(As published in the Times of Acadiana ... )
Randy Newman
Bad Love
(Dreamworks)
The satire is sharp and unsparing, the sound redolent of the modern-day studio without succumbing to gimmickry, and the music a complex blend of the half-dozen-or-so styles that Newman has spent the last thirty years adapting to his aesthetic needs. His current targets and-or topics include TV zombies, Medieval Europe, middle-aged rock stars, mendacity, Karl Marx, shame (a song title), and himself, each of which he responds to with ambiguity and bile. And he sets the two ballads to his ex- to melodies as sad and pretty as the one to which he set his Toy Story 2 ballad for Jessie. Rating: Four-and-a-half infinities and beyond out of five.
Randy NewmanBad Love
(Dreamworks)
The satire is sharp and unsparing, the sound redolent of the modern-day studio without succumbing to gimmickry, and the music a complex blend of the half-dozen-or-so styles that Newman has spent the last thirty years adapting to his aesthetic needs. His current targets and-or topics include TV zombies, Medieval Europe, middle-aged rock stars, mendacity, Karl Marx, shame (a song title), and himself, each of which he responds to with ambiguity and bile. And he sets the two ballads to his ex- to melodies as sad and pretty as the one to which he set his Toy Story 2 ballad for Jessie. Rating: Four-and-a-half infinities and beyond out of five.
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