songs on a series of 7 45rpm singles next year, plus provides some details on the upcoming release of the Beach Boys' version of SMiLE.

The Smile Sessions are finally being released in September. When somebody mentions Smile, what's the first thing that pops into your head?
Crows over a cornfield [a reference to the Parks-penned line in Smile's Cabinessence]. I hear the box set is going to be absolutely beautiful. It will be very comforting to see that it's finally commercially available.

How has your relationship with the songs on Smile changed over the years?
I really think they're fine. I don't see any septic quality in them at all. In fact, the unvarnished truth is that they are without malice. Please bring that into the contemporary framework! But I wish, darn it, that it hadn't had so much celebrity. The celebrity of it got in the way. Otherwise, it would have been fine.

Religion, to me, is music. What Brian brought to the table was a closeted understanding of low-church hymns. I knew that that man had a divine regard. That's what really made me want to serve his interest with all my heart. We were coming from entirely separate arenas - he from right-wing comfort and me from the left-wing shock therapy of being out in Los Angeles with no money. I think our common thread was that we shared that music.