Search - Various Artists :: Sail Away: The Songs of Randy Newman

Surprisingly weak and ill-conceived...

Sound/Word Enthusiast | Rhode Island, USA | 05/19/2006

(2 out of 5 stars)

"...an interesting idea -- round up a bunch of roots/bluegrass/Americana artists (mind you, mostly from the browner side of the pasture -- aside from the Duhks) to pay tribute to Randy Newman. Newman is as much a storyteller as he is a songwriter -- his compositions rich with a peerlessly literary degree of insight and an almost cinematic sense of emotion and tension. He's had a few well-known numbers, but he's basically been an underground/cult artist for the past four decades...aside from his work scoring films and writing music for animated features.



But this disk...first problem is a hakneyed song selection. Considering the consistant quality of Newman's output, here the producer (or the artists) have settled on a set of Newman's most familiar cuts. No interesting obscurities, no uncovered gems. And they ARE out there. I mean, do we really have to hear "You Can Leave Your Hat On" again??? Especially a hammy version like this one? It's one of Newman's least interesting...why doesn't someone take a stab at "Beehive State"? "Vine Street" Anything from his brilliant recent disk "Bad Love"? Despite the fact that Newman's been doing good stuff in the '80s and '90s, no one attempts a tune made after 1977. Strikes me as laziness. Yawn. Kim Richey's choice of "Texas Girl at the Funeral of Her Father" is as by far the most intriguing choice...



With that complaint out of the way, even if these were interesting selections, the performances are thoroughly uninspired. Lackluster. Adequate. Bela Fleck's instrumental run through of "Burn On" is pretty cool, but that's it. Most of the other folks either try to ape Newman's own delivery (bad idea) or just kinda bland their way through the songs...taking them so literally that the songs limp lifelessly to a close...



Not the best way to honor Newman...but maybe this is all part of his own sense of misanthropy and self-sabatoge. I don't know."

Good cover album

Michael P. Maslanka | dallas, texas United States | 06/19/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Hearing these cover songs is like hearing the song for the first time---different voices, different interpretations. Rednecks has a gritty anger that you don't hear in newman's original. Sail Away is done justice with its slow, lyrical beat and its understated tone contrasts with its subject, making you pay attention and listen. A fine effort that's worth a listen."