Randy Newman

Released

His songs had already been performed by the likes of Gene Pitney and Cilla Black, but Randy Newman was the first full-length that gave listeners a clear glimpse of the psychology behind the songwriter for hire. Or a slightly obscured glimpse, really, given the canny ways that Newman effaces the self in his songs; they’re rarely about the self. What they are about, then, is the confusions of mid-twentieth century American life, channelled through time-honoured themes (love, loss, need, using and being used by others). Randy Newman feels unique in the artist’s catalog in its orchestral settings – later, Newman would opt for more direct settings for his solo songs. Van Dyke Parks is present as co-producer, which makes plenty of sense, given the curious, anomalous mood of the album (though it shares a certain aged timelessness with Parks’s own Song Cycle). “I Think It’s Going To Rain Today” is the classic song here, but there are better on the album – particularly when it feels like Newman is tossing the songs aside as he performs them, e.g. “So Long Dad,” “Bet No One Ever Hurt This Bad.”

Jon Dale

Suggestions
Playback Singers cover

Playback Singers

Damon & Naomi
Old Rottenhat cover

Old Rottenhat

Robert Wyatt
Freedom cover

Freedom

Neil Young
Lah-Di-Dah cover

Lah-Di-Dah

Jake Thackray
A Sky Record cover

A Sky Record

Damon & Naomi, Michio Kurihara
Warm Chris cover

Warm Chris

Aldous Harding
Dandruff cover

Dandruff

Ivor Cutler
Plastic Ono Band cover

Plastic Ono Band

Yoko Ono, John Lennon