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Randy Newman | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | April 1968 [1] | |||
Recorded | 1968 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 27:24 | |||
Label | Reprise | |||
Producer | ||||
Randy Newman chronology | ||||
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Singles from Spring | ||||
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Revised cover | ||||
Randy Newman is the debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Randy Newman,released in 1968 by Reprise Records. The album is sometimes referred to as Randy Newman Creates Something New Under the Sun,written on the reverse of the album sleeve. [4] [5] Newman had been a noted songwriter for some years prior to the release of his debut,which was advertised as sounding "like a greatest hits". [6] In contrast to his later albums which usually feature Newman and his piano with a rock backing,Randy Newman is highly orchestral.
Randy Newman was not a commercial success. It never dented the Billboard Top 200;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. [7] The album was out of print for over 15 years until it was issued on CD in 1995,remastered by Lee Herschberg. Randy Newman has received critical attention in recent years. In 2000,it was placed number 716 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums . [8] In 2017,the album was ranked the 97th greatest album of the 1960s by Pitchfork . [9]
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. [10]
Newman said in 2017,that he signed away the publishing rights on his first album,does not see any money from people doing covers of those songs,and advised people getting into the business to never sign away their publishing. [11]
As with many of Newman's early albums,several Newman-penned songs had been previously recorded by other artists.
"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). [12]
Bruce Grimes of Rolling Stone described the album as being characterized by a "mood of a bitter longing for affection". Noting that English record producer Denny Cordell had dubbed Newman “the foremost practitioner of suburban blues,”Grimes continued:"certainly 'Love Story' is the blues of Middle America. The song marks out a simple pattern of life:boy meets girl,gets married,lives in suburbia,has children,dies. Randy moves in on The Dream in an uncommon way:'When our kids are grown/They’ll send us away to a little home in Florida/ We’ll play checkers all day/Till we pass away.'" [13]
Critic Ellen Willis feels that 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." [14]
William Ruhlmann in an AllMusic retrospective review feels that Newman's lyrics are "intent upon taking clichés and using them to satirize social conventions,a popular parlor game in the late '60s." Overall he considers the album "an audacious first album by a major,if extremely quirky,talent." [15]
In 2000 it was voted number 716 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums . [8]
All songs written and arranged by Randy Newman.
Lionel Richie is the debut solo studio album by American singer Lionel Richie, released on October 6, 1982, on Motown Records. Originally intended as a side project at the suggestion of Motown, it was recorded and released while Richie was still a member of the Commodores; he left the group shortly after the album's release. The first single from the album, "Truly", topped the Billboard Hot 100. Follow-up single "You Are" reached number four, and "My Love" reached number five. The album reached number one on the Cashbox albums chart on December 11, 1982.
Both Sides Now is a concept album and studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell that was released in 2000. It is her 17th studio album. The album won two Grammy Awards in 2001 for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album and Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s) for the song "Both Sides Now" and a Juno Award for Vocal Jazz Album of the Year.
September of My Years is a 1965 studio album by American singer Frank Sinatra, released on Reprise Records in August 1965 on LP and October 1986 on CD. The orchestral arrangements are by Gordon Jenkins, their fifth album collaboration. It peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart.
Unforgettable … with Love, also known as simply Unforgettable, is the twelfth studio album by American singer Natalie Cole. Released on June 11, 1991, the album includes covers of standards previously performed by her father, Nat King Cole. It was also her debut for Elektra Records, after being given her release from EMI Records.
Elton John and Tim Rice's Aida is a 1999 concept album that contains songs with music by Elton John and lyrics by Tim Rice from the 2000 musical Aida.
The Dana Owens Album is the fifth studio album by American hip hop artist Queen Latifah. The album was released on September 28, 2004 through A&M Records. The album marks a departure from her previous hip-hop releases, and is composed of jazz, soul, and R&B covers of songs by artists such as Al Green, Bill Withers, and Screamin' Jay Hawkins, among others. The album reached No. 16 on the Billboard 200 and No. 11 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.
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Morning Dance is the second album by the jazz fusion group Spyro Gyra. The album was released in March 9, 1979 and was certified gold by the RIAA on September 19, 1979, and was certified platinum on June 1, 1987.
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Harps and Angels is the twelfth studio album by Randy Newman. It was released on August 5, 2008, and was produced by Mitchell Froom and Lenny Waronker. It contains two updated versions of previously released compositions. “Feels Like Home” originally appeared on his musical album Randy Newman's Faust, and a demo of "Laugh and be Happy" was included in the box set Guilty: 30 Years of Randy Newman.
Simple Things is the 8th album by American singer-songwriter Carole King, released in 1977. It is her first album on the Avatar / Capitol label.
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Frank Sinatra's Greatest Hits! is the first compilation by American singer Frank Sinatra released on his own Reprise Records. It concentrates on mostly single releases from the mid to late 1960s, which fluctuates between adult contemporary pop and jazzy swing. The album opens up with Sinatra's recent number one hit "Strangers in the Night" and continues through the varied styles of music Sinatra recorded in the 60s, from easy listening ballads like "It Was a Very Good Year" and "Softly, as I Leave You" to contemporary pop like "When Somebody Loves You" and "That's Life". Greatest Hits was a modest hit, peaking at #55 on the album charts in late 1968. A second volume was issued in 1972, Frank Sinatra's Greatest Hits, Vol. 2. Both albums have since been supplanted with newer and more cohesive compilations.
Never Letting Go is the fourth album by singer–songwriter Phoebe Snow, released in 1977.
Continental American is the third studio album by Peter Allen, released in 1974. The album was his first for A&M Records, and is notable for the inclusion of Allen's version of his co-authored hit for Olivia Newton-John, among others, "I Honestly Love You".
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