Harps and Angels
One of the most underappreciated songwriters of the twentieth century, Randy Newman these days is known more for his pithy Pixar soundtracks than his caustic original songbook. He himself seems content to focus on the money-making movie themes, having not released a solo album in nine years. For fans of Newman's curmudgeonly sarcastic looks at human nature, Harps and Angels does not prove worth the wait.
All three of Newman's signature song tropes are present on Harps: songs critical of America, songs critical of their own narrators, and sloppy piano ballads. America, however, seems to feature more prominently than ever in Newman's psyche. Whereas 1999's Bad Love featured songs about World War II and Karl Marx, all the critical patriotism here is firmly routed in the present. In "A Piece of the Pie," Newman pointedly asks, "Living in the richest country in the world, wouldn't you think you'd have a better life?" By way of answer, he lists reasons you'd be better off in Norway or Belgium and laments that the only person dealing with the issue is Jackson Browne. As on many songs, a slightly out of place New Orleans jazz combo tries to propel the song along, but wailing horns and funky beats don't mix well with the nasal singing and subtle tunes.
"A Few Words in Defense of Our Country" treads similar political ground, pointing out that Bush isn't that bad compared to Stalin or the Spanish Inquisition. Released as a New York Times Op-Ed piece in January 2007, the lyrics seem a little dated a year and a half on. Even the late-night comics have moved on from jokes about a color-coded terror system. Still, it's the album's clear centerpiece and lyrical highlight. Once again though, a full orchestra production takes away from the off-the-cuff intimacy of the piano original.
For those who know his work outside of Toy Story, the most notable part of Randy Newman songs has always been their narrators. Whereas most songwriters sing more or less about themselves, the singers in Newman's songs are racists, perverts, and people too deluded with their own self-worth to realize what assholes they are. In "Sail Away" in the '70s, the singer was a P.R. guy for a slave ship coercing Africans to come to America; in "Rednecks," Newman joyfully sang about "keeping the niggers down." Though such disreputable characters are here as well, they never seem to have the three-dimensional wit that made older ones so interesting. The pedophile singing "Only a Girl," basically less humorously rewrites previous album's "Shame," and the sinner in "Harps and Angels" takes five minutes to reveal . . . not much.
Finally, of course, there's the "You've Got a Friend in Me"-style schlock, heartbroken piano ballads that recall early Tom Waits. Often effective in the past, here they just seem corny. The last album's brilliantly pathetic "I Miss You," written for his first wife while married to his second, is redone here as the over-the-top "Losing You," complete with soaring strings that make one feel slightly seasick. "Feels Like Home" is equally sappy taken out of its original context. Once an utterly sarcastic song from Newman's version of "Faust," the remade version to close the album just seems like a bid for airplay at your wedding.
Having two of the album's ten tracks be redone versions of earlier material says a lot about how freely the songs are flowing for Randy these days, and the quality of the other eight confirms the suspicion. Though there are moments reminiscent of classic Newman, when you work on an album for nine years it's a little harder to excuse mediocrity.