Randy Newman
(Nonesuch)
You’d think a guy could only write so many Disney hits before whatever edge he may have had is too embarrassed to be seen at his recording sessions.
Then there’s Randy Newman, whose wit is as biting as ever on this, his first album of all-new material since 1999, beginning with a track that’s been available on iTunes since 2007, the wickedly funny “A Few Words in Defense of Our Country.” A piano-driven country song, it finds him struggling to come up with something nice to say about America, but the only defense of George W. Bush and his goon squad he can think of is a shrugging “The leaders we have, while they’re the worst we’ve had, are hardly the worst this poor world has seen.” And then, he names a few. For context. Hitler. Stalin. “Men who need no introduction,” Newman sputters with a wicked grin. It’s probably the most inspired anti-Bush song anyone has written, and the humor only makes it that much more effective.
Newman’s other bid for greatest slice of social commentary this millennium is “A Piece of the Pie,” a track whose madcap orchestration makes the most of his moonlighting soundtrack experience. It’s a show tune, really, a cynical look at American dreams gone tragicomic. “Living in the richest country in the world,” he wonders, “wouldn’t you think you’d have a better life?” Newman throws in hilarious references to Jackson Browne (the only one who “gives a shit”) and Johnny Cougar’s car commercial, prompting the use of a Greek chorus (shouting him down with “John’s a patriot”).
Other highlights range from “Potholes,” a New Orleans-flavored celebration of the potholes life can throw your way, including Newman’s teenage daughter, to the existential title track that sets the tone here. Working the same vibe as “Potholes,” “Harp and Angels” finds the singer lying face down on the pavement, certain he’s dying when he hears the sound of harps and angels. But it’s not his time yet, as it turns out. The angels are there on a clerical errand and he’s free to go on living with the knowledge that unless he mends his ways, instead of harps and angels, he’ll be facing “trombones, kettle drums, pitchforks and tambourines.” Like most tracks here, it’s brilliant.
Standout Tracks: “A Few Words in Defense of Our Country,” “Harps and Angels” A. WATT
