Lightspeed Champion

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Soundclips

4...according to our Clinton on Fri 10 Dec, 2010.

Ignore the first track! 'Til I Die', by the Beach Boys is, in its original form, probably the best song of all time and is all but uncoverable. The song is more about textures and tones rather than a melody as such, therefore everyone who tries to attempt it buggers the thing up. Try, instead, tracks two, three and four which form a collaboration between Lightspeed Champion and Van Dyke Parks. Woah... stop there a minute.....Van Dyke Parks? The Beach Boys, Byrds & Joanna Newsom collaborator/general all round genius.....with the guy from Test Icicles? Incredible. As you may suspect it's baroque Autumn-hued pop that could have come straight off Van Dyke Parks' complex-pop 1968 debut 'Song Cycle'. The arrangements are amazing and Devonte Hynes does a decent with the vocals. That said, this kind of music is not to everyone's taste ''music for old ladies' I once heard someone say. I'd also say that I'd prefer this to any of Hynes previous work which has always been more about style than substance.

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· ‘Bye Bye’ opens with a magnificent cover of the
Beach Boys’ ‘Til I Die’, taken from their 1971
‘Surf’s Up’ album, reworked in Dev Hynes’
inimitable style.

· The three tracks that follow were arranged by
legendary composer and producer, Van Dyke Parks
(Beach Boys, Byrds, Joanna Newsom).

· ‘Underwater There Is Nothing’ is a version of the
similarly titled track from his most recent album
‘Life Is Sweet! Nice To Meet You’.

· ‘Bye Bye Icarus’ and ‘The Mess You're In’ are
previously unheard, opulent tracks, full of strings
and lush instrumentation.

· All previously unreleased music.

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