Randy Newman - Harps & Angels
|
List Price: Our Price: $9.69 You Save: $9.29 (49%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $3.24 (click here) Category: Music CD See more new music releases 
|
|---|
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
Free Music Notes for Harps & Angels
Free Music Review: Newman's Own - Randy Sees the Dark at the End of the Tunnel
Hit: 5 Stars
First, let's get the easy part out of the way - "Harps and Angels" is another great album from Randy Newman. If you like Newman, you won't regret the purchase.
For 40 years or so Randy Newman has been the troubadour of his generation, using razor-sharp wit and a soundscape steeped in Americana that is both the perfect foil for his irony and somehow deeply affecting at the same time. He understands America as it is, skewering its icons while empathizing with its losers. His songs are almost innocent in their underlying yearning for an America that could have been, but wasn't.
"Harps and Angels" continues in the same introspective vein that was so startling in "Bad Love." Newman was in his mid-50s when "Bad Love" was released. "Harps and Angels" catches Randy Newman in his mid-60s. On both albums, the songs are remarkably personal. All but gone are songs like "Birmingham," "It's Lonely At the Top," and "Lucinda," in which Newman uses a central fictional character, whether telling the story in the first person or the third, to make precise, gemlike incisions into the narcissistic confabulation which has become the American dream. In their place are songs that are ruminations by a middle-aged man about himself, the people he knows, and the world he lives in. The tunes in "Harps and Angels" are no less unsparing, insightful and laugh out loud funny than those in "Sail Away," or "Trouble in Paradise," but they are songs written by a man looking back on his life and times, knowing that the end, if not quite in sight, will be here soon enough.
In "Harps and Angels" Newman's awareness of his own mortality is everywhere. The title song is about the near-death experience of someone that could be Newman himself -- "My, heart began to pound, it was arhythmic and out of tune, I lost my equilibrium, and fell face down upon the ground" -- a 65-year-old man walking down the street felled by a heart attack. It turns out that the angels that surround him realize they have the wrong guy -- a clerical error -- and advise him to clean up his ways if he doesn't want to be met by pitchforks on the other side. In the hilarious "A Few Words in Defense of Our Country" Newman rails with bitterness that "this Supreme Court is going to outlive me," and makes some choice comments about "two young Italians and a brother" -- Scalia, Alito, and Clarence Thomas. He talks about losing his memory in "Potholes," reflecting that considering his behavior during his life he can only hope that the potholes get bigger instead of smaller -- memory loss as a blessing to a reprobate nearing the end of his life.
But "Harps and Angels" is not a depressing album. As always, going back to his earliest works, he cloaks his disappointment and disgust with the world and the people in it, including himself, in lyrics and music of such wit and humor that we can't help but crack a smile even when Newman is at his most bitter or morose. He damns his own generation for raising their kids in a world where the "Neighborhoods are dangerous, The public schools are bad." But then he offers the All-American easy way out. If you want your kids to excel in school, you don't have to pay more attention to them or work harder yourself, just hire "Korean Parents." Along the way, he takes well-aimed shots at the increasing gap between the haves and have-nots, the notion that John Cougar can be both a huckster for GM trucks and an authentic voice of the working stiff, and whatever else is "grinding his gears" (as Peter Griffin might say) these days.
The music as ever is wonderful. From his trademark, lazy, slow-rolling New Orleans-inflected blues, to the Weimar cabaret music of Kurt Weill, Newman proves once again that he is a master at creating the perfect musical backdrop to add bite or irony or pathos to his songs.
My only quibble with "Harps and Angels" is that it has been almost a decade since his last new album of original songs that are not movie soundtracks. I don't want to wait until Randy is 75 to get his next take on this American life.
Free Music Review: Hallelujah I Just Love Him So!
Hit: 5 Stars
"Connoisseurs covet Randy Newman's Seventies work, when he emerged as one of the most cutting and empathic of American singer-songwriters. So his return to political-minded material is reason to wrap yourself in the flag and cheer." Will Hermes
Randy Newman in the first line of the first song of his latest CD 'Harps & Angels" asks "Hasn't anybody seen me lately?" Yes, Randy we have, and we love ya, but we have been waiting for this studio CD for nine years. Hallelujah, I Just Love Him So! Most of the critical reviews of this new CD are positively positive. A mixed bag, so to speak of Randy's best. He goes back to his New Orleans, Dixieland roots in this CD, a most personal journey. Some have called this CD a little black, but I call it a rainbow. It has something for everyone. Political, bruised Patriotic wit, mixed in with a peculiar immigration policy. He is vexed and grateful that he can still provoke us. One critic called this CD whimsy and that term suits this CD to a "T". It is glorious and bleak, happy and showy, thoughtful, full of irony and humorous. And, above, all Randy Newman intones an achingly beautiful ballad, 'Feels Like Home'. Try to listen to Randy croon this tune without tears coming to your eyes. Is this a love song to a person or to his country? Funny, rueful and simple, Randy Newman sings this tune straight.
"If you knew how lonely my life has been
And how long I've been so alone
And if you knew how I wanted someone to come along
And change my life the way you've done
It feels like home to me, it feels like home to me
It feels like I'm all the way back where I come from
It feels like home to me, it feels like home to me
It feels like I'm all the way back where I belong."
Randy Newman is at his best when he is playing his music in a concert before a room of adoring fans. And, that is exactly the feel of this CD. Whether we came to Randy Newman because of his film scores or because of a love for his satires, political or not, you will not be disappointed. Randy sings to us in these ten songs of a loss of our American country as we knew it. The present administration may not be as bad as Cesar or Stalin, but its the worst we have seen. We have hope, we are not dead nor dying, in fact we have much to do. Randy throws us a Dixieland curve and sings of loss of a love, finding of a new love, the waste of memory on old age, the loss of deliverance of Patriotism by Jackson Browne and I like Jackosn Browne, the story of immigrants and how those of us living in the richest country in the world should expect more. And, then, finally Home, "Feels Like Home', one of the loveliest of songs. It has become my favorite and will certainly become a cover for every romantic singer.
Randy Newman moves from Tom Lehrer to Tom Waits. He may sound full of despair at times, but his soul searching moves on to love, joy and hope.
Highly, Highly Recommended. prisrob 10-29-08
Randy Newman Anthology
Randy Newman Anthology, Vol. 2 (Music for Film, Television and Theater)
Sail Away
Free Music Review: Randy Newman is Back!
Hit: 5 Stars
I always liked Randy Newman back in the 70s. He was something of a cult figure and had a loyal following and I enjoyed his music and had several of his LP records. Then about 1978, I had the opportunity to go to a Randy Newman concert held at the San Diego State Open Air Theater. Well, it turned out to be one of the best concerts I can remember. It was at about the time that "Short People," Newman's only major hit was playing the airwaves, and he drew a capacity crowd (perhaps 4000). Newman walked out on stage, looking somewhat apprehensive, and sat down at the piano under a single spotlight in exactly the same manner as he is sitting on the cover photo of this CD. He played a few simple chords and notes and began singing. I went into a trance. He was so funny that my inner soul was screaming with laughter at his sardonic twisted sense of humor, but the crowd was totally silent. I looked around and everybody was attentively listening and seemed very pleased, but there wasn't a sign of mirth. How could this be?
Well, I guess Randy Newman has a way of getting to me. Strangely, it doesn't happen, or at least doesn't happen as much, in his recordings. But live is something else. Alas, I'd guess that there's little chance of that happening for most of us anymore with him being so busy and such a big name in the movie music business and all the awards. Randy, we miss you. Your latest recording is excellent but please come back for some more live concerts at venues where we can see you and listen to your wonderful songs in person.
"Harps and Angels" is an excellent recording and I enjoy it very much. I'd say it's very much like his earlier recordings. Pleasant listening. Simple, basic piano-dominated arrangements. New Orleans style songs. Funny, twisted lyrics. But, a Randy Newman recording just doesn't get to me the way a Randy Newman live concert does. For those of you who liked his earlier albums, you'll probably enjoy this one as well. He doesn't drop the big one, but it's good listening. If you expect me to give anything less than five stars to Randy Newman, well it ain't gonna happen.
Gary Peterson
Free Music Review: Dark Brilliance
Hit: 5 Stars
Whatever you may think of Randy Newman, any artist who can link Clarence Thomas with the sudden downgrade in Pluto's planetary status and somehow have it make sense deserves more than a cursory listen. With the release of Harps & Angels, his first new record in nearly a decade, Randy remains in character as the crankiest bastard at the 4th of July picnic. I'm glad he came.
Even by his own high threshold for cynicism, Harps & Angels is exponentially so. If Jeremiah suddenly found himself in New Orleans with a piano and first-rate combo it is doubtful that the perpetually depressed prophet could have offered a collection of lamentations as beautifully despondent as Newman has served here.
This is Newman at his nasty, corrosive and subversive best railing and poking at an Empire that, in his not so humble opinion, is nearing its expiration date.
After getting the party rolling with a near-death confessional in the opening title track, Randy keeps it light with ruminations on Hitler, Stalin, Immigration, Outsourcing, Asian Ascendancy, vengeful parents, shattered love and as a bonus, returns to a theme that is near and dear to his best work, the self-indulgent nihilism of his Boomer cohorts - The Not So Great Generation.
In many ways Harps & Angels is Good Old Boys moved north for 2008 with America now squarely in the crosshairs.
Owing a great deal to his parallel career as an Oscar-winning film composer, the music and lyrics here converge in mini-screenplay format where the musical inflections are used with great precision in augmenting Newman's increasing reliance on spoken-word delivery. The overall effect is powerful set against the spare arrangements.
When Newman's at his best pinpointing favorite songs and lyrics really detracts from the pleasure of discovering the work on your own terms - ok, Korean Parents immediately stands out - but that's all you're going to get.
In closing, I can only suggest that you audition Harps & Angels for your friends at your next dinner party - just lock the medicine cabinet and hide the knives.
Free Music Review: A voice of reason in dangerous times
Hit: 5 Stars
Randy Newman is modern day, singing Voltaire who has turned his prodigious wit on a selection of social concerns that lead him to question whether the best days of the US Imperium are over. His targets here are the more serious offenders: religious humbuggery ("Harps & Angels"), failed political leadership ("A Few Word in Defense of Our Country"), lack of engagement with the serious concerns of our times ("Laugh & be Happy"), social and financial inequality ("Piece of The Pie"), dysfunctional relationships ("Only a Girl"), and parental confusion ("Korean parents"). There are two particularly beautiful ballads on this album that are likely to outlive the ephemeral political concerns of the other material. "Loosing You" is the confession of a middle aged man who has it all, but remains haunted by profound loss. The counterbalance is the wonderfully orchestrated ballad "Feels Like Home". The narrator finds love again after a long respite, returning to a place where he feels a profound sense of belonging. The essence of the song is encapsulated in this beautiful line: "feels like I'm on my way back where I'm from, with your embrace, down a long dark street and a sigh of wind in the night. It's alright, `cause I have you here with me, and I can almost see the dark feels light". Randy Newman is a marvel. I saw him live at the Capitol in Sydney in the late 1970's. For me, at times he projects the persona of a curmudgeon at a pantomime, but his wonderful catalogue belies any misanthropy. He is a great American, but more importantly a citizen of the world, in love with the best the human race has to offer, but vigilant about its failings. May he live forever.