After performing on the Late Show with David Letterman last night, Randy Newman brings the music of his latest Nonesuch release, Harps and Angels, to the WNYC studios to perform live on The Leonard Lopate Show. Tune in today at noon ET on the radio at 93.9 FM in New York or online at wnyc.org.

---

Randy was featured on yesterday's episode of NPR's All Things Considered, and, says the show's Melissa Block, "Randy Newman is back with his wonderfully sharp tongue." The two discuss Randy's recent transition into being a more vocal commentator on the political situation of the moment, with songs like "A Few Words in Defense of Our Country." To hear the interview, visit npr.org.

You can also hear Randy discuss that song and the equally sardonic "Korean Parents" in the latest videos to be added to nonesuch.com/media.

---

The New Statesman's Martin Bright asks rhetorically, in his review of Harps and Angels, Randy's first collection of new songs in nine years: "Who else could have produced an album of such beauty and political anger after such a long lay-off?"

Bright asserts that "most people would die happy having written a single one of the songs on this album," describing "Feels Like Home" as "a perfect little love song" and the already somewhat controversial "Korean Parents" as "possibly the most accomplished track on the album."

The reviewer concludes:

Newman often uses his unique brand of Americana to re-examine the stories his country tells to feel good about itself. Never has this been better realised than on Harps and Angels.

To read the full review, visit newstatesman.com.

---

Bloomberg's Mark Beech says the new album "contains some of the most literate lyrics likely to be penned in 2008" and is on that at once, perhaps not unexpectedly, "flirts with brilliance and courts controversy."

Harps and Angels, says Beech, hearkens back musically to the sound of Randy's "understated 1970 masterpiece 12 Songs," although, again, as one might expect from the songwriter, "the real joy is in the lyrics." In addition to the witty barbs, the new record also includes "some of Newman's most heartfelt ballads," the reviewer writes, namely "Potholes" and "Losing You."

To read the review, visit bloomberg.com.

---

Randy is the subject of a feature article in Reuters, in which writer Derek Caney describes the paradox of Randy's songs, which persists on the new album. While "Newman's music is delicately arranged," Caney writes, and "many of his songs may seem simple because of their wry titles, Newman's work demands much from his audience ... Likewise, the songs on Harps and Angels ask audiences to think." To read the article, visit reuters.com.

---

The San Diego Union-Tribune's pop music critic, George Varga, calls Harps and Angels "a masterful collection of songs" with "exquisite lyrics set to the most sophisticated music he has yet written" outside a film score.

"Drawing from influences as diverse as Fats Domino and Stephen Foster, Aaron Copland and Professor Longhair, Cole Porter and Memphis Slim," Varga continues, "Newman has crafted nine new songs that are earthy and urbane, timely and timeless."

Also on the music front, writes the reviewer, Randy's "orchestrations are ingenious and intricate, but never waste a note." And on that note, as for the words: "His lyrics vividly convey irony and insight with the fewest, but most effective, words possible."

Read the complete review at signonsandiego.com.