The critical response on Randy Newman's latest release, Harps and Angels, has already started pouring in from both sides of the Atlantic. The Times (UK) gives the album five stars, concluding: "The man's a master." The Los Angeles Times has a feature profile of Randy, whom it says "has plumbed the depths and shallows of the American psyche with greater consistency than perhaps any of his contemporaries." Also, Huffington Post contributor David Wild proclaims as the Greatest Song of All Time Randy's much-covered tune "I Think It's Going to Rain Today," calling Newman's 2003 version "probably the most powerful and shaded piece of music I could ever imagine," and adding that Harps and Angels "is one of the best ever albums from the modern musical master who gave us all the greatest song of all-time."

On Friday, Nonesuch.com featured a video of Randy performing "A Few Words in Defense of Our Country," from his latest release, Harps and Angels, out this week. To mark the album's release, all this week we'll be adding new videos of interviews with Randy in which he talks about that and other songs on the album, as well as more videos of Randy at the piano performing some of those songs. Today at nonesuch.com/media, you'll find a video of Randy discussing and playing "Potholes," which he calls "the most absolutely honest song I've ever written."

The Los Angeles Times called "A Few Words in Defense of Our Country" "so funny it hurt," and Rolling Stone named it among the Best Singles of 2007. It's now featured on Harps and Angels, Randy's latest Nonesuch release. You can watch a video performance of the song from last year on the Nonesuch Media page, and check back next week for all-new video features celebrating the release of the new album.

Randy Newman's forthcoming Nonesuch release, Harps and Angels, earns four stars from both The Times (UK), which names it Album of the Week, and The Sun, which says: "This is the real Newman—dark, cynical, and very funny." The paper calls it "a winning mix" of musical styles that's "been worth the wait." The Guardian calls Randy "a true master of popular song."

With Harps and Angels, Randy Newman's first album of new music in nearly a decade, due out next week (August 4 in the UK, the following day in the US), Randy will be the featured guest on two British television shows in the coming days: tonight at 11:10 PM GMT on ITV1's Soundtrack to My Life with host Cat Deeley and Sunday at 10:30 AM on Sky News's Sunday Live with Adam Boulton.

"In the years since TONY adopted its rating system," writes Time Out New York (TONY) music critic Jay Ruttenberg, "I had resisted granting an album six stars, the magazine’s unconventional 'it goes to 11' grade. Now, I relent: Randy Newman’s Harps and Angels ... confirms his place among our best living songwriters ... It's an outstanding album ..." Rolling Stone says, "Harps and Angels is reason to wrap yourself in the flag and cheer."

Randy Newman is the subject of a feature profile in today's Guardian (UK), in which his forthcoming Nonesuch release, Harps and Angels, is described as having "Newman's signature blend of sumptuous melodies, devastating pathos and the thorny, irony-laden character songs ..." Earlier this month, The Observer gave the albums five stars, with reviewer Tim Adams writing: "His albums have always been brilliant missives from an overly examined emotional life and this one is no exception."

Randy Newman performed every song off his forthcoming Nonesuch release, Harps and Angels, this past Wednesday in a special, intimate showcase at the new LA venue Largo at the Coronet. Variety's Steven Mirkin writes that "both the concert and the wonderful new album ... show Newman to be at the height of his powers, writing some of the most acerbic and heartfelt songs of his career."

Randy's Friday appearance on the French TV show Esprits Libres is now available online. After being introduced as "un grand monsieur de la musique Américaine," Randy performs "Losing You" from his forthcoming release, Harps and Angels, and, at the request of the show's host, an impromptu version of "In Germany Before the War," as well as "Sail Away," from the seminal 1972 album of the same name.

Randy Newman's forthcoming release, Harps and Angels, is featured in the latest edition of NPR's All Songs Considered: the Summer Music Preview. The show's host, Bob Boilen, says Randy's new record reminds him of the Newman records he first new and loved, like Good Ol' Boys and Sail Away. Harps and Angels, he says, "just made me smile," bringing to mind, as it does, a "languid Southern summer." He praises Newman for his use of the blues form "to tell a tale in such a great way."

Harps and Angels, Randy Newman's first album of new music in nearly a decade, is due out on Nonesuch August 5, and already, CBS Sunday Morning's Bill Flanagan is calling it one of the summer's best.

The work of Cincinnati, Ohio-based photographer Michael Wilson has graced the covers of countless Nonesuch albums over the years, including the iconic imagery featured on Nonesuch albums by David Byrne, Bill Frisell, Emmylou Harris, Randy Newman, the Brad Mehldau Trio, and Nicholas Payton. His photography will be on display in an exhibit at the Boone County Public Library in Cincinnati beginning this Wednesday. Michael will be on hand to discuss his work in an opening reception that night.