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Warner Reprise had a period in which they covered some of the strangest & most innovative artists, and in that time they had an audience which was ready & willing to ride that wave. Van Dyke Parks put together this album during that period. He was heralded for his unique style. This is the album I remember.There are similarities with Randy Newman & Roy Cooder in that they attempted to sound as if they came from other worlds, other times. This is probably the more psychedelic album, while often sounding old & nostalgic in instrumentation and subject matter, there are production 'flourishes' that may leave you feeling like you're riding along in that capsule in the final sequence of Kubrick's 2001. Indeed not where everyone might want to be, but if you enjoy ride alongs you just might like a chance to be that astronaut.Steel drums are here in many places as are the errie accompaniments of female vocals, not in any manner to be compared with what you might have heard on Dark Side of the Moon.Van Dyke Parks comes to you as if he was at one time recorded on a 78rpm record and is pouring with total exuberance through an old gramaphone horn. I. E. this is a long shot from those base beats of today which will enventually have the screws falling off of your auto.Familiar with, from the original release date of this album when I got a copy this year for old times sake it sort of sat around. One day I was ready & picked it up, listened. Nope, this is definitely not hip-hop.Tried it again & suddenly caught myself repeating 'Rat-a-tat-tat' and 'G-Man Hoover' out loud as I walked to my bus. My black neighbors listened, nodded their heads in approval. Apparently they saw the charm of this strange chant.Perhaps you will be entertained by this classic weirdness as well.