Randy Newman – RANDY NEWMAN***

Love Story/Bet No One Ever Hurt This Bad/Living Without You/So Long Dad/I Think He’s Hiding/Linda/Laughing Boy/Cowboy/The Beehive State/I Think Its Going To Rain Today/Davy The Fat Boy

Eponymous debut album from the sometimes caustic singer songwriter Randy Newman. He would achieve commercial and critical success in the 1970s. Many of his songs are better known as covers by other artists.

“This is a very listenable and enjoyable album, but not recommended as a first exposure to Newman. He was clearly still developing his voice and style. But Newman fans will likely love every minute and not be bothered by the ever present youthfulness that pervades this album.”

“Randy Newman is the perfect introduction to the work of the great songwriter himself. The album, albeit short, can be played over and over again so you can fully appreciate the subtlety of Newman's lyrics and music. The two are equally masterful. His music, put simply, is quite beautiful; his lyrics, however, are primarily what have made him so revered throughout the industry. They are cynical, bitter, hilarious, ironic, scary, satirical, twisted, jaded, sad, concise and incisive.”

“The lyrics are miniature portraits of Americana. They aren't as introspective as later albums, but they have all the humour and despair of his best work. And the orchestrations are harmonically interesting and dynamic.”

“I consider myself a fan of the composer's songs and orchestrations and even his singing, but here his voice is at its squeakiest and he's frequently overpowered by the excellent orchestrations that accompany the songs.”

“This is copybook Newman although definitely one of his sadder efforts. As usual, it still somehow makes me feel good. Maybe it is just so hard to find someone so honest about the imperfect way humans think and feel that it has made Randy a breath of fresh air.”

“Something is amiss here. The first thing is Randy's singing. It's not so good on his debut album. He's never been a world class singer, but in the years following this album he developed his voice into an effective and cool sounding instrument. But he had yet to figure out how to use it properly here. The other thing that irks me is the arrangements, as some of the instrumentation is pretty busy, noisy and jarring.”