On his third studio album, Randy Newman found a middle ground between the heavily orchestrated pop of his debut and the more stripped-down, rock-oriented approach of 12 Songs, and managed to bring new strength to both sides of his musical personality in the process. The title track, which Newman has described as a sort of commercial jingle written for slave traders looking to recruit naïve Africans, and "Old Man," in which an elderly man is rejected with feigned compassion by his son, were set to Newman's most evocative arrangements to date and rank with the most intelligent and effective use of a large ensemble by anyone in pop music.
On the other end of the scale, "Last Night I Had a Dream" and "You Can Leave Your Hat On" are lean, potent mid-tempo rock tunes, the former featuring some slashing and ominous slide guitar from Ry Cooder, and the latter a witty and willfully perverse bit of erotic absurdity that later became a hit for Joe Cocker (who sounded as if he took the joke at face value). Elsewhere,
Newman cynically ponders the perils of a stardom he would never achieve ("Lonely at the Top," originally written for Frank Sinatra), offers a broad and amusing bit of political satire ("Political Science"), and concludes with one of the most bitter rants against religion that anyone committed to vinyl prior to the punk era ("God's Song [That's Why I Love Mankind]"). Whether he's writing for three pieces or 30, Newman makes superb use of the sounds available to him, and his vocals are the model of making the most of a limited instrument. Overall, Sail Away is one of Newman's finest works, musically adventurous and displaying a lyrical subtlety that would begin to fade in his subsequent works.
by Mark Deming
1. Sail Away - 2:52
2. Lonely At The Top - 2:35
3. He Gives Us All His Love - 1:56
4. Last Night I Had A Dream - 3:03
5. Simon Smith And The Amazing Dancing - 2:05
6. Old Man - 2:44
7. Political Science - 2:02
8. Burn On - 2:35
9. Memo To My Son - 1:55
10.Dayton, Ohio - 1903 1:51
11.You Can Leave Your Hat On - 3:18
12.God's Song (That's Why I Love Mankind) - 3:46
13.Let It Shine - 1:45
14.Maybe I'm Doing It Wrong (Studio Version) - 1:23
15.Dayton, Ohio - 1903 (Early Version) - 1:55
16.You Can Leave Your Hat On (Demo) - 2:47
17.Sail Away (Early Version) - 3:18
All compositions by Randy Newman
Musicians
*Randy Newman - Piano, Vocals
*Ry Cooder - Slide Guitar
*Russ Titelman - Guitar
*Jim Keltner - Drums
*Gene Parsons - Drums
*Earl Palmer - Drums
*Chris Ethridge - Bass Guitar
*Wilton Felder - Bass Guitar
*Jimmy Bond - Bass Guitar
*Milt Holland - Percussion
*Abe Most - Alto Saxophone
*Emil Newman - Conductor
*Larry Marks - Conductor
1979 Randy Newman - Born Again
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