Released June 1968 Length 27:24 Randy Newman
(1968) 12 Songs
(1970) | Recorded 1968 Label Reprise | |
Producer Lenny Waronker, Van Dyke Parks | ||
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.
Contents
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.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.
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.
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."
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." Rolling Stone noted, "the mood of a bitter longing for affection that characterizes the album."
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.
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).
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