Randy Newman

Randy Newman is an interesting case for me. For many, many years, I did not care for him (as I touched on in this thread). I thought he had limited abilities as a film composer, basically just replacing the album studio with a film score studio, but doing his same “schtick” both places – offbeat, rickety Americana. And I didn’t care for his quirky singer-songwriter music either.

But over the years, I’ve gradually come around on him. One, because he does that offbeat, rickety Americana so WELL. Two, because there is more to it, harmonically, than what I first thought. Three, sorta related, it is more VARIED than I first thought. Four, because he’s so uniquely HIM all the time. Five, because I’ve started to like the type of music he’s known for.

So yeah, my collection has grown a bit – it now counts THE NATURAL, AWAKENINGS, MAVERICK, THE PAPER, PLEASANTVILLE, SEABISCUIT and MARRIAGE STORY. I even considered seeing him live in Oslo a couple of years ago, but alas he had to cancel for health reasons. Hope he’s doing better now.

What’s your take on Randy?