Randy Newman (album)

Randy Newman is the debut recording by Randy Newman, released in 1968. Unlike his later albums which featured Newman and his piano backed by guitar, bass guitar and drums, Randy Newman was highly orchestral and aimed to blend the orchestra with Newman's voice and piano.

Randy Newman never dented the Billboard Top 200 and was not received as well by critics as Newman's acclaimed 1970s albums 12 Songs, Sail Away and Good Old Boys; indeed, according to Ken Tucker, the album sold so poorly that Warner offered buyers the opportunity to trade the album for another in the company's catalog.^[1]Randy Newman was out of print for over 15 years until it was re-released on CD in 1995. It was remastered by Lee Herschberg.

The album is sometimes referred to as Randy Newman Creates Something New Under The Sun, which was written on the reverse of the album sleeve.^[2]^[3]

Details

Newman later commented on the lack of influence from rock and roll on the album. "It's like I'd never heard The Rolling Stones. I thought you could move things along just with the orchestra, that it was somehow cheating to use drums. What Van Dyke and I–and Harry Nilsson, to some degree–were doing, it was like a branch of homo sapiens that didn't become homo sapiens. Homo erectus," he said.^[4]

Reception

Critic Ellen Willis said the songs on the album, "show an intimate familiarity with, and an affection for, all the nuances of American life - the setting and characters, the family relationships, the romantic fantasies, the euphemisms - as well as an unsparing awareness of our oppression of old people, fat people, and other nonmainstream types."^[5]

AllMusic claimed Newman's lyrics were, "intent upon taking clichés and using them to satirize social conventions, a popular parlor game in the late '60s." Overall the album was considered, "an audacious first album by a major, if extremely quirky, talent."^[6] Rolling Stone noted, "the mood of a bitter longing for affection that characterizes the album."^[7]

Previous versions of songs on this album

As with many of Newman's early albums, several Newman-penned songs had been previously recorded by other artists.

"I Think It's Going to Rain Today", was originally recorded and released by Julius LaRosa in 1966. It had also been covered in 1966/67 by Judy Collins, Eric Burdon, and others.
"Living Without You" was issued as a single (under the title "So Hard Living Without You") by Keith Shields in February 1967.
"Love Story" was released as a single by The Brothers in August 1967. It was also recorded by Peggy Lee (1970 single), Harry Nilson, on Nilsson Sings Newman and Liza Minnelli, on Come Saturday Morning.
"So Long Dad" was released as a single by Manfred Mann in September 1967.
The Alan Price Set issued recordings of "Living Without You", "Bet No One Ever Hurt This Bad" (as "No One Ever Hurt So Bad") and "So Long Dad" on their 1967 album A Price On His Head.

Singles

"I Think It's Going to Rain Today" b/w "The Beehive State" was issued as a single on Reprise 0284. Reprise also issued this single on a promotional 10" vinyl 78 rpm record as the first (and only) release under their proposed "Reprise Speed Series" of 78 RPM releases (the series was discontinued by Reprise due to a lack of interest and sales a few months after this release).^[8]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	link
Rolling Stone Album Guide (1992)

Track listing

All songs written and arranged by Randy Newman.

"Love Story (You and Me)" – 3:20
"Bet No One Ever Hurt This Bad" – 2:00
"Living Without You" – 2:25
"So Long Dad" – 2:02
"I Think He's Hiding" – 3:04
"Linda" – 2:27
"Laughing Boy" – 1:55
"Cowboy" – 2:36
"Beehive State" – 1:50
"I Think It's Going to Rain Today" – 2:55
"Davy the Fat Boy" – 2:50

Personnel

Randy Newman - vocals, piano
Anthony Terran - trumpet
Herb Ellis - guitar
Jim Horn - saxophone
Plas Johnson - saxophone
Larry Knechtel - guitar, bass
Carol Kaye - bass
Al Casey - guitar
Milt Bernhart - trombone
Mike Deasy - guitar
Ron Elliott - guitar
Lyle Ritz - bass
Jim Gordon - drums
Tommy Morgan - harmonica
Ray Kelley - cello
Ted Nash - saxophone
Don Bagley - bass
James Burton - guitar
Israel Baker - violin
Arnold Belnick - violin
Harold Bemko - cello
Harry Bluestone - violin
Samuel Boghossian - viola
Gene Cipriano - saxophone
Gary Coleman - percussion (including mallets)
Nick DeCaro - piano, accordion
Frank DeCaro - guitar
James A. Decker - French horn
David Duke - French horn
Carl Fortina - accordion
Frederick Seykora - cello
James Getzoff - flute
Joe Gibbons - guitar
William Green - saxophone
Richard Hyde - trombone
Armand Karpoff - cello
Louis Kievman - viola
William Kurash - violin
Michael Lang - piano
Don Lanier - guitar
Gary LeVant - harmonica
Tommy LiPuma - engineer
Leonard Malarsky - violin
Lew McCreary - trombone
Jay Migliori - saxophone
Sid Miller - saxophone
Ollie Mitchell - trumpet
Louis Morell - guitar
Richard Perissi - French horn
William R. Perkins - saxophone
Jerome Reisler - violin
Victor Sazer - cello
Ralph Schaeffer - violin
Wilbur Schwartz - saxophone
Leonard Selic - viola
Sid Sharp - violin
Tommy Tedesco - guitar
Sal Valentino - guitar, vocals
Tibor Zelig - violin
Hubert Anderson - percussion (including mallets)
Joseph DiFiore - viola
William Hinshaw - French horn
Thomas Scott - saxophone
Harold Ayties - viola? Será?
Jesse Emrlich - cello
Elizabeth Ershoff - harp
David Filerman - cello
Gene Garf - piano, organ
Jan Hlinka - viola
Norman Jeffreis - drums
Gordon Pope - saxophone
James Rowles - piano
Joseph Tullio - cello
William Weiss - violin
Robert Knight - trombone

References

↑ Rolling Stone History of Rock & Roll 1986, p. 475.
↑ Kevin Courrier, Randy Newman's American Dreams, ECW Press, 2005, p.119
↑ William Ruhlmann, Review of Randy Newman, Allmusic.com. Retrieved 21 November 2015
↑ Keith Phipps (8 October 2003). "Randy Newman". A.V. Club.
↑ Ellen Willis (2011). Out of the Vinyl Deeps. University of Minnesota Press. p. 105. ISBN 978-0-8166-7283-7.
↑ William Ruhlmann. "Randy Newman". allmusic.
↑ Bruce Grimes (16 April 1970). "Randy Newman: 12 Songs". Rolling Stone.
↑ Billboard Magazine, November 23, 1968, "Reprise KO's 78's"

Randy Newman

Studio albums	Randy Newman (1968) 12 Songs (1970) Sail Away (1972) Good Old Boys (1974) Little Criminals (1977) Born Again (1979) Trouble in Paradise (1983) Land of Dreams (1988) Bad Love (1999) Harps and Angels (2008)

Live albums	Randy Newman Live (1971)

Compilations	Lonely at the Top: The Best of Randy Newman (1987) Guilty: 30 Years of Randy Newman (1998) The Randy Newman Songbook Vol. 1 (2003) The Randy Newman Songbook Vol. 2 (2011)

Musicals	Randy Newman's Faust (1995)

Films scored	Cold Turkey (1971) Ragtime (1981) The Natural (1984) Parenthood (1989) Awakenings (1990) Avalon (1990) Yakety Yak, Take it Back (1991) Trash Talk (1992) The Paper (1994) Maverick (1994) Toy Story (1995) James and the Giant Peach (1996) Michael (1996) Cats Don't Dance (1997) A Bug's Life (1998) Pleasantville (1998) Toy Story 2 (1999) Meet the Parents (2000) Monsters, Inc. (2001) Seabiscuit (2003) Meet the Fockers (2004) Cars (2006) Leatherheads (2008) The Princess and the Frog (2009) Toy Story 3 (2010) Monsters University (2013) Cars 3 (2017) Toy Story 4 (2018)

Soundtrack albums	Avalon (1990) Meet the Parents (2000) Cars (2006) The Princess and the Frog (2009)

Songs	"Mama Told Me Not to Come" "Sail Away" "He Gives Us All His Love" "Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear" "Political Science" "You Can Leave Your Hat On" "Louisiana 1927" "Rednecks" "Short People" "I Love L.A." "You've Got a Friend in Me" "When She Loved Me" "We Belong Together" "It's a Jungle Out There"

Related	Discography Brill Building Nilsson Sings Newman Raising the Bar

Family	Alfred Newman David Newman Emil Newman Joey Newman Lionel Newman Thomas Newman

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