12 Songs - RANDY NEWMAN***

Have You Seen My Baby/Let's Burn Down The Cornfield/Mama Told Me Not To Come/Suzanne/Lover's Prayer/Lucinda/Underneath The Harlem Moon/Yellow Man/Old Kentucky Home/Rosemary/If You Need Oil/Uncle Bob's Midnight Blues

Singer songwriter Randy Newman is best known for his quirky and sardonic lyrics. His second album release 12 Songs was originally a demo recorded before his self titled debut, and is notable for its stripped down backing.

“Modestly named 12 Songs Newman's second album eschews the melodramatic songs of love and despair that peppered his self-titled debut, replacing them with a constant stream of songs from the perspective of losers, bigots, weirdos, loners and psychos. These impeccably observed vignettes are simultaneously comic and troubling, tapping into a dark vein of humour which came to be synonymous with Newman's work.”

“Newman’s lyrics may jolt and potentially offend but he is so unerringly audacious and honest in his writing, and has such a winning way with a tune, that you can’t help but be taken along by the whole thing.”

“After the orchestral excess of his eponymous debut, Randy Newman stripped back his sound for his second effort, largely relying on a simple piano, guitar, bass and drums format. While this did little to mask the imperfections in Newman's voice, it gave the songs the room to breath in the simpler arrangements.”

“For me this was and still remains Randy Newman's high water mark as a recording artist. The style and sound of the whole LP is sparse and as such rather menacing which suits the subject matter of these songs. Neither before nor since has Newman so convincingly stepped inside the skins of his dark, delusional characters, added to the fact there is not a single bad track on the whole record.”

“Every song is memorable, and he had the good sense to abandon the vaudeville leanings of the first album in exchange for something a bit more primitive.”

“Where the songs are strong though, they are among Newman's most memorable, with the rollicking party tune of Mama Told Me being among Newman's best known songs and Lover's Prayer finding him at his sardonic and cynical best.”