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Post by Stacy Heydon on Mar 17, 2023 14:06:02 GMT
Something like the above just sounds very old-fashioned ultimately. That will draw some people in, but put others off in equal measure. No doubt. If I was just looking for a track that might be more agreeable to all on that level, maybe I’d have mentioned Gone Dead Train off of the Performance Soundtrack. But then we’d still be missing out on the best thing he does. Basically…if a concept like “old fashioned” really turns you off, you just aren’t gonna be able to bring yourself to what is special here. I do like Gone Dead Train. |
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Post by Charlie O. on Mar 17, 2023 14:08:08 GMT
Anyhow, to address some neophyte issues (again, I don't know anywhere near enough of Newman's work to bloviate at my normal strength)...there's a real expansiveness of emotional chords and melody here (as with "I Don't Want to Hear It") that APPEARS to be at odds with the sort of more trad. arr. blues/New Orleans/12 bar based (I'm using extremely broad language and shorthand here, so don't take me as hyper literal) structures I more commonly associate with him. I totally get that. But personally I love that he has both sides to him - that he can write and sing something as emotionally and musically complex as those songs (or "Cowboy" or "Old Man" or "Sail Away" or...) but can also pound out a Fats Domino or Sonny Boy Williamson song/knock-off without sounding delusional. |
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Post by osgood on Mar 17, 2023 14:12:29 GMT
Big, big fan. Bar a couple of uninspired releases, I think most of his albums are ace. 12 Songs, Sail Away and Good Old Boys are masterpieces, and I agree that Nilsson Sings Newman is an excellent entry point.
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loveless
god
Bringing ballet to the masses. Sticking to the funk.
Posts: 2,787
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Post by loveless on Mar 17, 2023 14:14:59 GMT
Anyhow, to address some neophyte issues (again, I don't know anywhere near enough of Newman's work to bloviate at my normal strength)...there's a real expansiveness of emotional chords and melody here (as with "I Don't Want to Hear It") that APPEARS to be at odds with the sort of more trad. arr. blues/New Orleans/12 bar based (I'm using extremely broad language and shorthand here, so don't take me as hyper literal) structures I more commonly associate with him. I totally get that. But personally I love that he has both sides to him - that he can write and sing something as emotionally and musically complex as those songs (or "Cowboy" or "Old Man" or "Sail Away" or...) but can also pound out a Fats Domino or Sonny Boy Williamson song/knock-off without sounding delusional. Oh, for sure - there's no world where that organic range isn't a strength. |
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Post by Charlie O. on Mar 17, 2023 14:21:11 GMT
He also gives THE best Oscar acceptance speeches.
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Post by Stacy Heydon on Mar 17, 2023 14:28:17 GMT
Right...but what about the music?
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Post by davey on Mar 17, 2023 14:34:34 GMT
I totally get that. But personally I love that he has both sides to him - that he can write and sing something as emotionally and musically complex as those songs (or "Cowboy" or "Old Man" or "Sail Away" or...) but can also pound out a Fats Domino or Sonny Boy Williamson song/knock-off without sounding delusional. Oh, for sure - there's no world where that organic range isn't a strength. It should be said…he often even comes at the blues with some compositional POV. Generally his most straightforward records will play with dissonance and harmonic structure. He doesn’t deconstruct the blues as fully as Beefheart, but he might be the the only other artist to ever do so regularly and have it sound natural. |
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Post by Sneelock on Mar 17, 2023 15:04:38 GMT
Something like the above just sounds very old-fashioned ultimately. That will draw some people in, but put others off in equal measure. some people? they get around a lot. I keep hearing about them. their loss. seriously.
I mean you and some people know what you do and don't like. I won't presume to tell you any different. I look at "Marie" differently than you and those people do largely because "good old boys" hit me out of left field when it was new.
"marie" is a very sweet song. "good old boys" is NOT a very sweet album. so - it sticks out. Good Old Boys is an album (in my estimation) about why people who live in the South feel the way they do about things. it ain't all pretty. "marie" is pretty. everybody has the capacity for love.
I think Randy Newman is a fuckin' genius. I've got a bruise on my side from every time my wife elbows me when one of his more ubiquitous songs shows up in a Pixar movie or TV commercial. she thinks I'm putting her on. I'm not.
this is from that same album.
I'm not saying anybody else needs to like it. I'm just saying that some other people might consider him one of the great American songwriters. seriously. like Stephen Foster or Irving Berlin. overkill? maybe. some people say the darndest things
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Post by Stacy Heydon on Mar 17, 2023 15:12:02 GMT
I just don't like his arrangements or voice, but then I have very little interest in "the great American songbook", so it's probably our old friend "cultural differences" at play again. I can see he very much has a style and artistic approach of his own though, so I wouldn't deny his talent. Anyway I'll leave it there having stated my piece!
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Post by Sneelock on Mar 17, 2023 15:13:20 GMT
that's what message boards are for!
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Post by davey on Mar 17, 2023 15:17:28 GMT
Marie IS a sweet song. But it’s also a deeply sad and even pathetic one. It sits in the middle of the acid bath that is Good Old Boys as if it’s an oasis, but it’s a beer-soaked alcoholic oasis, if it is one at all.
I love the second verse. The guy in the song just wants to find some pretty words to tell her. He gets off one vaguely poetic line (“you’re the song that the trees sing when the wind blows”) before the wheels fall off. By the end of the verse he’s left to acknowledge the emotional abandonment he frequently subjects her to.
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Post by davey on Mar 17, 2023 16:00:37 GMT
Okay…here’s my best good-faith attempt at finding something G might relate to…
Marianne Faithful doing a song presumably inspired by Fritz Lang’s “M.”
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Post by Charlie O. on Mar 18, 2023 0:30:23 GMT
Coincidentally, today (the 17th) is the birthday of Randy's illustrious uncle Alfred (not E.) Newman. I didn't exactly go looking for that information, but it came to me anyway. (HB also to John Sebastian, Pattie Boyd, and Stormy Daniels.)
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loveless
god
Bringing ballet to the masses. Sticking to the funk.
Posts: 2,787
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Post by loveless on Mar 18, 2023 1:09:01 GMT
"Excuse me. Are you the Singing Bush?" ![]() |
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Post by davey on Mar 18, 2023 1:15:15 GMT
He apparently co-wrote that screenplay. So weird.
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