Randy Newman

Randy Newman is the debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Randy Newman, released in 1968 by Reprise Records. The album is sometimes referred to as Randy Newman Creates Something New Under the Sun, written on the reverse of the album sleeve. Newman had been a noted songwriter for some years prior to the release of his debut, which was advertised as sounding "like a greatest hits". In contrast to his later albums which usually feature Newman and his piano with a rock backing, Randy Newman is highly orchestral. Randy Newman was not a commercial success. It never dented the Billboard Top 200; indeed, according to Ken Tucker, the album sold so poorly that Warner offered buyers the opportunity to trade the album for another in the company's catalog. The album was out of print for over 15 years until it was issued on CD in 1995, remastered by Lee Herschberg. Randy Newman has received critical attention in recent years. In 2000, it was placed number 716 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums. In 2017, the album was ranked the 97th greatest album of the 1960s by Pitchfork. Details Newman later commented on the lack of influence from rock and roll on the album. "It's like I'd never heard The Rolling Stones. I thought you could move things along just with the orchestra, that it was somehow cheating to use drums. What Van Dyke and I, and Harry Nilsson to some degree, were doing, it was like a branch of homo sapiens that didn't become homo sapiens. Homo erectus," he said.