Track Listing

1. Beehive State
2. Laughing Boy
3. Linda
4. I Think He's Hiding
5. So Long Dad
6. Davy The Fat Boy
7. Cowboy
8. Bet No One Ever Hurt This Bad
9. Love Story (You And Me)
10. Living Without You
11. I Think It's Going To Rain Today

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #76408 in Music
• Released on: 2000-02-14
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

CD Description
Originally titled RANDY NEWMAN CREATES SOMETHING NEW UNDER THE SUN and released with a hopelessly unhip album cover, Randy Newman's heavily-orchestrated debut album has more in common with Van Dyke Parks's SONG CYCLE or Harpers Bizarre's ANYTHING GOES than the stripped-down sound of Newman's better-known '70s albums. (Uncoincidentally, both the latter were also produced by Newman's childhood friend Lenny Waronker; Newman was involved in both songwriting and arrangement.)
The album is best known for early examples of Newman's satiric gifts such as "Davy the Fat Boy", the middle-America-mocking "The Beehive State", and "So Long, Dad". But more serious and emotional songs like "Bet No One Ever Hurt This Bad" and the majestic "I Think It's Gonna Rain Today" (impressively covered by the likes of Judy Collins and Dusty Springfield) reveal a deeper side to Newman's songwriting that's sometimes overshadowed by the more overtly funny songs.

Customer Reviews

A Hidden Gem
This is one of the finest albums ever made. Whilst I would not recommend any newcomer to Newman to begin with this album ('Sail Away' or Good Old Boys' perhaps) it is the album of his which haunts me most.
The album bears little relation to mainstream rock'n'roll circa 1968 taking its cues rather from Hoagy Carmichael and Cole Porter; from the great film score writers, and from Jelly Roll Morton, Joe Turner and Fats Domino. The songs are those of a thoughtful, literate man who expressed himself through irony, couched in idiosyncratic orchestral arrangements. The result was too much for many, but for those with an open ear, who like their albums without sugar, a classic awaits.
'Love Story' is the first of the album's half dozen great tracks. The hesitant verses contrast with a spectoresque chorus as we follow the lives of a fairly ordinary couple. The off centre lyrics become increasingly barbed until we leave the lovers, deserted by their children, playing checkers and waiting to die. Self pity is the theme of the next two love songs and whilst 'Living Without You' has received the attention and the cover versions, the engagingly bluesy 'Bet No-one Ever Hurt This Bad' with its loping guitar figure deserves a listen also.
'So Long Dad' is another Newman classic. A son, about to be married (perhaps one of the children from 'Love Story')speaks to his father - shallow, ungrateful and unthinkingly cruel in a remarkable piece of ironic narrative. Long elegant melody lines switch to a light piano shuffle and back again. A beautiful song.
On 'I Think He's Hiding' the listener is buttonholed by a drunken evangelist convinced the end is nigh.The arrangement sways and stumbles as he harangues first the listener, then his indifferent god. Newman tackles religion again and again throughout his career.
'Linda' may be the weakest (and possibly the wierdest) track on the album, but I still have a soft spot for it. 'Laughing Boy' is a brief slice of sixties straight-baiting, barely developed enough to be a song but enjoyable nonetheless.
'Cowboy' though is the real thing. Once reported to have been written for 'Midnight Cowboy',as, apparently, were Nilsson's 'I Guess The Lord Must Be In New York City' and Dylan's 'Lay Lady Lay' - it can hold its head high in such company. A moving ballad and one of the best arrangements on the album. Another highlight.
'The Beehive State' highlights Newman's strange imagination as he depicts a kind of interstate convention in which Utah and Kansas beg for both help and recognition.
Which leaves the two best tracks till last. 'I Think Its Going To Rain Today' is a tender ballad of disillusionment performed previously by Judy Collins and some years later by UB40. It is a young man's song perhaps and closer to the singer-songwriter mainstream than we're used to from Newman, but it is a classic.
'Davy The Fat Boy' has nothing to do with any mainstream anywhere. It is unique. The narrator, having been entrusted with the care of Davy by his dying parents, puts him in a freak show. Newmans vision is uncompromising. The narrator is the first and perhaps the worst of Newman's monsters. And then it is all over. The whole album takes less than 30 minutes - but there is so much more in that half hour than in the boxed sets of his less gifted contemporaries. If you think you can take it, buy now.

unsettling debut album from America's greatest songwriter
"An unprincipled and uncommitted clown can hardly be permitted to sit around and laugh at what the decent people try to do..." ("Laughing Boy")

Randy Newman's first album, originally released in 1970 must have come as a shock to those few who listened to it at the time. It breaks all the rules being established in the post Beatles era: instead of post psychedelic self indulgence and excess, it's very short (it barely breaks the 30 minute barrier), very bleak (with very few of the obvious gags of his later albums) and for the most part features only Newman's rough, sneering vocals backed by a full orchestra, ambitiously and wierdly scored as though Kurt Weil was doing the soundtrack for "Psycho." It's not perfect, with a couple of less than special songs on the first side. But it's ambitious, dramatic and extreme; particularly in it's orchestrations (Van Dyke Parks co produced). Newman has never tried anything quite as "out there" since.

"Love Story" establishes the tone: a couple's life, from a start which is already disillusioned down to death. Newman's tongue is firmly in his cheek, yet the song leaves a chill. The themes explored in his later songs are all here; a selfish son pays a contemptuous visit to his father ("So Long Dad"), God is dead and we don't care ("I Think He's Hiding"), an innocent waits for the girl who is never going to show ("Linda"). We never know why. The swirling orchestration hints at something sinister. Is she dead? Did he kill her? Or is she just selfish, and he just stupid?

Newman hasn't trained his voice to make it more acceptable as it is on later albums. But the rough, wobbly quality of his vocals increases the songs impact. He takes possession of these characters, these misfits lost in an unfeeling America. And it's the album continues, the shadows lengthen and the emotional pitch rises to an almost unbearable intensity. Newman is the "Laughing Boy" presenting a moving target for those who find his vision of the world too uncomfortable. "Cowboy" and "I Think It's Going To Rain Today" feature two of his most memorable melodies, the first is deeply sad, the latter deeply cynical, both manage to be profoundly moving. Finally we meet "Davy The Fat Boy". Promising to look after his fat friend for life, the protagonist instead turns him into a freak show at a carnival. The first time I hear Newman perform this song, late on television on a dark, windy night in an empty house miles from anywhere, I was terrified. And yet with all these songs Newman manages to keep compassion for his characters, maintaining a delicate balance between bitterness and poignancy.

The truth hurts. And if this album were any longer it would be too tough to listen to. If you're an admirer of Newman's bleak, truthful and compassionate view of the world, you should own it.

Weird and Wonderful
It's hard to know how to describe this album.
A bit like Bertolt Brecht meets Burt Bacharach perhaps.
It still has his wry wit and weary vocal style but musically it's nothing like his other albums.
Apparently it only sold 5,000 copies on release - probably because it's way ahead of it's time.
It doesn't really sound like it belongs to any particular time.
You either love Randy Newman or you hate him, and if you haven't heard this album yet then there's every chance you may love it.
I think it's his best.