Return of a Jewish Cowpoke

Rip It Up, Issue 7, 1 December 1977, Page 11

Return of a Jewish Cowpoke

Bruce Belsham

Randy Newman Little Criminals Warner Brothers Randy Newman has a nice life. He lies around in the sun a lot, he likes his family, he gets paid by a record company, and he is probably a genius. Extravagant praise? Well, a new Randy Newman record after three years is cause for dancing in the streets so some heady celebration is permissable. With Little Criminals Newman returns. It’s good to have him back. There have been changes, notably Ry Cooder’s virtual absence and Newman’s use of L.A.’s silver throated sons, the Eagles. But Newman’s economical arrangements are as original as ever they were, his melodic gift thrives, and he conjures, with each song, an immense atmosphere. From the comic throw-off "Short People", to the melancholy "Texas Girl at the Funeral of her Father", he appears to be in complete control. The guitar playing New-

man solicits from Glen Frey in “Baltimore” would suggest a masterful influence upon his musicians. And he remains one of few performers who can really use a studio orchestra.

Little Criminals, like Sail Away, demonstrates Randy Newman’s flexibility. The dozen songs cover topics from small time hoods to Albert Einstein. He picks out fragments of American life and fondles them, his nasally evocative voice passing wry commentary. Newman in a recent interview said he wonders why song writers don’t use the third person more often. The statement hints at his own special talents. He is the master of the narrative shred. He doesn’t bare his soul, he doesn’t accuse his audience, he doesn't call down God's wrath from the pulpit, but takes an incident and wrings from it the most astonishing and complex sentiments. Ambivalence is the trademark of a Newman song. “In Germany Before the War” is about a Dusseldorf child murderer. It is a sympathetic and elliptical story of a man going, in early evening, down to the Rhine. There he watches a golden haired child. It is also a scary song. We lie beneath the autumn sky My little girl and I And she lies very still She lies very still. Newman’s humour grows out of this same balance between the everyday and the extraordinary. He loves a mock epic tone. “Sail Away” was an ironic anthem for the slave trade. "Jolly Coppers on Parade" deploys a similar touch. Oh, it's all so nice Looks like angels have come down from Paradise Jolly coppers on parade. There are few people who can be as funny as Randy Newman, and just as few who can be so devastating. On the one hand is the comic delivery of cowboy cliches in “Rider in the Rain", on the other is the sad “Texas Girl at the Funeral of her Father". Because of his expressive scope and musical finesse Newman will probably still warrant listening in thirty years. For the present I’m content to label Little Criminals one of the year's best.