Sweet, Sweet Music

Most of us know of Randy Newman as a film score composer. He has produced fabulous songs for many movies, most recently for his work with the Toy Story movies by Disney Pixar. He’s released 26 film scores during his career, mostly for comedies. However, Newman has been a recording artist since the early 1960’s, releasing ten studio albums and a live album. He has also written songs for other artists and had other artists cover his own releases.

Although he did not live there his entire childhood, you can hear the New Orleans style in Newman’s piano playing and vocal style. He has that drawl that is typical of music artists from there, including artists such as Dr. John and Louis Armstrong. His songs often are satirical and witty. I personally like the hidden meanings in a lot of his songs. Listen to the feature songs in one of the Toy Story movies or A Bug’s Life. There are hidden meanings in those (I think that’s how the movie studios attract adults to kids’ movies). The focus of this blog entry, though, is his studio album Harps & Angels.

#138 – Randy Newman, Harps & Angels (Metascore = 86)

Newman’s jazzy piano immediately drew me into listening to this record. While I have always enjoyed his songs, he captures your attention right away with the title track. His vocal style is also appealing and lends to the humor in his songs. I like “Harps and Angels” because of the story. Here the character has been in an accident and is having a spiritual moment, and he realizes the errors of his ways (after a strong talking to). “Losing You” is a beautiful ballad of loss. While he didn’t do the score for the Pixar movie Up, this song would be perfect for that movie.

“Laugh and Be Happy” will cheer you back up; there’s no need to be all downtrodden all the time. Just enjoy life. “A Few Words in Defense of Our Country” compares the United States’ leaders to those of historical tyranny, how the U.S. isn’t all that bad, but it isn’t all that good at times. “A Few Words” kicks off a few songs that attack the current policies of the United States in different ways, from the Supreme Court to health care (“A Piece of the Pie”) to education (“Korean Parents”). I am somewhat surprised by this, but I suppose I am not as familiar as I should be of his music. I do find it compelling, though, especially with the music that accompanies the lyrics. I enjoy the varied styles that each of the songs. At times the songs sound like film score songs, at other times they cross the spectrum to Oriental music.

I found this album to be a great snapshot of Randy Newman’s music. His storytelling style makes his songs very entertaining and intriguing. Each song from beginning to end has a unique story that has humor, sadness, anger and love.