Bad Love (Randy Newman album)

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Bad Love
Bad Love cover
Studio album by Randy Newman
Released July 1, 1999
Genre Rock
Label Dreamworks
Producer(s) Mitchell Froom
Tchad Blake
Professional reviews
Randy Newman chronology
Guilty: 30 Years of Randy Newman
(1998)
Bad Love
(1999)
The Randy Newman Songbook Vol. 1
(2003)


Bad Love is the tenth studio album by American singer-songwriter Randy Newman released 1999. It was Newman's first solo album since 1988s Land of Dreams and followed an 11 year hiatus during which Newman had focused on film soundtracks, receiving his first Oscar nomination for "You've Got a Friend" - from the film Toy Story - in 1996.

Whilst warmly received by critics, it was felt that it was not quite a return to form. Scott Manzler stated "Bad Love ultimately falls short of Newman's early '70s masterworks"[1] while All Music Guide stated the songs on Bad Love "should rest comfortably alongside his other four-star offerings"[2].

The album finds Newman bitter and satirical - as "biting as ever, yet unafraid to tackle personal and heartfelt concerns"[3] - in stark contrast to some of his film scores. Newman tackles issues such as the state of American culture in "My Country" which chronicles suburbia's growing dependence on television, and "The World Isn’t Fair" which takes a look at the world through the eyes of Karl Marx. He also looks at aging - "Shame" takes a negative look at an "older man courting a younger woman" via the barbed lyrics and an exchange between the lead vocalist and the backing singer. "I’m Dead (But I Don't Know It)" is more self referential in dealing with aging rock stars a kicking and commenting: "Everything I write sounds the same / Each record that I’m making / Is like a record that I’ve made / Just not as good".

"Every Time It Rains" was composed for Michael Jackson to record but Jackson declined to do so[4].

[edit] Track listing

  1. My Country - 5.40
  2. Shame - 4.54
  3. I'm Dead (But I Don't Know It) - 3.25
  4. Every Time It Rains - 3.33
  5. The Great Nations Of Europe - 3.26
  6. The One You Love - 3.39
  7. The World Isn't Fair - 2.44
  8. Big Hat, No Cattle - 4.24
  9. Better Off Dead - 4.03
  10. I Miss You - 3.55
  11. Going Home - 2.06
  12. I Want Everyone To Like Me - 2.59

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Review by Scott Manzler at nudeasthenews.com
  2. ^ Review by Denise Sullivan at All Music Guide
  3. ^ Review by Denise Sullivan at All Music Guide
  4. ^ http://web.archive.org/web/19991009084349/http://www.randynewman.com/badlove.html