Randy Newman - Harps & Angels
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Music CD Cover
Artist: Randy NewmanEdition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
CD Release Date: 2008-08-05
Music Label: Nonesuch
Soundtracks:
- Harps and Angels
- Losing You
- Laugh and Be Happy
- A Few Words
- A Piece of the Pie
- Easy Street (3:14)
- Korean Parents
- Only a Girl
- Potholes
- Feels Like Home
Free Music Notes for Harps & Angels
Free Music Review: A Few Words in Defense of Randy...
Hit: 5 Stars
It seems like a decade since Randy Newman released an album of original tunes. Whoa... it has been a decade... almost. The brilliantly caustic and beautiful "Bad Love" appeared way back in the pre-911 world, 1999 years after the Common Era. True, he tried to distract us with "The Randy Newman Songbook Vol. 1 " in 2003. Nice try. The way it looks this volume 1 will end up similar to his "The Girls in My Life, Part 1." For those who don't know, after almost 30 years, "Part 2" of this epic still hasn't appeared. But with Randy Newman the wait always pays off. Thankfully, his first Oscar in 2001 (after 15 nominations!) and becoming a darling of Hollywood movie scores hasn't spoiled Newman's best side: his witty bitterness at the state of our world. "Harps and Angels" remains as caustic, as penetrating and as laugh-out-loud-at-how-screwed-we-are as any of Newman's previous releases. The return of Lenny Waronker, who produced some of his earliest classics, also permeates this album. After almost a decade it seems like Newman never left.
The title track may spark remembrances of "Faust." In it, a man has a near death experience complete with angelic background singers and French-speaking apostles. Though this Francophone tells him to "keep his business clean" or else, the resurrected Lazarus sums up this alarming experience by telling his friends "There really is an afterlife, and I hope to see you all there. Let's go have a drink." "Losing You" conjures up the classic orchestral Newman sound with strings juicier than ripe mangoes. "Laugh and Be Happy" reads like an amalgam of "Sail Away" and "Roll With The Punches." The insertion, and inversion, of a super serious line from a U2 song remains one of the album's greatest moments. "A Few Words in Defense of Our Country" stands as one of the album's centerpieces. Those who feel dispossessed by the last 8 years of American government will empathize with the sentiment presented here. Punctuated by steel slide guitar, the song tells us to chill, things could be much worse, just look at the Caesars, the Spanish Inquisition, Hitler, Stalin, and King Leopold of Belgium. The insinuations radiating here require no further elucidation. Not to mention the line "Pluto's not a planet anymore either." "Piece of the Pie" explores similar themes with delicious dissonance. It also declares a new hero: Jackson Browne (presumably because "Bono's off in Africa - he's never around"). "Easy Street" looks at life from the perspective of the élite. The music lilts appropriately. "Korean Parents" presents a solution to the alleged nescience of the younger generation, complete with Asian musical themes in the tradition of Newman's "Yellow Man." The bouncy jazzy "Only a Girl" explores the age old issue of old man with young girl ("Why would someone beautiful as she love someone old like me. Maybe it's the money. Jeez, I never thought of that"). "Potholes" takes on memory loss in a strangely humorous manner. And finally, the last track will definitely spark remembrances of "Faust," because the song actually appeared on that album back in 1995. Then, Bonnie Raitt sang it in the context of "seducing" the devil. Here, Newman delivers a rendition as moving as his justifiably famous ballad "Marie." No one will likely complain about the re-run. "Feels Like Home" closes the album on an unforgettable poignant note.
Newman's albums and career span 40 years. Through these four decades he has managed to release 12 albums of original pop material as well as countless film and TV scores. At age 64, the sad question of his inevitable retirement begins to wrinkle brows. We can all hope that "Harps and Angels" isn't his final release of this type. But given the frequency of his albums, things don't look good. But who knows? Maybe he'll crank out another classic in his 70s? Or perhaps he'll retire from film music and dedicate his time to annual follow-ups? Maybe the sun won't supernova? Regardless of the murky future, Newman has had a very productive, acclaimed, and distinctive 40 year career. The social side of his music will likely get examined by those interested in life in 20th century America (particularly his "Good Old Boys). His pursual of the New Orleans sound combined with take no prisoners satire will also stick out in the ever commercialized music world of the past half-century. Though it's too early to wave the checkered flag on Newman's career, that moment can't remain too far off. Luckily we'll have his masterpieces to keep us company after that day arrives.
Harps & Angels Poster
Randy Newman's first studio album of all new material in nearly a decade is, by turns, hilarious, poignant and scathingly satirical. Harps and Angels often has an easy going Crescent City feel, with Newman on piano fronting a small combo and revealing, as Rolling Stone put it after the Carnegie Hall show, his serious love and study of the New Orleans piano tradition.Folk Music CDs
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