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33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Satire, sympathy, misogyny, love: Randy's music is rich,real, July 28, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Guilty: 30 Years of Randy Newman (Audio CD)
Randy Newman has been writing and performing his own unique style of pop/folk/rock/country/art music for nearly forty years. His influences are eclectic. His family has roots in the Deep South as well as Hollywood. His background and musical history is detailed in a biography included in this set. The first two CD's represent a chronological presentation of selections from his albums. You will hear the original versions of several cover hits by artists such as Linda Ronstadt, Three Dog Night, Bonnie Raitt, and Joe Cocker. Songs of love, rage, dementia, desperation, and desire expressed in styles ranging from heartaching simplicity to throbbing complexity tell tales of common experience and outrageous depravity. One of the last songs John Belushi performed on Saturday Night Live is the desperate self-pitying "Guilty." Juxtapose this with Grammy-nominated "I Love to See You Smile," from the movie "Parenthood," and his symphonic film scores. It is obvious why Randy Newman is uncategorizable and unendingly entertaining. This is an indispensable collection of music from the creative genius of an influential and truly original American artist.
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20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Eclectic collection from an eclectic composer, February 21, 2000
This review is from: Guilty: 30 Years of Randy Newman (Audio CD)
Randy Newman is one of the most versatile composers of all time, able to write witty parodies (Short People; I Love L.A.); touching ballads (When She Loved Me); award-winning theatrical scores (Ragtime, Toy Story, etc.) and a lot of great stuff that just doesn't pigeonhole very easily. A lot, but not all, of it is here in this compilation; and given the fact that this is four packed-to-capicity CDs, it's remarkable that so much of what was left out is also great (Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Pleasantville, etc.). For those of us who really love Newman's music this compilation is a must-have. The third disc is filled with demos and unreleased songs that are not available elsewhere. The other three discs are more than just a "greatest hits", they are a sort of a musical biography -- a chance to see how Newman has changed and grown as a composer and performer over the years.
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the best boxsets of the decade, January 5, 1999
This review is from: Guilty: 30 Years of Randy Newman (Audio CD)
Long overdue, this collection captures the broad range of styles that Newman has mastered, and a master he is of style and substance. If you listen very carefully, you'll hear the roots of Elvis Costello and Graham Parker in Newman's songs and sound. This collection sequences both Newman's major songs, along with his novelty pieces well. The arrangement of the discs allows for a full picture of Newman as both an artist and innovator in American song. In fact, Newman's craftmanship harks back to Gershwin, Berlin and others of that era, but puts a modern sophisticated sheen to the music and lyrics. While the soundtrack portion might seem overkill, or less worthy to a lot of fans, but, in fact, it just adds greater depth to the picture of Newman that this anthology paints. The scores for his pictures(including THE NATURAL, THE THREE AMIGOS and others) are delightful, particularly if you're a musician.
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