Released April 1970 (1970-04) Length 29:51 Release date February 1970 | Recorded mid-1969 | |
Genres Rock music, Rock and roll, Americana Similar Randy Newman albums, Rock music albums | ||
Randy newman have you seen my baby
12 Songs is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter Randy Newman, released in April 1970 by Reprise Records. It features a swampy style of roots music with introspective, satirical songwriting. "Have You Seen My Baby?", the album's only single, was released in May.
Contents
- Randy newman have you seen my baby
- Music and lyrics
- Critical reception
- Track listing
- Musicians
- Production
- Songs
- References
When 12 Songs was first released, it was well received and has since garnered retrospective acclaim from critics such as Robert Christgau and Rolling Stone, both of whom cite it as one of the best albums of all time.
Music and lyrics
According to Q magazine, 12 Songs demonstrated Newman's eccentric mix of traditional pop song structures and his sardonic, satirical humor. AllMusic's Mark Deming said although his sense of humor seemed more caustic than on his self-titled debut album, Newman's "most mordant character studies" on 12 Songs "boast a recognizable humanity, which often make his subjects both pitiable and all the more loathsome." In the opinion of Robert Christgau, American songwriting in general is often "banal, prolix, and virtually solipsistic when it wants to be honest, merely banal when it doesn't", but Newman's truisms on the album are "always concise, never confessional", and unique:
Critical reception
12 Songs received positive reviews from contemporary critics. According to Keith Phipps from The A.V. Club, Newman "began to gather a following beyond critics and fellow songwriters" with the album. Rolling Stone magazine's Bruce Grimes gave it a rave review when it was released, hailing the album as "the full emergence of a leading innovator in rock and roll". In The Village Voice, Christgau called it the best record of 1970, finding the songwriting, production, and performances superior and "more accessible than the great-but-weird album that preceded it".
In a retrospective review, Christgau called 12 Songs "a perfect album", while Deming said it was Newman's "first great album, and ... still one of his finest moments on record." Yahoo! Music's Dave DiMartino observed some of Newman's "best-known earlier material" on the album, which he felt featured "a stellar trio of guitarists, including Ry Cooder, Clarence White and (Beau Brummels) Ron Elliott." Mojo commended Newman for replacing "the orchestra with an Americana rock rhythm section", while writing that "the more conventional presentation found Newman a college audience attuned to his wry singularity".
In 2003, 12 Songs was ranked number 354 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. Rob Sheffield, writing in The Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), cited it as the moment "where Newman got loose as a rock & roller, ditching the complex orchestrations for a bluesy, easy-swinging satire of America".
Track listing
All songs written by Randy Newman except where noted.
Side one
- "Have You Seen My Baby?" – 2:32
- "Let's Burn Down the Cornfield" – 3:03
- "Mama Told Me Not to Come" – 2:12
- "Suzanne" – 3:15
- "Lover's Prayer" – 1:55
- "Lucinda" – 2:40
- "Underneath the Harlem Moon" (Mack Gordon, Harry Revel) – 1:52
Side two
- "Yellow Man" – 2:19
- "Old Kentucky Home" – 2:40
- "Rosemary" – 2:08
- "If You Need Oil" – 3:00
- "Uncle Bob's Midnight Blues" – 2:15
Musicians
Production
Songs
1Have You Seen My Baby2:35
2Let's Burn Down the Cornfield3:05
3Mama Told Me Not to Come2:12