Born Again
Studio album by
Randy Newman
ReleasedAugust 1979
Recorded1979
StudioWarner Brothers Recording Studios (North Hollywood)
A&M Studios (Hollywood)
GenreRock, avant-pop[1]
Length35:19
LabelWarner Bros., Reprise
ProducerLenny Waronker, Russ Titelman
Randy Newman chronology
Little Criminals
(1977)		 Born Again
(1979)		 Trouble in Paradise
(1983)

Born Again is the sixth studio album by American musician Randy Newman.[2] The album was released in August 1979, to little sales and mostly positive reviews, which surprised Newman. Newman went on to say that Born Again was the strangest album that he had ever done.[3] The album cover features Randy Newman in a business office, wearing face makeup (an obvious parody of Kiss), with dollar signs painted over his eyes, appearing to poke fun at the commercialization of rock music.

Release and critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[4]
Christgau's Record GuideB+[5]
MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide[6]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[2]

Newman expected the album to be a hit. Instead, the album sold relatively poorly, with worse reviews than its predecessor.[7] Prior to its release, Newman called Born Again "a larger insult"[4] than his 1977 hit single "Short People", but following the record's disappointing reception, he later reflected, "The mistake I made was that to do this, people have to know who you are in the first place."[8] "It's a weird album full of peculiar songs like the one about an ELO fan getting everything wrong. It's very idiosyncratic, with small subjects. If it had been a hit to follow it might have been different but I have always written the same way."[7] Ironically, Jeff Lynne would later be among the producers of Land of Dreams.

Stephen Holden, writing for Rolling Stone, criticized the album for its "snide" and "nihilistic" tone.[9] The Globe and Mail wrote that "Newman's knife gets a little sharper every time—he's tired of double and triple meanings and he intends to peg things clearly on one level—without co-opting the humane character of his enterprise."[10] The New York Times concluded that "there's a tinge of anger in Mr. Newman that, curiously enough, precludes his songs from seeming like cheap shots."[11]

Track listing

All tracks written and arranged by Randy Newman.

  1. "It's Money That I Love" – 3:38
  2. "The Story of a Rock and Roll Band" – 2:53
  3. "Pretty Boy" – 4:00
  4. "Mr. Sheep" – 3:53
  5. "Ghosts" – 2:28
  6. "They Just Got Married" – 2:51
  7. "Spies" – 3:55
  8. "The Girls in My Life (Part One)" – 2:36
  9. "Half a Man" – 3:38
  10. "William Brown" – 1:50
  11. "Pants" – 3:06

Charts

Chart (1979) Position
United States (Billboard 200) 41
Australia (Kent Music Report)[12] 65

Personnel

Technical
  • Tom Knox – engineer
  • Lee Herschberg – mixing
  • Mike Salisbury – art direction, cover design
  • Mark Feldman – cover photography

References

  1. ↑ Grimstad, Paul. "What is Avant-Pop?". Brooklyn Rail. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
  2. 1 2 The Rolling Stone Album Guide. Random House. 1992. pp. 504, 505.
  3. ↑ "How Randy Newman Confounded Expectations With 'Born Again'".
  4. 1 2 Born Again at AllMusic
  5. ↑ Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: N". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved March 8, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
  6. ↑ MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. 1996. p. 488.
  7. 1 2 Martin Chilton. "www.telegraph.co.uk/music/artists/randy-newman-talks-music/". The Telegraph.
  8. ↑ Guilty: 30 Years of Randy Newman (Media notes).
  9. ↑ "Born Again". Rolling Stone. 1979-10-04. Archived from the original on 2019-08-26.
  10. ↑ McGrath, Paul (18 Aug 1979). "Witty Randy Returns". The Globe and Mail. p. P30.
  11. ↑ Rockwell, John (24 Aug 1979). "The Pop Life: Newman's new album deepens his impact". The New York Times. p. C11.
  12. ↑ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 216. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
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