[.ca] Guilty:30 Years of

Amazon.com essential recording:
Randy Newman's three-decades-plus career proves at least one thing: an articulate, bespectacled fellow seated at a piano--a Southern Californian, no less!--can be damn dangerous. In a civil sort of way. This four-disc overview of Newman's fitful but ultimately brilliant career offers a portal into Newman the solo artist, the film composer, and the for-hire songwriter. Discs 1 and 2 (for old fans, the least rewarding of the lot) serve as a greatest hits package--greatest hits being a relative term ("Short People," "I Love L.A.," "Mama Told Me Not to Come," and a few others qualify as commercial successes). Newman's trademark style--mouthing the skewed views of twisted protagonists (including God and Satan)--surfaces in songs old and new. The guardian of an obese boy who puts his charge to work as a freak narrates "Davy the Fat Boy." "Let's Burn Down the Cornfield," "Suzanne," and "You Can Leave Your Hat On" explore perversion; "Rednecks" and "Sail Away" deal with bigotry; "Real Emotional Girl" and "I Want You to Hurt Like I Do" explore wanton cruelty. Disc 3 is littered with fascinating flotsam, beginning with 1962's bewilderingly boyish "Golden Gridiron Boy" (coproduced by Pat Boone!) and tailing into a slew of brooding but truly extraordinary solo demos. Despite his sardonic nature, the Newman of "Gainesville," "Feels Like Home," and "My Name Is James" summons true pathos. Disc 4 samples nine Newman soundtracks, including the orchestral scores to Ragtime, The Natural ("heromuzik," opines the composer), and Toy Story. Guilty is an appreciation of an artist who defies admiration. Here, however, the evidence is overwhelming. --Steven Stolder

From Amazon.co.uk:
Randy Newman's three-decades-plus career proves at least one thing: an articulate, bespectacled fellow seated at a piano--a Southern Californian, no less!--can be damn dangerous. In a civil sort of way. This four-disc overview of Newman's fitful but ultimately brilliant career offers a portal into Newman the solo artist, the film composer, and the for-hire songwriter. Discs 1 and 2 (for old fans, the least rewarding of the lot) serve as a greatest hits package--greatest hits being a relative term ("Short People", "I Love L.A.", "Mama Told Me Not to Come" and a few others qualify as commercial successes). Newman's trademark style--mouthing the skewed views of twisted protagonists (including God and Satan)--surfaces in songs old and new. The guardian of an obese boy who puts his charge to work as a freak narrates "Davy the Fat Boy". "Let's Burn Down the Cornfield", "Suzanne" and "You Can Leave Your Hat On" explore perversion; "Rednecks" and "Sail Away" deal with bigotry; "Real Emotional Girl" and "I Want You to Hurt Like I Do" explore wanton cruelty. Disc 3 is littered with fascinating flotsam, beginning with 1962's bewilderingly boyish "Golden Gridiron Boy" (co-produced by Pat Boone!) and tailing into a slew of brooding but truly extraordinary solo demos. Despite his sardonic nature, the Newman of "Gainesville". "Feels Like Home". and "My Name Is James" summons true pathos. Disc 4 samples nine Newman soundtracks, including the orchestral scores to Ragtime, The Natural ("heromuzik", opines the composer), and Toy Story. Guilty is an appreciation of an artist who defies admiration. Here, however, the evidence is overwhelming. --Steven Stolder

RN revisited:
in our opinion, RN is the major pop (?) talent of the 20th century (2nd is Pink Floyd) This is a great varied selection of his stuff, but you really need to have everything...little criminal, faust, especially

An excellent compilation:
I'm not much for the earlier stuff or the later stuff, but when Randy Newman was on in the 70s he was ON! From Sail Away through Born Again is one of the most lyrically insightful, musically enjoyable stretches in modetrn music history. And a lot of it is here. Frankly, you can have the rest -

American Treasure:
As compilations go, this one is INTERESTING, to say the least. Randy Newman (to me) has always been interesting, but now all of his many rare gems, obscurities and, of course, the hits are all here in one package, and I must've died and went to Heaven. Randy is so much more than "Short People", "I Love LA" and "Mama Told Me Not To Come", though it's all here. And so are some of my personal favorites like "I Wish It Would Rain Today", "Sail Away", "Guilty", "You Can Leave Your Hat On", "Rider In The Rain", some stuff from his masterwork "Faust" etc etc on ad infinitum. But Randy's even more than that... He's a True American Treasure. A brilliant and prolific melodist, lyricist, arranger, showman, witty humorist and all-around "composer" in the strictest sense of the word, Randy is the quintessential storyteller/satirist/musician of contemporary American Music, ranking up there with the likes of Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp and Tom Petty. No one can tug at your heartstrings one minute and have you scratching your head the next like Randy, and when he takes his teeth out and sits down at the piano, you know it's gonna be a good night. Not everyone knows this, but everyone in the music business worldwide and us devotees, purists and appreciative audiophiles know it for sure, and here it is all in one set. THANK YOU RANDY, for putting it all together for us. A masterful job, great choice of material and stellar production, crisp, clean and to the point and beyond. We love you man, and keep the stuff coming!!

Amazing:
Randy Newman is wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. I spent 60 bucks on this set. And even though I don't like all his music, it grows on you. His unique voice and look at the world open up to you. The music itself is odd. I bought this CD because of a few of his songs I enjoyed like "Sail Away", "I love LA", and "You've Got a Friend". And as I listened to it I found some awesome tracks, like "Political Science" "Rednecks", "Short People", "My Life is Good," and "I Love to see You Smile." I'm sure in time I'll learn to enjoy more of these songs (I better, because for a teenager 60 bucks is a lot). Randy Newman sings about the daily things America has seen, heard or experience. What a genius he is! He tell is plain, simple and blunt. Not afraid to speak (or should I say sing) his mind. God bless you Mr. Newman!

A mind-blowing compilation of the work of a genius!:
I work in a library and happened to stumble on this 4-CD box set a few days ago while looking for something totally unrelated to it. I pulled it off the shelf and began popping the CD's into my little personal CD player that I always have tucked in my cardigan pocket. Need I say that I was utterly blown away at what I heard? I am an aspiring songwriter myself, having studied under the masterful singer/songwriter Robbie O'Connell for several years now. This craft doesn't come to me easily at times, and at other times, it's painfully easy. There are frustrating moments of creative blocks that drive me absolutely crazy. Since September 11th, I've been completely blocked creatively. But listening to the dazzling diversity of Randy Newman's material on this astonishing box set, I am beginning to feel that familiar "tickle" in the back of my mind that says that something - maybe even a song - wants out. In particular, I am very inspired by his tender and Copland-esque film scores. They are so evocative of Copland, Gershwin and other great American composers that so capture the flavour of the America of white picket fences, small towns and lovely brick-a-brack homes surrounded by tall majestic trees. If you are, like me, a musician or songwriter, I urge you to take a listen to this set. Newman displays why he defies definition and is nothing short of a genius. His styles are so varied that he cannot easily be pidgeonholed into any one category, and when he is funny, he is sidesplittingly hilarious. When he is tender, he brings tears to my eyes. He also uses razor sharp satire to bring to light issues that many of us would rather avoid talking about, like his marvelously funny song, "Short People", which so many people simply didn't get at the time. The 3rd CD in this set is a gem of unheard demos and outtakes that you will not hear anywhere else. I was particularly moved by the tender little song, "Going Home (1918)". Newman shows why, with just his voice and a piano, that he is unquestioningly the best songwriter alive today. With just those two instruments, his unique brand of singing and the piano, he creates a delicate little vignette in "Going Home (1918)" that just completely blows you away when you listen to it. You owe it to yourself to buy this set... where else are you going to find such an amazing compilation of one musician's astonishing and varied body of work? Buy this, and I guarantee you won't regret it!

• Love Story (You and Me)
• Bet No One Ever Hurt This Bad
• Cowboy
• Beehive State
• I Think It's Going to Rain Today
• Davy the Fat Boy
• Have You Seen My Baby?
• Let's Burn Down the Cornfield
• Mama Told Me (Not to Come)
• Suzanne
• Old Kentucky Home
• Sail Away
• Lonely at the Top
• Last Night I Had a Dream
• Political Science
• Burn On
• Memo to My Son
• You Can Leave Your Hat On
• God's Song (That's Why I Love Mankind)
• Rednecks
• Birmingham
• Marie
• Guilty
• Louisiana 1927
• Kingfish
• Baltimore
• Rider in the Rain
• Short People
• Little Criminals
• In Germany Before the War
• I'll Be Home
• It's Money That I Love
• Ghosts
• Girls in My Life, Pt. 1
• William Brown
• I Love L.A.
• Mikey's
• My Life Is Good
• Miami
• Real Emotional Girl
• Take Me Back
• Song for the Dead
• Dixie Flyer
• New Orleans Wins the War
• Four Eyes
• It's Money That Matters
• I Want You to Hurt Like I Do
• Can't Keep a Good Man Down
• Bleeding All over the Place \oAlternate Mix\c\o#\c
• Happy Ending
• Golden Gridiron Boy
• Vine Street \o#\c\oDemo Version\c
• Love Is Blind \o#\c\oDemo Version\c
• Don't Ruin Our Happy Home \o#\c\oDemo Version\c
• Goat \o#\c
• Gone Dead Train
• Tickle Me \oLive\c
• Maybe I'm Doing It Wrong \oLive\c
• Yellow Man \oLive\c
• Magic in the Moonlight \oLive\c\o#\c
• Beat Me Baby \o#\c\oDemo Version\c
• Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear
• Let Me Go \o#\c
• Jesus in the Summertime \o#\c\oDemo Version\c
• Going Home (1918) \o#\c\oDemo Version\c
• Interiors \o#\c\oDemo Version\c
• Pretty Boy
• Something to Sing About \o#\c\oDemo Version\c
• Ballad of the Three Amigos \o#\c\oDemo Version\c
• My Little Buttercup \o#\c\oDemo Version\c
• Blue Shadows on the Trail \o#\c\oDemo Version\c
• Happy \o#\c\oDemo Version\c
• Longest Night \o#\c\oDemo Version\c
• Days of Heaven \o#\c\oDemo Version\c
• What Have You Done to Me \o#\c\oDemo Version\c
• Masterman and Baby J \o#\c\oDemo Version\c
• Lines in the Sand
• Gainesville \o#\c\oDemo Version\c
• Feels Like Home \oLive\c\o#\c
• My Name Is James \o#\c\oDemo Version\c
• Laugh and Be Happy \o#\c\oDemo Version\c
• Rev Running \oFrom Cold Turkey\c\o#\c
• Change Your Way \oFrom Ragtime\c
• Clef Club, No. 1 \oFrom Ragtime\c
• Clef Club, No. 2 \oFrom Ragtime\c
• Ragtime \oFrom Ragtime\c
• Prologue 1915-1923 \oFrom the Natural\c
• Natural \oFrom the Natural\c
• Introduction/I Love to See You Smile \oFrom Parenthood\c
• Kevin's Party (Cowboy Gil) \oFrom Parenthood\c
• 1914 \oFrom Avalon\c
• End Title \oFrom Avalon\c
• Leonard \oFrom Awakenings\c
• Dexter's Tune \oFrom Awakenings\c
• Clocks \oFrom the Paper\c
• Make up Your Mind \oFrom the Paper\c
• Opening \oFrom Maverick\c
• Tartine de Merde \oFrom Maverick\c
• You've Got a Friend in Me \oFrom Toy Story\c
• Woody and Buzz \oFrom Toy Story\c
• I Will Go Sailing No More \oFrom Toy Story\c
• Heaven Is My Home \oFrom Michael\c - Valerie Carter, Randy Newman
• James and the Giant Peach Main Title \oFrom James and the Giant Peach\c
• Clouds \oFrom James and the Giant Peach\c
• Good News \oFrom James and the Giant Peach\c