Track Listing
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- Tuesday, September 2, 2008
The Australian: Randy Newman's "Harps and Angels" Is "Testimony to His Craft"
Randy Newman's Harps and Angels has already garnered acclaim from critics across North America and Europe, and new praise now comes from The Australian, which calls him "the crown prince" of his musical form, the new album "testimony to his craft," and its songs "so vibrant, musically and lyrically, ... that his catalogue would seem incomplete without them." All About Jazz says the new album shows that Randy "just keeps on getting better," and Paste calls him "one of America’s most important songwriters," while Slate credits the "uproarious" song "Korean Parents" with offering "a more enjoyable way forward" in the highly charged discussion of satire and race.
- Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Rolling Stone: Newman's New Album "A Welcome Return to Form" for "One of the Greatest Songwriters of the Rock Era"
Randy Newman recently spoke with Rolling Stone for a feature article in the September 4 issue, in which Harps and Angels, Randy's first album in nine years, is described as "a welcome return to form for Newman, one of the greatest songwriters of the rock era—though his songs rarely rock and often have more in common with Tin Pan Alley and show tunes."
About this Album
Harps and Angels is Randy Newman’s first album of new material in nine years.. The recipient of the 2002 Academy Award for Best Original Song, 17 Oscar nominations, five Grammy awards, and 13 Grammy nominations, Newman is a singular figure who over the course of his career has explored various styles and sounds of the canon of 20th-century American music.
Having focused on film scores, live performances, and career retrospectives since 1999’s Bad Love, Newman returns with this album that already has a successful single. Harps and Angels’ “A Few Words in Defense of Our Country,” originally released exclusively via iTunes in 2007 and published as a New York Times op-ed piece, was named the #2 song of 2007 by Rolling Stone (“right behind Jay-Z and ahead of Rihanna,” Newman helpfully points out).
Co-produced by Mitchell Froom (Elvis Costello, Los Lobos, Sheryl Crow) and former Warner Bros. head and longtime Newman collaborator Lenny Waronker, Harps and Angels showcases Newman’s myriad talents as a political and social commentator, balladeer, and storyteller. The arrangements have a Dixieland feel, with Newman on piano fronting a club-size combo; several tracks feature his lush orchestrations, as grand as anything he has produced on his film scores. According to NPR, “Singer and composer Randy Newman’s wry and sometimes raw musical commentary has become a big part of the American cultural landscape.” The Los Angeles Times says “Newman is a brilliant songwriter who, like Paul Simon and a few others, bridges the gap between the classic American Songbook craftsman tradition and the more personalized singer-songwriter style of the modern pop age.”
Harps and Angels is Newman’s first album of new material on Nonesuch Records and second Nonesuch release following 2003’s Randy Newman Songbook, Volume 1, which celebrated some of Newman’s best-known work in solo performances by the songwriter at the piano. “It’s an austere and moving piece of work,” says Interview magazine, “the songs, some going back 35 years, sound absolutely fresh.”
Credits
MUSICIANS
Randy Newman, piano, vocals
Greg Cohen, bass
Steve Donnelly, guitar
Pete Thomas, drums
Greg Leisz, pedal steel and acoustic slide
Mitchell Froom, additional keyboards
Orchestra:
Arranged and conducted by Randy Newman
Violin: Roger Wilkie, Eun-Mee Ahn, Jacqueline Brand, Kevin Connolly, Joel Derouin, Julie Ann Gigante, Natalie Leggett, Helen Nightengale,Alyssa Park, Sara Parkins, Katia Popov, Rafael Rishik, Anatoly Rosinsky, Marc Sazer, Tereza Stanislav, Lisa M. Sutton, Sarah Thornblade, Irina Voloshina
Viola: Brian Dembow, Robert Berg, Thomas Diener, Steven Gordon, Roland Kato, Darrin McCann, Victoria Miskolczy, Michael Nowak, Shanti Randall, David Walther
Cello: Dennis Karmazyn, Antony Cooke, Steve Erdody, Christine Ermacoff, Armen Ksajikian, Andrew Shulman, David Speltz, Cecelia Tsan
Bass: Michael Valerio, Drew Dembowski, Edward Meares, Susan Ranney
Flute: James Walker, Norda Mullen, Geraldine Rotella, David Shostac
Clarinet: Gary Bovyer, Stuart Clark, Donald Foster, Marty Krystall
Saxophone: Daniel Higgins, Gary Foster, Greg Huckins, Bill Liston, Brian Scanlon
Oboe: Thomas Boyd, Leslie Reed
Bassoon: Kenneth Munday, Michael O'Donovan, Judith Farmer
Horn: James Thatcher, Mark Adams, Richard Todd
Trumpet: Warren Luening, Malcolm McNab, Daniel Fornero, Jon Lewis, Timothy Morrison
Trombone: William Booth, Bruce Fowler, Alesander Iles, William Reichenbach, George Thatcher
Tuba: Doug Tornquist
Percussion: Alan Estes, Gregory Goodall
Harp: Jo Ann Turovsky, Allison Allport
Accordion: Frank Marocco
Orchestra contracted by Sandy Descrescent
Music preparation: Jo Ann Kane Music Services
Vocal contractor: Luanna Jackman
Angry Belgians on “Piece of the Pie”: Kathie Van Kerckhoven, Jeremy Altervain
Happy Immigrants on “Laugh and Be Happy”: Los Amigos Locos del Este
PRODUCTION CREDITS
Produced by Mitchell Froom and Lenny Waronker
Recorded and mixed by David Boucher
Recorded at Sunset Sound, Los Angeles, and Newman Scoring Stage, 20th Century Fox Studios, Los Angeles
Mixed and additional recording at Tea Time Studios, Santa Monica
Mastered at Gateway Mastering, ME by Bob Ludwig
Written and arranged by Randy Newman
Design by Barbara deWilde
Photography by Autumn de Wilde
Executive Producer: Robert Hurwitz
