Good Old Boys

Some good instrumentation and lyrics. Hard R n-word loses a star.

I admire Randy Newman more than love him. The songs are interesting. Gently shocking and sometimes grimly funny but the music doesn't excite me much.

boy shut up

Randy Newman est un auteur-compositeur-interprète qui a su se forger une place à part dans le paysage musical américain. Souvent sarcastique, parfois cynique, mais toujours doté d'une tendresse sous-jacente, il est un observateur aiguisé de l'âme humaine et de ses contradictions. "Good Old Boys", sorti en 1974, est sans aucun doute l'un de ses chefs-d'oeuvre, un album conceptuel qui plonge au coeur du Sud des États-Unis.

Dès les premières notes de "Rednecks", le ton est donné. Randy Newman ne mâche pas ses mots pour dépeindre les préjugés et l'ignorance, mais il le fait avec une intelligence qui dépasse la simple caricature. On sent une volonté de comprendre, même les aspects les plus sombres de la mentalité sudiste, plutôt que de simplement juger. C'est cette ambiguïté, cette capacité à adopter le point de vue de ses personnages sans pour autant cautionner leurs actes, qui rend l'oeuvre de Newman si fascinante.

L'album est une succession de vignettes, de portraits dressés avec une précision chirurgicale. On y croise des figures emblématiques du Sud, du gouverneur Huey Long dans l'éponyme "Kingfish" à des personnages plus anonymes, mais tout aussi évocateurs. La musique, un mélange subtil de piano, d'orchestrations riches et de touches de blues et de country, sert parfaitement le propos. La voix de Randy Newman, si particulière, tantôt murmurante, tantôt moqueuse, est l'instrument central de cette exploration.

"Louisiana 1927", l'un des titres les plus célèbres de l'album, est une ballade poignante sur les inondations du Mississippi. Ici, la satire laisse place à une compassion sincère pour les victimes. C'est un moment de pure émotion, une preuve de la polyvalence de Randy Newman, capable de passer du rire jaune aux larmes en un clin d'oeil. Cette capacité à toucher le coeur, même en dépeignant des situations difficiles, est une force majeure de l'artiste.

L'orchestration est une composante essentielle de "Good Old Boys". Les arrangements sont souvent somptueux, ajoutant une dimension épique à certaines chansons. Le piano de Randy Newman, toujours présent, est le pilier autour duquel tout le reste s'articule. Il est le conteur principal, celui qui donne le rythme et l'ambiance à chaque histoire.

En résumé, "Good Old Boys" est un album majeur, un jalon dans la carrière de Randy Newman et dans la musique américaine en général. C'est une oeuvre courageuse, intelligente et profondément humaine. Sa capacité à mêler humour noir, satire sociale et émotion pure en fait un classique intemporel.

Un beau 3 sur 5.

It’s hard for me to hear Randy Newman’s voice without immediately thinking of Toy Story. Honestly, I haven’t explored much of his music beyond the soundtrack, so I was curious to give Good Old Boys a proper listen.

There are definitely some strong moments on this album. I found a few tracks genuinely enjoyable—but they’re surrounded by a fair amount of filler. Some lyrics feel dated or uncomfortable, and several songs suffer from lackluster melodies or weak musical arrangements. Overall, I’m not sure I’d return to this album.

Favourite Tracks:
“Birmingham” stood out—though I’ll admit I might be biased, being a Brummie myself. “Rollin’” is another highlight: a bright, catchy pop tune. “Naked Man” also caught my attention, though it’s hard to ignore how much it echoes Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da.

Least Favourite:
Some lyrics haven’t aged well and detract from the experience. “Every Man a King,” in particular, felt totally out of place and was a real low point for me.

Album Artwork:
The blurry photo style just doesn’t do it for me—visually underwhelming.

Uninspiriertes gejammere.

Randy Newman is good at doing his cheeky, loungy tunes thing. They're not bad, but also not something I see myself coming back to.

I love Randy Newman, very nice album - few of the songs were really great, others just nice, so it wasn't anything crazy. Still, a very pleasant album even though I think some of the best Randy Newman songs are on his other albums.

Seen as the best Randy Newman has to offer, but for me this one is the lesser brother of the amazing Sail Away

good album. given the obvious satire in the first track and the fact that it was made 50 years ago, I'll look past the repeated use of slurs.

Kingfish reminded me of Nothing From Nothing by Billy Preston so I guess that automatically makes it better than the other album by him I listened to. I understand the point he is making and stories he is telling, but it’s not one I really want to come back to. I like that white dudes in the 70’s were super comfortable with dropping slurs in their songs in the name of “social commentary”. My favorite song was Mr. President.

I don't know, man. Pretty negative POV, first track over-uses the n-word - I get it, I get it, we're pointing out the racism and hypocrisy both north and south - at this point I need solutions, not more complaining.

That said, Randy Newman IS a great songwriter, and I'm thinking (after hearing this album) this is what Tom Waits is trying to be. BUT: extremely self-righteous and holier-than-thou, so for me, off-putting. Don't come in here with your class-struggle bullshit.

I think my review of Sail Away stands here too - not enough variation and a hard-to-listen-to voice.

Randy Newman is the opposite of how I feel after eight months of fatherhood.

That first track is wild.

This is an album I struggle to rate. Is a concept album, based on the American south. It hits on some important topics. It has some historical facts. It’s clever. I suppose I need to give it credit for all that. That said, It is pretty dull to listen to.
I’m would give it four stars because of all the historical commentary but it’s probably a 2.5 as a listener. This one really is all about the lyrics.

Wow those lyrics on the first track... I know that it's supposed to be lampooning those views but it's still rough to hear. Aside from that, the album is really enjoyable if somewhat slight. His voice just transports me to being a kid watching Toy Story though which makes it hard to not be happy while listening.

AIka hauskaa vinoilua tuo ykköskappale. Muuten vähän keskimääräistä toimivampi kantrilevy, jonka sanoitukset on osuvia. Taitaa silti jäädä kolmoseen.

Satire is a tricky topic, one that I have no right discussing, so I'll just avoid the slur can of worms that this album can be. Otherwise, this album just sounds like the guy who wrote the Toy Story soundtrack decided to make a bunch of Harry Nilsson-esque tunes, which is exactly what it is. That means there are some really pretty tunes, some songs that make you want to bob up and down, and a lot of songs that feel just like they could be played on a speaker and no one would bat an eye were they not paying attention to the lyrics. It's okay, dare I say pretty, but whenever I focus on Newman's voice something just bothers me. It isn't grating, per se, but it is lacking, and that fits for most of these songs, luckily, but thirteen tracks of it can be a bit much, even with how short it is. Still, nice enough, I suppose.

Not gonna lie, this is pretty mid for me. The compositions, while pleasant, sound like anyone could have come up with them and I don't have much use for "biting satire" or really any kind of comedy in music. Still, it is a toe-tapper.