Good Old Boys

I’m stuck on a 3, though I really do think it's worth listening to.

I appreciate the attempts at satire on this album; loosely, Randy Newman’s messaging & political stances come through well, even if the actual messaging used can range from batshit methodology (never let the Toy Story guy drop the N word with a hard R ever again, please) to decently earnest pleading. I think Randy Newman tackles the subject matter on these tracks with a decent amount of tact for the time, when white southern audiences were still legitimately speaking like this, for better or for worse.

However, satire is only effective to a certain point when you’re speaking to a primarily white audience – I think this album disregards the black perspective just a bit too much, with Randy ironically falling into the trap he satirized really well in the 3rd & 4th verse of “Rednecks”. I have to imagine some of that disregard is intentional to sell the southern ignorance that’s meant to be portrayed on these tracks. I just think there’s too much of it; take a track like “Louisiana 1927”, where the disregard & the ignorance is a driving factor. There’s no pushback on the character’s isolated perspective at all, leading to a disjointed focus that hides the messaging of the track a bit too deeply, especially since a lot of it earnestly focuses on the suffering of that flood. Randy Newman’s writing is sharp, yes, but it lacks the same direct wit as someone like John Prine, who often made himself unmistakably clear.

Past that, I just don’t think a lot of the tracks here are super musically compelling. “Sail Away” was able to get away with some softer, out of the way instrumentals, but this album’s orchestration lends itself to a sort of homogeneity, where every track ends up feeling the same despite a decently robust attempt to add some variety in styles. Since the lyricism doesn’t have the full bite to make up for it, and since Randy’s dryer vocals don’t feel as potent because of it, then the entire album suffers & feels longer as a result. This is only 33 minutes, but it doesn’t really fly by like that.

Hence, a 3. Not a bad one, and one I could fully understand going as high as a 5 for if the lyricism has that bite for someone else that it didn’t quite have for me, or if the instrumentals just click more nicely. However, it's also one where I fully understand why it has the rating it does. Randy Newman doesn’t get a pass for using the N-word like that, even with some decently guided intentions, but even if he had censored himself, I just think the rest of the politically-driven tracks on this album are comprised of observations that other people would satirize better & make much more potent & lasting tracks out of in the future. Sorry, Randy. It’s just a 3 for me. I do recommend it though.

Pretty cozy.

not crazy about the strings or the ballads. i prefer sail away or little criminals

I really like Randy Newman. I feel like I would enjoy spending time in his company. His music makes me smile and feel all kind of nostalgic.

I preferred Sail Away by quite some margin, partially because it sounds better organised and more focused, but also because it does more to spotlight Newman’s lyrical content - his key selling point. On Good Old Boys I find myself peering through the mix trying to understand what he is saying. Some moments are chipper, others are thoughtful, others leave no impression at all, though it does provide some good mood music if you’re happy for it to fade into the background.

Well, that hard r in the first song was buck wild at 7:12am. Now, it was 1973 and he was using it to pick on rednecks but still...the problem with music is that it can't get the social firmware updates we might like. I love walk on the wild side. Great tune. Same problem.

That aside I put Randy Newman on the same shelf as Dr. John. Two schlocky and kind of funny guys with odd affectations who are really good at the specific thing they do.

I happen to also enjoy it somewhat. The latter slightly more but this album was decent and I enjoyed the shorter length. It felt like it said what it wanted to and let me get on with my day.

A white man saying "negro" and the hard "N" isn't a great look, but when you dig into the context of the album's concept being a satirist's take on the racist underbelly of the American south, it becomes slightly more excusable. A kind of singer-songwriter piano rock album infused with string arrangements, musically it's a pleasant enough, and well-layered listen, if a bit unremarkable.

Not something I'd ever reach for again, but I didn't hate it.

mano. o cara do you've got a friend in me falando a n-word.
bom eh isso. não foi ruim e eh meio bizarro como as letras são atuais. mas eh isso só, nada demais não

The voice was immediately recognizable as the one from Toy Story.
After hearing several times the N-Word I needed to check, but yes, it's the same person.
Not really my type of music.

What the heck is this? Not worth any second of my time.

🎶Beware, beware, beware of the naked man🎶

Good Old Randy

I'm glad I was too old for kid's movies by the time Randy Newman started doing their soundtracks. His style really doesn't work for me.

I recognize the talent, but I don't enjoy the delivery.

NOT happy I've had to listen to Randy Newman twice now.

Interesting to hear Newman's work outside of childrens movies, but honestly the faux southern accent and janglin sound is not for me. I appreciate the perspective behind a track like "Rednecks" but the lyrics are too on the nose for my taste in spots. 2/5

Start off to say, I do really enjoy Randy's style. Clear that the Toy Story song is his general style, and that song was great, so hearing a full album of tunes like that was a good time.

But I think (and it's the general elephant in the room) starting off the record with Rednecks was certainly an introduction and choice. And while I get the point of the song, I can't help but think the song lost the plot by the extremely liberal use of slurs. For comparison, the Dead Kennedy's song Holiday in Cambodia is also one where that slur is sung by a white man, but its used once as an extremely jarring and cutting point. And that song is fantastic. So I do feel Redneck's point could have been made more tactfully.

That said, I generally enjoyed this album, it's a little repetitive in sound and probably isn't one I'd go back to, but yeah. Newman gets points for the superior Rollin' (Sorry Fred Durst).

I know he's done a lot of Disney songs but god it's strange listening to this.

Shocking until you get the intent

Amazing music and lyric writing.