Randy Newman – The Randy Newman Songbook (2016) [Qobuz FLAC 24bit/88,2kHz]

Randy Newman – The Randy Newman Songbook (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 02:22:25 minutes | 2,29 GB | Genre: Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download – Source: Qobuz | Front Cover | © Nonesuch
Recorded: 2003 & 2010 at Conway Recording Studios, Hollywood, CA

Nonesuch’s Randy Newman Songbook series—comprising solo recordings of songs from throughout Newman’s five-decade career—previously included two volumes, released on CD in 2003 and 2011. Sixteen additional songs from a newly released third volume, along with five bonus tracks (“Feels Like Home,” “A Wedding in Cherokee County,” “Family Album: Homage to Alfred, Emil and Lionel Newman,” “A Few Words in Defense of Our Country,” and “I’m Dreaming”), join those first two volumes to create this new complete Songbook box set. Mitchell Froom produced The Randy Newman Songbook, Vol. 1 (which has been remastered for this box set) and was joined on Vol. 2 and Vol. 3 by Newman’s lifelong friend and colleague Lenny Waronker.

The New York Times said of the first volume of The Randy Newman Songbook: “The great craftsmanship is more apparent in the stripped-down context,” and the Associated Press said, “Few singer-songwriters could inject more new life into solo piano versions of their work than Randy Newman.” The UK’s Uncut called Vol. 2 “another subtly sublime stroll through the master’s back catalogue,” noting that Newman is “owner of a peerless canon,” and that the album “isolates his full range of qualities: the improbable juxtapositions of caustic topicality and heart-wrenching universality, the concise character studies, and singing and piano playing that seem to emanate from the very fabric of America.”

After starting his songwriting career as a teenager, Newman began recording as a singer and pianist in 1968 with his self-titled album. Throughout the 1970s he released several other acclaimed albums such as: 12 Songs, Sail Away, and Good Old Boys. In addition to his solo recordings and regular international touring, Newman began composing and scoring for films in the 1980s. The list of movies he has worked on since then includes The Natural, Awakenings, Ragtime, all three Toy Story pictures, Seabiscuit, James and the Giant Peach, A Bug’s Life, and most recently, Disney/Pixar’s Monsters University, the prequel to Monsters Inc. (which he also scored).

Randy Newman’s many honors include six Grammys, three Emmys, and two Academy Awards. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2002 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013—the same year he was given an Ivor Novello PRS for Music Special International Award. Mostly recently, Newman was presented with a PEN New England Song Lyrics of Literary Excellence Award in June 2014.
The highly praised 2008 Harps and Angels was Newman’s first album of new material since 1999. The Austin Chronicle wrote “the characters are memorable, the satire sharp, the music luxurious, and the arrangements maybe the most gorgeous in all pop music.” It was followed in 2011 by Vol. 2 of the Songbook series and a live CD and DVD recorded at London’s intimate LSO St. Luke’s, where he was accompanied by the BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by Robert Ziegler. Newman is currently working on his next album of new material, which Nonesuch will release in 2017.

Tracklist:

Songbook Vol. 1
1 It’s Lonely at the Top 00:03:13
2 God’s Song (That’s Why I Love Mankind) 00:03:25
3 Louisiana 1927 00:02:58
4 Let Me Go 00:02:39
5 Rednecks 00:03:08
6 Avalon 00:00:59
7 Living Without You 00:02:18
8 I Think It’s Going to Rain Today 00:02:59
9 You Can Leave Your Hat On 00:02:34
10 It’s Money That I Love 00:02:20
11 Marie 00:02:56
12 When She Loved Me 00:01:03
13 Sail Away 00:02:59
14 The World Isn’t Fair 00:03:08
15 Political Science 00:02:05
16 The Great Nations of Europe 00:03:27
17 In Germany Before the War 00:03:51
18 Ragtime 00:01:26

Songbook Vol. 2
1 Dixie Flyer 00:03:20
2 Yellow Man 00:02:05
3 Suzanne 00:02:48
4 The Girls in My Life (Part 1) 00:01:49
5 Kingfish 00:02:17
6 Losing You 00:02:46
7 Sandman’s Coming 00:02:19
8 My Life Is Good 00:03:27
9 Birmingham 00:02:22
10 Last Night I Had a Dream 00:01:58
11 Same Girl 00:02:46
12 Baltimore 00:03:05
13 Laugh and Be Happy 00:02:20
14 Lucinda 00:01:37
15 Dayton, Ohio – 1903 00:01:54
16 Cowboy 00:02:21

Songbook Vol. 3
1 Short People 00:02:09
2 Mama Told Me Not to Come 00:01:56
3 Love Story 00:03:05
4 Burn On 00:02:31
5 You’ve Got a Friend in Me 00:02:06
6 Rollin’ 00:02:33
7 Guilty 00:02:46
8 Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear 00:01:48
9 Davy the Fat Boy 00:02:39
10 Red Bandana 00:02:20
11 Old Man 00:02:39
12 Real Emotional Girl 00:02:33
13 I Love to See You Smile 00:02:27
14 I Love L.A. 00:02:34
15 Bad News from Home 00:03:01
16 I’ll Be Home 00:02:23
17 Feels Like Home 00:04:53
18 A Wedding in Cherokee County 00:02:58
19 Family Album: Homage to Alfred, Emil and Lionel Newman 00:01:02
20 A Few Words In Defense of Our Country 00:04:08
21 I’m Dreaming 00:03:12