Now Playing.... Randy Newman

Day off from work and I thought I' d spin some Randy Newman.
' Sail Away ' is playing now. What a terrific album. It was the first Newman album I bought after reading an ecstatic review of it in Rolling Stone way back when.And that review was right on the money.
Over the years I picked up all his records but they're , sadly , all gone now.
All I have now are CDs of ' Sail Away ' , ' 12 Songs ' and ' Good Old Boys '. Three of his absolute best without a doubt but I' m gonna have to do something about expanding my Newman collection.
Anyway ! ' God' s Song ' is ending ( what a song !) And I'm putting on ' Good Old Boys ' next.

 

12 Songs has always been my favorite RN record & IMO his only perfect album...

Nobody in the early 70s was cutting through all the BS & telling like it should have been anywhere close to RN...

All his early 70s records are essential except again IMO Little Criminals...

2 newer RN records that are quite good & suggested...

1.Harps And Angels
2.Dark Matter

 

Second only to Dylan in the category of great American contemporary songwriters.

 

Sail Away may be my second favorite behind Little Criminals. 12 Songs is great also.

 

I was listening to a song by RN a couple of days ago entitled Miami (from "Trouble In Paradise") and was surprised at how much it reminded me of Steely Dan/Donald Fagen, in spirit and sound. Not an influence or likeness one hears often in pop-rock music...

 

Fabulous! He's a genius!

 

I've been on a Newman kick lately and delving into what I missed.

I pretty much agree with everything here, though I'm still working through Dark Matter (which Robert Christgau named his album of the year, but surprisingly Greil Marcus wasn't a fan).

Ranking the five albums I have or will have, it would be:

1. 12 Songs
2. Good Old Boys
3. Sail Away
4. Harps and Angels
5. Randy Newman s/t debut

Beyond that, I have a homemade compilation that gathers my favorite rarities and highlights like "Vine Street," "Gone Dead Train," "Short People," "It's Money That I Love," "I Love L.A.," "My Life Is Good," "Dixie Flyer," "New Orleans Wins the War," "I Just Want You To Hurt Like I Do," "My Country," "Shame" and "I Miss You" among others.

 

Anybody else check out Live From Seattle KISW Broadcast 1974? I'm pretty indulgent when it comes to sound quality so I find it quite enjoyable.

 

" No one likes us / I don't know why / We may not be perfect / But heaven knows we try/ But all around even our old friends put us down / Let's drop the big one and see what happens

 

No offense, but has anyone ever asked you why you put spaces between your quotation marks, parentheses, slashes, and other punctuation marks?

 

This matters because?

 

No offense taken .
Pick one of the following reasons:
I like my posts to look airy and spacious
I'm a crappy typist
I'm somewhat OCD

 

Good Old Boys is my favorite. His self-titled debut doesn't get a lot of love, but I think it's fantastic, and it really showcases his skills as a wunderkind orchestral arranger.
Sail Away is also great except for "You Can Leave Your Hat On." IMO, he was out to lunch when he wrote that one-chord throwaway. Not up to his usual high standards. I don't get why so many people covered it.

 

Because I am curious. Like a cat. That's why they call me "Whiskers".

 

Because it's a weird , somewhat sleazy and creepy 'love' song. Tom Jones aces it. Joe Cocker too.

 

It's only Money that Matters

I listen to Randy every day. What else is new?

Stay away from me!

 

I have the 5 CD Album Classics set, love it. But I realized I wanted to dig a bit deeper, bought Born Again and Trouble In Paradise, both arrived today. Should be interesting listens, especially Born Again, many seem to not like that one.

But to my surprise, while searching I seen Sail Away had been remastered/expanded in 2002. I really like that album, but my favorite Newman album is Good Old Boys. I checked ebay and found that it too had been remastered, and it was a 2 CD set! It looks like the second disc is almost a different album. The seller had a buy it now for $19.99, so I pounced. Can't wait for it to come, love the album, and really looking forward to the bonus tracks. It seems Sail Away and Good Old Boys were the only two albums that got the remaster/expanded treatment from Rhino, unless I'm not seeing the others.

So I've got some new (to me) Newman to tide me over until Good Old Boys arrives. So much music, so little time.

 

I'm a bit more partial to "Bad Love", "Good Old Boys" and "Land of Dreams".

 

I have that ' Good Old Boys ' you're so anxiously waiting for.
The album itself , as you know , is fantastic , classic Newman.
The bonus disc is very much worthy of your acquaintance. Some alternate takes , a few unreleased tracks and Newman talking a bit.
You'll like it !

 

CD arrived yesterday, was very impressed. The remaster sounds fantastic, finally has some bass, backing vocals are more profound, same with the strings. Disc 2 is very interesting, very revealing listen. Might have to pick up the remastered Sail Away as well.

 

I ordered the expanded/remastered Sail Away as well, supposed to arrive tomorrow. Was Sail Away and Good Old Boys the only two albums to get the expanded treatment from Rhino? Can't find any other Newman CDs but those two.

 

There are no missteps in the Newman catalog until after Little Criminals. and even then, they weren't massive mistakes, just albums that weren't as cohesive/significant.

If you don't own anything else, you should definitely own this:

https://www.amazon.com/Original-Album-RANDY-NEWMAN/dp/B005JS7VQO

 

Truly great.

Birmingham is my favorite from the album -- tremendous arrangement/orchestration. Marie is a close second...

 

a question for the Newman fans here (I am one, of course):
Do any of you also follow/listen to Randy Newman's film music?
He's written/recorded some wonderful scores

 

I like 12 songs very much. I like the sparse band arrangements of this one. And what a bunch of characters depicted in the songs! The stalker/maniac of "Suzanne" is truly creepy