Randy Newman

Newman's third album, which came out in 1972, explores religion, racism and sarcasm with a mixture of intelligence and candor. The big, twisted laments are marked by his rolling New Orleans piano and Ry Cooder's guitar. Newman's lyrics are brilliantly written, melodic enough for an oblivious sing-along and smart enough to cause smirks.

Randy Newman's third studio album, Sail Away (Reprise 2064), produced by Lenny
Waronker and Russ Titelman, is further confirmation–as if any more were needed–of the
fact that Newman is our most sophisticated art-song composer and also the most
self-consciously American. His first album, co-produced by Waronker and Van Dyke Parks,
was almost too much of a good thing. Newman the songwriter, the bitter ironist,... More >

Like most aesthetes, Newman is an ironist. This is fine when he's singing about human relationships, which tend to be problematic, but it's rarely sufficient morally to the big political and religious themes he favors these days. If 12 Songs was Winesburg, Ohio (or even Dubliners) transported to 1970 Los Angeles, Sail Away sometimes has the tone of Tom Lehrer transported to 1972 Haiphong, where he has no more business than Bob Hope. But never before has Newman managed to yoke his orchestral command to his piano, and I hope the leap in listenability will attract some new admirers. Also, the cosmic ironies do fit the title song, in which a slave trader becomes the first advertising man, or perhaps--this is not Tom Lehrer stuff--Melville's confidence-man, for a masterpiece even stranger and more masterful than Newman's other masterpieces. (Grade - A-)