Randy Newman

Randy Newman explores Tin Pan Alley, gospel and semi-classical orchestration on this critically acclaimed album from 1972. The title cut is a chilling swipe at America's 200 years of slavery, delivered in Newman's complex and challenging literary style. "You Can Leave Your Hat On" is drunken, dirty and one of the most joyous love songs ever. Randy Newman is amazing.

Like most aesthetes, Newman is an ironist. This is fine when he's singing about human relationships, which tend to be problematic, but it's rarely sufficient morally to the big political and religious themes he favors these days. If 12 Songs was Winesburg, Ohio (or even Dubliners) transported to 1970 Los Angeles, Sail Away sometimes has the tone of Tom Lehrer transported to 1972 Haiphong, where he has no more business than Bob Hope. But never before has Newman managed to yoke his orchestral command to his piano, and I hope the leap in listenability will attract some new admirers. Also, the cosmic ironies do fit the title song, in which a slave trader becomes the first advertising man, or perhaps--this is not Tom Lehrer stuff--Melville's confidence-man, for a masterpiece even stranger and more masterful than Newman's other masterpieces. (Grade - A-)