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randy newman 12 songs sail away
Randy Newman Although widely respected and acknowledged, Randy Newman never became a household name. He has had various minor hits, but usually he enjoys the most commercial success when his songs are covered by other artists. Part of the reason for that might be his slightly nasal and slurred vocals that unfortunately might frighten the average listener. His self titled debut (also known as Randy Newman Creates Something New Under The Sun) is an enjoyable, but inconsistent listen. The singer/songwriter often takes the role as an observer, rather than telling about self-lived experiences and the sarcastic, sometimes cynical sense of humor probably will raise both eyebrows and smiles. Strong moments such as opening “Love Story (You And Me)” and “I Think It’s Going To Rain Today” are mixed with less exciting material. The really odd, and not rarely questionable, orchestration is far from necessary on most tracks. The most offensive arrangement is presented in “Laughing Boy”, which is a shame since it has potential of being a true highlight among these other numbers. Sometimes the orchestration does work, as in the Beach Boys/Phil Spector-ish “Love Story (You And Me)” and the low-keyed “Cowboy”. However, usually the most exciting songs are the ones delivered in the most humble way. “I Think It’s Going To Rain Today” starts out with just a broken voice over a fragile piano, and that is Newman at his very best. Of course the orchestra comes in after a while, but it’s never as chaotic or over the top as in “Laughing Boy” or the nasty “Davy The Fat Boy”. The latter manages to make the listener feel sorry for the mocked Davy, but at the same time laugh out loud. That’s good songwriting, folks. On this stumbling debut, there are songs that falls somewhere in between the freaked out strings, horns and drums and the quite sublime arrangements. “The Beehive State” and “Bet No One Ever Hurt This Bad” are good enough, and never distract from the already set standard of the album. An album that is promising, if yet a sometimes frustrating listen.
12 Songs Compared to the debut, 12 Songs is certainly a step up for Newman. The orchestrations is wiped off completely in favor of full focus on the actual songs and Newman’s piano playing. Now, Newman is not the greatest piano player there is, but he achieves what he sets out to do. Also, since a more traditional band is used more frequently here, the piano remains the main instrument even if it’s not right up in your face. Influences and inspiration is gathered from soul, blues and a teeny bit of country. Simply put; more down to earth and rootsy music. Soul-inspired stumpers such as “Have You Seen My Baby” and “Mama Told Me Not To Come” surely witness of a change, even if Newman’s lyrical humor remains intact. Maybe that was the problem with the debut, that he tried to make the music somewhat humorous as well? 12 Songs just plain and delivers each and every track without hesitation. “Lucinda” and “Underneath The Harlem Moon” leans more towards country and even if they don’t get you at first, they will eventually. Besides the solid songwriting and Randy Newman’s own performance, most notable is the presence of guitar ace Ry Cooder. Especially his work on the extremely bluesy and low-keyed “Let’s Burn Down The Cornfield” is worth mentioning, as it’s the only song that doesn’t feature a piano and is completely built around Cooder’s excellent slide guitar. The song is so quiet that you might miss its appeal unless you crank up the volume really loud. Getting out of the sofa to change the volume is a cheap price to pay. Just remember to turn it down again, as the following “Mama Told Me Not To Come” is significant louder. It should be fair to say that 12 Songs doesn’t posseses many clear individual highlights, but it is extremely consistent and never falls into any valleys of embarrassments. A strong release and probably the album where we start seeing more of the real Randy Newman. At least more so than on his debut.
Sail Away Sail Away sees the orchestration of the debut finally blending tastefully in with the bluesier, and far more humble, sounds of 12 Songs. Yet, no matter of orchestration or pure rock band performances, it never sounds like Newman deliberately wrote songs for anybody else than himself. It even sounds like a lonely guy playing his own songs for himself, completely unaware if anyone is listening or not. In fact, hardly anyone actually was listening at the time, since Sail Away never managed to squeeze itself past the 160 position on the Billboard charts. Whilst the title track is beautifully arranged and has a strong melody, the lyrics defines what Newman is all about. Witty, sarcastic and not afraid to touch subjects that needs a huge amount of self irony. “Sail Away” and “Political Science” both witness about Newman’s excellent skill to approaching extremely serious topics with a unique sense of humor. However, sometimes the sarcastic remarks are humorless, fully intent to be touching and actually creates an uneasy feeling rather than raising smiles and chuckles. “Old Man” definitely is one of those songs, and also is presented in a darker way than the other songs here. “Lonely At The Top” and particularly “Last Night I Had A Dream” musically has a lot of common with songs such as “The Beehive State” from the debut, close to what someone like Tom Waits would do on his albums a couple of years later. I think I should point out that “Last Night I Had A Dream” starts out in a scary, nightmare-ish way, but turns into a more jolly, soul rhythm after a while and anyone who can honestly say they haven’t sung along with the ‘honey can you tell me what your name is’-line, probably haven’t heard the song. “You Can Leave Your Hat On” appears towards the end, and sadly most people knows it from either the Tom Jones or Joe Cocker version. Musically it is a twin number to “Mama Told Me Not To Come”, which was also covered by Tom Jones, but it is far less clumsy and sterile as Jones’ recording. Since Randy Newman isn’t a "sex bomb", nor is he trying to be, it becomes something completely different than the more famous cover versions. More likeable, more humble. Sail Away is an incredibly strong and even album, even if there are some songs that could be regarded as filler material (“He Gives Us All His Love”). On the other hand, most of these songs are short enough, so there’s really no time to be annoyed or bothered with the less impressive material anyway. And even the weakest moments has some lyrical twists, nice arrangements or something else that makes them worth sitting through. It is also an album that lyrically still stands up today and never sounds dated or old, even though Newman avoids classic stories about painful love. That alone is impressive. Wait until you hear the music.
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