I honestly know very little about Randy Newman. The only exposure I’ve had to him is a parody of himself featured on an episode of Family Guy from 1999 about Y2K. That being said, I recently saw someone post about him on twitter, and I figured I’d give him a listen. Come to find out that this album is a roots rock/country rock album that made it all the way to 36 on the billboard hot 200 at its peak, and I’m pretty excited to hear what’s in store.
“Rednecks” is most definitely a bit colorful in lyrics right away, but Randy Newman’s voice has a super interesting semi-southern drawl. I’ve never really heard anyone with an accent like his, especially in their singing. That piano is pretty awesome though. Wow, that pedal steel guitar comes in out of nowhere and adds a lot of flavor to the chorus. There’s definitely some interesting commentary on both the North and the South of the States. The drums are pretty pop-y, and gives a real interesting backbeat to the song.
“Birmingham” has a real sort of back country 1950s pop feeling to it – somehow evoking pictures of simpler times in a small town in the south during the 1950s. Very soothing for sure.
“Marie” feels like quite a personal tune with the soft string chorus at the beginning. It’s very heartfelt for sure. Randy Newman definitely has a unique voice – particularly the timbre which has a smooth gruff quality to it, almost as if he had started smoking cigarettes in the past few years, but hadn’t been for a while.
“Mr. President (Have Pity On the Working Man)” features some guitars on it, which always can capture my ears. I think Nixon was president at the time of this recording, so this is almost assuredly a plea to him and some form or fashion. I really like the orchestral background – there’s definitely a string section and possibly horns, but I’m not 100% sure. The acoustic matches well with the percussion to give a nice jangliness to the tune. The song slowly builds up momentum for its duration, and surprisingly so, as things are slowly added until the song swells to a finish.
“Guilty” is a bit bluesier in nature compared to the rest of the album. I really like the simple piano to it that speaks volumes through its simplicity. Quite an emotional piece that I definitely got lost in for a moment.
“Louisiana 1927” starts out with an orchestral piece that feels like it transports me to a different time in history. Then Newman drops in the piano as the orchestra drops out and what we have is a true feeling, historical song that you can feel a certain sadness through. At the same time, as the orchestra comes in, there remains a bit of optimism, perhaps strength. Quite a beautiful song in my opinion.
“Every Man a King” starts out with a bit of rollicking ragtime sounding piano. Definitely a bit of a feel-good optimistic song after the last couple of emotional songs.
“Kingfish” starts out some strange piano, that’s a bit discordant in a way. There’s a lot of tension being built between that piano and the orchestra that sort of echos the piano. Wow, they just resolved that tension a bit, and it turns into a great rootsy jam. I really dig that orchestra to this song. It’s a pretty awesome song, I found myself snapping my fingers along to it at a couple of points.
“Naked Man” starts out with a unique feel compared to the rest of the album. The instrumentation is definitely a bit more diverse in both the instruments and the notes played. This one features such musical diversity and simple ingenuity in the melody. This song really expands the range of music found in the album by a lot.
“A Wedding In Cherokee County” is quite a beautiful piece to start. It’s a bit colorful in lyricism again, but the instrumentation is quite beautiful to hear. Definitely a song filled with love, but one that is almost self-confessional at the same time – quite an interesting mix in my opinion.
“Back On My Feet Again” is the longest song on the album at only 3 minutes and 22 seconds. The lyrics are definitely interesting to hear. I really dig the sound on this one. It’s sort of some Florida (that’s just the state that comes to mind for me) bayou rock sounding stuff in my opinion. That piano is dancing around the tune in quite an elegant way, while the electric guitar does the little flourishes to the song. Probably the most rounded song on the album so far in my opinion.
“Rollin'”is kind of bluesy in a way, but it almost avoids being a blues song in a sort of ragtime-y way. The background vocals is really soothing and smooth. Newman’s piano is featured quite nicely, in my opinion, in this song that was originally the last track on the album. It’s almost as if the album is steadily rolling to a close, tying up any emotional tension built up throughout the album pretty well.
“Marie (Demo Version)” wasn’t on the original release, but it’s on the version I’m listening to on Apple Music at the moment. This version feels even more personal than the one from earlier in the album. You can feel a weight behind the song that’s quite touching, with an undoubted warmness to it. Definitely a beautiful piece of music.
This album was a great way to wind down my day. Definitely not a very fast-paced album, but by no means did it lack musical momentum. If you haven’t checked out Randy Newman and you’re into southern music, there’s a good chance you’ll enjoy listening to this one.
-A