| Randy Newman's songwriting often walks a narrow line between
intelligent satire and willful cruelty, and that line was never finer than
on the album Good Old Boys. Newman had long displayed a fascination with
the American South, and Good Old Boys was a song cycle where he gave free
reign to his most imaginative (and venomous) thoughts on the subject. The
album's scabrous opening cut, "Rednecks," is guaranteed to offend
practically anyone with its tale of a slow-witted, willfully (and proudly)
ignorant Southerner obsessed with "keeping the n——-s down."
"A Wedding in Cherokee County" is more polite but hardly less
mean-spirited, in which an impotent hick marries a circus freak; if the
song's melody and arrangement weren't so skillful, it would be hard to imagine
anyone bothering with this musical geek show. But elsewhere, Good Old Boys
displays a very real compassion for the blighted history of the South, leavened
with a knowing wit. "Birmingham" is a funny but humane tale of
working-class Alabamians, "Louisiana 1927" and "Kingfish"
are intelligent and powerfully evocative tales of the deep South in the
depths of the Great Depression, and "Rollin'" is cheerful on the
surface and troubling to anyone willing to look beneath it. Musically, Newman
dives deep into his influences in Southern soul and also adds potent country
accents (with the help of Al Perkins pedal-steel guitar) while dressing
up his songs in typically expert string and horn arrangements. And Newman
assumes each character, either brave or foolish, with the skill of a gifted
actor, giving even his most loathsome characters enough depth that they're
human beings, despite their flaws. Good Old Boys is one of Newman's finest
albums; it's also one of his most provocative and infuriating, and that's
probably just the way he wanted it. — (Mark Deming, All Music Guide)
|
Plattentipp 
#902 Virgin/Colin Larkin(2000)
#38 Sounds(2009)
eins von 1001 Alben, die Ihr hören solltet, bevor das Leben vorbei ist! (2008)
