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Randy Newman - Faust (Dlx) Audio CD

A fair review of the Randy Newman "Faust (Dlx)" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Randy Newman reviews here, or go back to the Randy Newman tabs.

Randy Newman Band: Randy Newman
Title: Faust (Dlx)
Rating:
Release Date: 2003-02-25
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Glory Train 2: Can't Keep A Good Man Down 3: How Great Our Lord 4: Best Little Girl 5: Northern Boy 6: Bless The Children Of The World 7: Gainesville 8: Relax, Enjoy Yourself 9: Life Has Been Good To Me 10: Little Island 11: The Man 12: My Hero 13: I Gotta Be Your Man 14: Feels Like Home 15: Bleeding All Over The Place 16: Sandman's Coming 17: Happy Ending 18: Pass On Over 19: How Great Our Lord 20: Each Perfect Day 21: Best Little Girl 22: It Was Beautiful 23: Northern Boy 24: Bless The Children Of The World 25: Damn Fine Day 26: March Of The Protestants 27: Little Island 28: The Man 29: Love Time 30: Relax, Enjoy Yourself 31: When Love Is In The Air 32: Gainesville Florida 33: Life Has Been Good To Me 34: My Hero 35: Hard Currency 36: Sandman's Coming 37: Basin Street Blues

disappointment
The one song I bought it for was sung by someone else, not Randy, and 99% of the songs on it were biblical, like for a church service, and others were from the stage. I am a big Randy Neuman fan, but did not like this CD.


Nothing Else Comes Close
You gotta hear this with headphones. I listened to this album (with headphones) for the first time last night and when I wasn't laughing, my jaw was on the floor for the sheer musical greatness that unfolded before me. Christians beware, Randy Newman is on the prowl! But in all fairness to Randy, he says in his liner notes (also great w/ this Dlx pkg) "It doesn't make the case for Atheism more effectively than than the case for religion". If you doubted Newman's artistry before, then Faust will surely correct your oversight!.


How To Make An OK CD Great
As a Randy Newman fan I would rather skip a track with a James Taylor lead vocal on it, than have to listen to it. Do we really need another version of Randy Newman's Faust? I hardly listened to it when it first came out, though it has grown on me since the last Rhino reissues. That goes double for a Bonnie Raitt or Linda Ronstadt one. And since I have made it through all of those Soundtrack albums, AND all those cast sung songs, I guess I can make it through Faust. I'd love to say that Faust is mostly Randy but it's not, but as you probably are aware it's still great songs, great musicians, (Including Ry Cooder & Jim Keltner) and it sounds like a Randy Newman album. But now with this new reissue it really doesn't matter because the second disc is over an hour of Randy on piano. It also comes with nice packaging, expanded booklet with an interesting essay, and did I mention a complete disc of Randy Newman. It is similar to the Bonus disc of "Good Old Boys", and we couldn't of asked for anything better than that.
So is Faust worth 5 stars? Is it better than "Sail Away", "Little Criminals", "Good Old Boys" get real. It's still, for a collection of songs originally released in 1995, pretty good.
So if your not a Randy Newman fan start with "Trouble in Paradise" and work your way down. Everybody else sell your old copy of Faust on ebay and get 2 discs for the price of one.


A Generally Unheard Classic
"

The Randster tackles the classic story, "Faust" with sardonic tongue-in-cheek style that laces through most of his best work, and comes out with a fantastic and subtely (and sometimes out-loud) funny work of art. The original release of "Faust" (in Randy's words) "didn't sell enough to pay for my kids' toothpaste. Great tunes, fantastic production - this album in certain ways culminates a unique and beatufiul career - Randy tackles the heaviest of subjects (God), drags out contemporaries and far more commercially successful friends (Elton John, Don Henley) and creates a work of beauty that is so direct AND off center, that it finds little audience in today's CD buying market place. For those who love "Good Old Boys" - this is a perfect companion. Tackling an even more taboo subject with another disc of Randy on piano, playing the melodies raw.

Randy, of course, plays The Devil. And his own personally undecided view of religion comes through. How Glorious is God sings James Taylor as The Big Guy, only to have Randy reply with "We're Only a Figment of Their Imagination. " Are they? And if so, whose singing? Ah, the irony. Randy style.

Kick in Disc 1 and listen to this masterpiece in lushly produced glory, and now listen to Randy's demos on Disc 2 as he warbles his way through the story - double confirming that the Great Mystery is just as confusing to Mr. Newman as it is for the rest of us.

But most importantly, as any good album, it comes down to the music. If you'd like a concept album that breaks new ground while singing about the old, this is for you. Take a chance. You'll never hear anything like it. God Bless Randy for being Randy and taking chances. Or someone should bless him - whoever you personally believe has the ability to do it.


You can see a complete list of all Randy Newman discography, or go back to the Randy Newman tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.

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