Randy Newman

Randy Newman
Harps and Angels
(Nonesuch)
Songwriter Randy Newman has frequently been misunderstood and underappreciated, and Harps and Angels probably isn’t going to change that. His brand of wit is largely lost on generations who find Family Guy or Tim and Eric the high point of humor, and if you are a Newman fan, you may be regarded with pity or disgust by those under the age of 40. Now at retirement age, his conservative, button-down look doesn’t help matters, nor do his Disney soundtracks or his referencing 100 years of American popular music. (A Newman tune can frequently sound like grandpa’s favorite ditty.)

Fortunately, despite Newman’s adherence to classic American song forms and his ongoing critiques of a numb and dumb nation, there remain enough fellow travelers to keep his odd and impressive career going strong. While there are probably no more masterpieces like Sail Away or Good Old Boys heading our way, Newman still makes good records that ask for and reward repeat listens. Produced by longtime Newman associate Lenny Waronker and Mitchell Froom — the engineer of choice for the tasteful, “serious” rock set — Harps and Angels contains 10 songs that explore the full range of Newman’s bag of musical tricks and typically sarcastic lyrics.

The opening title track finds Newman in good form and humor, pondering a brush with death, scoffing at the idea of Heaven and Hell over a gospel blues shuffle. An update of his classic “Political Science,” the country music-tinged “A Few Words in Defense of Our Country” not only provides pop music’s funniest look at the Supreme Court, but also offers the consolation that our leaders aren’t quite as bad as Hitler or Stalin, and anyway the American Empire is fading fast.

Newman plays it a bit safe and predictable in “Laugh and Be Happy” and “Piece of the Pie,” satirical takes on the American dream of affluence versus the reality of wealth disparities, accompanied by tunes that sound almost like send-ups of his more banal Disney work. Still, the joy and complexities of the music on “Pie” redeem the song — Newman employs a full orchestra in little more than two and a half minutes for this pop mini-suite.

“Korean Parents” is Newman at his best, a perfect synthesis of his musical and lyrical conceits, with a lot of ideas packed into its brief running time. Harking back to “Yellow Man” and “Rednecks,” the song courts controversy and poor taste through its explorations of stereotypes. Faux-Chinese music backs Newman’s proposition that Korean kids aren’t smarter than their American counterparts, they just have better parents. Following a bizarre cosmic-Asian breakdown featuring a woman singing in an excruciating Korean accent, he belts out, “Your parents aren’t the greatest generation / So sick of hearing ‘bout the greatest generation,” aiming square at Americans’ smug, egotistical view of themselves as the center of the world.

It’s perhaps unfair to focus on the themes of morality and aging scattered throughout the album — Newman has written about these things almost since he started. But along with the title track and the self-effacing, autobiographical “Potholes” — in which he wishes for more memory loss — the straight-faced, forlorn ballads “Losing You” and album-closer “Feels Like Home” seem like the work of a man in a more reflective state. After all the irony and sarcasm packed into its 30-minute running time, the album makes a graceful exit with a classic love song. Removed from its original setting in Newman’s 1995 updating of the Faust legend, the song has no twists, no unreliable narrator — just proof of what a great songwriter, when he lets the mask down, can do with a good melody and simple words.