Sail Away is often considered by fans to be Randy Newman's best album. Indeed, lyrically this is a writer at the peak of his craft and musically sublime in every respect. The basic instrumentation is strings, percussion, various woodwind and of course Newman on piano and vocals. However, the songs range across many styles from country and western licks in Burn On, to dour jazz for Lonely at the Top as well as broad Copland style textures used in He Gives Us All His Love and Sail Away. Indeed the opening track is a Newman classic in every respect - a musical sales pitch for Africans to come over to America as they'll have a much better life. Once the lyrics are understood, the approach Newman has chosen is almost beyond belief but as he has pointed out, saying that slavery is bad would hardly have encouraged them to come over. A completely unexpected approach to an incredibly touchy and difficult subject.
In some ways I can't help thinking that Lonely at the Top is Newman sending up his own unpopularity - he's never been at the top (unfortunately). Either that or it's just a paean to all those pop stars who whinge about their solitary life. He Gives Us All His Love, along with God's Song are two of only a small handful of religious songs that Newman has penned (the others appearing most notably on his religious rock opera Faust). The former is perhaps the more sublime of the two as it sounds on first listening like a genuinely sincere song thanking God, but the more careful listener will realise that the thanks are not meant nearly as sincerely. God's Song is the first appearance of Newman's arrogant and somewhat uncaring God which tells of how dumb mankind is and how blindly they put their faith in him despite the disasters and tragedies he has endured.
Last Night I Had a Dream is a somewhat bizarre but lovely entry which develops from a string arrangement into a short bouncing light country and western number. Simon Smith is mostly famous for its performance by Alan Price, but Randy's original is still a classic. Not even Randy himself seems to be entirely certain as to the meaning; I've always thought it was to do with the non acceptance by society of people who don't fit in. A boy and a dancing bear not perhaps being the easiest combination when hoping for acceptance. This is, to the best of my knowledge the only Randy Newman song to feature just him on piano and vocals and is almost certainly all the better for this simplicity. Old Man is a cruel monologue from an offspring to its father which is offset by the warm and nostalgic orchestral backing. Political Science is a commetary on American foreign policy among other things, but could be taken as a comment on the way that man has a tendancy to crack walnuts with a sledge hammer and go in with guns blazing.
Burn On was apparently inspired by Randy seeing the Cayahoga River on fire and in like a few of the other songs on this album starts quietly by eventually turns into a light country song. It also has one of those introductions that is unmistakable with the high piano intervals which are incredibly distinctive. Old Man is turned on its head when a father offers some hollow advice to his offspring in Memo to My Son. Dayton Ohio is very low key and is some kind of character study, possibly suggesting how tedious their lives are. I suppose You Can Leave Your Hat On is Newman's sleeper hit. It's perhaps not a song that anyone would associate with him if their heard it, but it has featured in a couple of features, most notably the recent British hit The Full Monty when it was sung by Tom Jones. It is a surprisingly disturbing lyric with a dirty old man asking his beautiful lover to undress as he sees fit. Something of a precursor to the similiarly themed Shame from Bad Love.
Probably Newman's most low key album, which is why it's probably so popular; Newman fans tend to prefer his subtle, simple and yet profound songs to the more obvious songs of later albums. However, this was his first big hit (by his standards anyway) and as mentioned, often cited as the best of his song albums and as such is one that no-one should be without. It is wonderful, but somewhat short and low key and deserves several listens before passing any kind of judgement. Listen to the lyrics carefully or you'll miss Newman's rich and honest meanings and subtly textured orchestral arrangements.
Rating ~ 