Randy Newman - 12 Songs

With 1970's 12 Songs, Randy Newman eschewed the string-driven expanse of its self-titled predecessor for unorchestrated solo and rock quartet arrangements (Ry Cooder, Clarence White of the Byrds, and Jim Gordon of Derek and the Dominos are among the sidemen). If anything, the lyrical perspective on these songs is stranger (and certainly more paranoid) than on any other collection the singer/songwriter has ever done. "Let's Burn Down the Cornfield" explores arson as an aphrodisiac. In "Lucinda" the narrator pleads in vain for his California golden girl ("in her graduation gown") to get out of the way of a beach-cleaning vehicle. "Uncle Bob's Midnight Blues" is a free-associating shuffle that manages to evoke Bing Crosby, Sonny Boy Williamson, and the Rolling Stones for no logical reason. 12 Songs sold nearly as pitifully as Randy Newman, but one of its tracks--"Mama Told Me Not to Come"--lined Newman's pockets when it became a No. 1 hit for Three Dog Night in the summer of 1970. --Steven Stolder Amazon.com essential recording

Acclaimed initially, but ultimately forgettable

Like Laura Nyro, Randy Newman was a product of the Brill Building and began his career writing songs for other performers before singing and playing piano himself.

However, unlike Nyro's work which holds up beautifully with age, Randy Newman's cannot stand the test of time for several reasons. Most severely, the music on "12 Songs" is really, really slight, so much so that its ability to convey emotion is greatly reduced, One might guess that removing the pomp from the more famous cover of "Mama Told Me Not To Come" would do something to improve it, but Randy seems to put so little passion that there is no gain at all. The closing song, "Uncle Bob's Midnight Blues" has some quite good piano work but Newman's voice sounds like a ridiculously muffled falsetto. Other pieces on this album come of as disguised 1950s rock and roll as if Newman wanted to, like Laura Nyro, come off as opposing the move towards macho loudness that was developing at the time. The key difference is: "12 Songs" seems too self-conscious in this respect and comes out muffled to little effect.

Whilst the lyrics undoubtedly appear wonderfully clever on paper, their meaning is unlikely to be appreaciated much by listening becuase of the problems with Newman's performance.

Even if this album, got some remarkable critical reviews, today "12 Songs" has failed to stand the test of time and instead sounds dated. Stick with Laura Nyro, mid-1970s Joni Mitchell, or Van Morrison to see the best of the singer/songwriters of the 1970s. September 28, 2007

Great music, atmospheric production

"12 Songs" is among my very favorite albums, much less Randy Newman albums. Totally different in mood and color from his first self-titled record, this one is swampy, murky, and hangs together as an artistic statement without being a self-conscious song cycle. I play this disc more than any other Newman work -- and that's 37 years after I first added it to my collection. The understated,stark accompaniment is pitch-perfect and serves the dark atmospherics of the songs -- just bluesy slide guitars, drums, bass and piano. By comparison, his follow-up, "Sail Away," while extremely brilliant, sounds thrown-together. A top 10 desert island disc, in my humble opinion. April 20, 2007

DO NOT BUY IF PLANNING TO PLAY ON PC

This is a copy of the review on Amazon.com for Van Zant's Get Right With The Man which is another Sony corrupted title.

"This CD secretly installs DRM (digital rights management) software on your PC without your permission. Not only does it do this, but the software then hides itself by installing as a "root kit."

As per WikiPedia,

--
Root kit
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
A root kit is a set of tools used by an intruder after cracking a computer system. These tools can help the attacker maintain his or her access to the system and use it for malicious purposes. Root kits are known to exist for a variety of operating systems such as Linux, Solaris and versions of Microsoft Windows.

A rootkit typically hides logins, processes, files, and logs and may include software to intercept data from terminals, network connections, and the keyboard. In many sources, rootkits are counted as trojan horses.
--

In this instance, Sony installs DRM software to copy protect their CD, and prevent it from being copied to various devices, all the while not telling you, the user, or letting you uninstall it because it hides itself from the user and Windows. Manually trying to uninstall it like some people have done, results in their CD-Rom drives disappearing entirely from Windows, as Sony installs their own custom CD-Rom drivers onto the system.

DO NOT SUPPORT THIS WRECKLESS KIND OF COPY PROTECTION. SHOW THE MUSIC BUSINESS THIS IS *YOUR* MUSIC. *YOU* PURCHASED IT, AND THEY SHOULD *NOT* BE ABLE TO DICTATE HOW YOU CAN USE IT.

Do not buy this CD. "

A list of affected titles can be found here:

http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/004144.php

And another part of an Amazon.com review for the Van Zant CD

"Amazon rocks. They pulled they infected CD's from sale and allowed these reviews that tell of the problems. Shame on Sony they not only messed with the consumers but also the artists."

Trey Anastasio, Shine (Columbia)
Celine Dion, On ne Change Pas (Epic)
Neil Diamond, 12 Songs (Columbia)
Our Lady Peace, Healthy in Paranoid Times (Columbia)
Chris Botti, To Love Again (Columbia)
Van Zant, Get Right with the Man (Columbia)
Switchfoot, Nothing is Sound (Columbia)
The Coral, The Invisible Invasion (Columbia)
Acceptance, Phantoms (Columbia)
Susie Suh, Susie Suh (Epic)
Amerie, Touch (Columbia)
Life of Agony, Broken Valley (Epic)
Horace Silver Quintet, Silver's Blue (Epic Legacy)
Gerry Mulligan, Jeru (Columbia Legacy)
Dexter Gordon, Manhattan Symphonie (Columbia Legacy)
The Bad Plus, Suspicious Activity (Columbia)
The Dead 60s, The Dead 60s (Epic)
Dion, The Essential Dion (Columbia Legacy)
Natasha Bedingfield, Unwritten (Epic)
Ricky Martin, Life (Columbia) (labeled as XCP, but, oddly, our disc had no protection) November 30, 2005

Newman breaks out...

This album has none of the insecurity of Newman's first release "Randy Newman." On that album, Newman relied heavily on walls of orchestra for backing. On this album, Newman abandons the orchestra almost with a vengence. This album is made up mostly of songs with a small band. There is heavy slide guitar on some tracks thanks to Ry Cooder, and some of Newman's best songs are here.

The obvious one is "Mama Told Me Not To Come" which Three Dog Night took to the top of the charts. The version on "12 Songs" is vastly superior, and considering that song's success it's surprising that more people didn't seek this album out at the time. Sales were poor in general.

"Old Kentucky Home" is one of Newman's best and funniest songs. It also is a harbinger for a future project of Newman's: the American South (he would deal with this topic 2 albums later).

When introducing "Yellow Man" on "Randy Newman Live", Newman describes the song as "a pinhead's view of China." It is just that. This is Newman's first foray into the world of singing about racial sterotypes - references to rice and excessive frugality abound. It is an easily misunderstood song, and similar in theme to some songs that would get him in trouble years later. It's not as outright offensive as some of his later treamtments of racism, so it's harder to catch the joke.

Newman also takes on a rare cover: "Underneath the Harlem Moon." This song also includes at least one racial slur, and the lyrics are strangely absent from the CD booklet. With Newman singing - knowing what we know now - the song takes on an ironic twist. His method of not being afraid of racial sterotypes and parodying them in a subtle way, makes Newman a pioneer in getting these words and feelings into popular culture and thus into popular conscience. Rather than sweep them under the carpet in an "everything's ok" move, he faces them outright, puts them on the table and lets the listener come to their own conclusions. This method would reach its peak on "Good Old Boys" a few years later. "12 Songs" has a taste of what's to come.

Newman's voice is confident and pronounced on this album. His piano, sorely lacking on his first album, pounds wonderfully in the mix. "12 Songs" is well produced, well paced, and brilliantly written. It's no mystery why it makes so many "Best albums of all time" lists. January 12, 2003

No sex, but drugs and rock and roll

This may be one of the most brilliant albums ever made, and when you consider that Randy Newman was, at the time, so strung out on one addictive substance or another that he has since admitted he has no recollection of MAKING this album, it's probably not the best thing to play for your kids if you're trying to talk them out of using drugs!

Indeed, I once saw Newman in concert and when somebody called out for "Uncle Bob's Midnight Blues," the strange, paranoid rant at the end of this album, Newman laughed and said, "No, I don't do that one ever since I quit taking drugs."

That said, the songs on this album will burn a hole in your soul with their ascerbic wit. "Let's Burn Down the Cornfield" is a favorite with me, as is the song about poor old "Lucinda," and then there's "Suzanne," "Have you seen my baby," and gee, just the WHOLE THING is wonderful. Highly, enthusiastically recommended... November 8, 2002

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