Endless delight: Among this year's special releases for Record Store Day is a handsome set comprising Randy Newman's last seven albums
Randy Newman
Roll With The Punches: The Studio Albums (1979-2017)
8 LPs, out now
Rating: 
Vinyl is back, not with a bang, but not with a whimper either. The dear old LP is now outselling the format that usurped it, the CD, and rightly so. There’s something special about black vinyl, possibly the only lovable version of plastic.
One of the best presents you can give a child is a turntable, not least because it paves the way to many more presents – one great album after another.
The vinyl revival has been driven partly by Record Store Day, which came around again yesterday. Among this year’s special releases was a boxed set that would also make a fabulous gift (for a grown-up).
Randy Newman (above) is two composers in one. The first Randy writes film scores at high speed – 27 of them so far, including all four Toy Story movies
It comprises the last seven albums from a 77-year-old singer-songwriter who has never spent a week in the UK Top 40, yet is widely regarded as a genius. Randy Newman is two composers in one.
The first Randy writes film scores at high speed – 27 of them so far, including all four Toy Story movies. Generations of children have discovered that they have a friend in him.
The other Randy writes songs for solo albums, very slowly. These seven LPs – including one double, the musical Faust – span 38 years. But that’s fine, because Newman’s songs exist outside fashion.
They, too, divide in two. Many are satirical, depicting characters who are mostly grotesque, yet somehow endearing. Newman is the Hogarth of the piano.
He takes aim at everyone from ageing rock stars to Vladimir Putin – and then, without warning, he slips across the thin line between laughter and tears. The jibe at old rockers, I’m Dead (But I Don’t Know It), is followed by Every Time It Rains, a heart-rending ballad about feeling lost and lonely.
It was written for Michael Jackson, who turned it down, perhaps failing to spot that he was more lost and lonely than most of us.
If you can spare £140, this handsome set will give endless delight. If you can’t, seek out Bad Love (1999), which Newman rates as ‘maybe my best record’. It will make you laugh, cry, and wonder why you don’t have his whole oeuvre.
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