Randy Newman's stab at psychedelic rock/pop

One of the more interesting revelations from the new Nuggets box WHERE THE ACTION IS: LOS ANGELES NUGGETS is this early Randy Newman single, "Last Night I Had A Dream". It's actually fucking stellar, I wish he would have stuck with the sound for an LP's worth of material before settling in that Newman-y groove that eventually became self-parody. Anyway, I rock this jam on a regular basis, and I can't think of a better recommendation than that new Nuggets box.

Check out the song, you can play it with the embed or DL:

http://www.divshare.com/download/10190760-62f

Is it the same take as on Sail Away?

If only there was some way to listen and find out!

Anyway, this is an all purpose Newman thread. I am soliciting recommendations, as I mostly know him through guys like Van Dyke Parks or Harry Nilsson singing his songs. Please tell me the go-to Randy Newman LP right away.

haha I figured that would be the answer!

er, xp

Yeah I'm gonna get SAIL AWAY I'm digging it.

ok wow that is *not* the same take as on Sail Away!

There's not much that heavy in his catalog. There's "Gone Dead Train", which you can get on the box set (it's otherwise only on the Performance soundtrack). There's also a Crazy Horse version of the song. But it's not as heavy as the single you posted.

12 Songs is probably the album that's most like that single version of "Last Night I Had A Dream", though it's still more, er, Ray Charles-y than sheer guitar attack.

The box set Guilty really is killer, though it demands a lot more attention than a single album and you may not dig his soundtrack work or late 70s/early 80s pop style.

Thanks for the info, duder. I'm open to whatever the best stuff is, not tied to the hard rock-ish aesthetic of the single in the OP.

I think Good Old Boys is his best single album, but you can't go wrong with this guy. Even the soundtrack songs on disk 4 of the box are great, though I don't know if the soundtrack albums would hold up. I like them in compilation at least.

I co-sign w/euler - not sure what you mean about a "groove that eventually became self-parody"; every last one of his albums is great. after Born Again they become a little more about the arrangements & orchestration, and weaker tracks creep in, but Land of Dreams is even loaded with gems. For a single album, Sail Away is the best, but 12 Songs is essential, so is Good Old Boys. But Little Criminals is also fantastic, Bad Love is underpraised...there isn't one album that doesn't have a few unmissable songs, and really as an arranger he's nearly peerless.

His 2008 album is terrific.

You don't think he's just phoning in Randy Newman-sounding stuff for his five Pixar soundtracks or his TV themes like "Monk"?

Anyway, this is an all purpose Newman thread. I am soliciting recommendations, as I mostly know him through guys like Van Dyke Parks or Harry Nilsson singing his songs. Please tell me the go-to Randy Newman LP right away.

― ian zamboni, Saturday, February 6, 2010 2:41 AM (7 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

this is actually the preferred new man listening experience - try nina simone doing balitmore

btw u know whatd be hella rad is if someone uploaded a sweet newman covers mix

hint hint

Land of Dreams contains: "Dixie Flyer," "I Want You To Hurt Like I Do," and "It's Money That Matters," one of his best singles.

try nina simone doing balitmore

seconded, love that.

i have a greatest hits thing (maybe called lonely at the top?) and i would recommend it, though i think it's pretty old

newman's think it's going to rain > simone's, tho, i think

There have been some great Newman covers, but his delivery seems so crucial to his songs that I'll take the originals over any other artist's version.

randy newman and nina simone! my two favorite vocalists!

i would buy a gary numan album of randy newman covers.

still my favorite randy newman songs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SK-p3mtyhRc

I think "Dixie Flyer" is one of his all-time best & I have a theory that he thinks so, too - he was on Letterman, like, six or seven years after Land of Dreams came out, and I was like, cool, Randy Newman, what's he playing...and he did "Dixie Flyer." Incredibly emotional song with just the right leavening ("Drinking rye whiskey from a flask in the back seat/Tryin to do like the gentiles do/they wanted to be gentiles, too/Christ, who wouldn't, down there. Wouldn't you?") and the coda is like the most wistful sound ever.

I don't think he's phoning in his soundtracks, no - I mean, that stuff is in his blood, his whole family writes soundtracks & his uncle's one of the all-timers - I think writing for film, like writing theme/incidental music, is a specific discipline & he's really good at it.

J0hn completely otm re: Bad Love. faust and harps and angels are about as great, too

there's a limited-ed double of Faust that has him demoing the songs on piano and thinking the libretto out loud - it's amazing, and it has "march of the protestants," which didn't make the album. Faust has been favorites of mine, too - "Glory Train" is great, "Feels Like Home" is of course awesome, "Northern Boy" is incredible, and "Little Island" is really something.

Disk 3 of the box set has lots of magic on it too: "Interiors" is a beautiful, fragmentary demo from 1979, for instance.

If 'When She Loved Me' is phoning it in, I can't wait to here what he can do when he really trys.

Boy I am so used to the 'Sail Away' version of 'Last Night I Had A Dream,' hearing this is like seeing yourself in the mirror after you've cut & dyed your hair, that quick dual feeling of 'that's me'/'who is this freaky stranger?'.

still my favorite randy newman songs:

rofl. "still haven't seen toy story...don't need to!" kinda has a ring of truth about it too. i guess this means you actually hate randy newman and nina simone as vocalists?

i think i've gotten pretty good at expressing my opinions on the appropriate threads. lotsa loving here, so it doesn't seem like the place. if it were a classic/dud thread or some general thread about artists that make you want to jab knitting needles into your ears every time you hear them, then things might be different.

just checking!

ty mr. zamboni

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8xq7hhBipE

Favourite Newman cover, and one of my favourite songs ever, is Dusty Springfield's I Think It's Going to Rain Today. The string arrangement is sublime. Not on YouTube though.