Before Randy Newman became a sought-after film score composer and songwriter for Pixar, among other powerful Hollywood patrons, he was a singer-songwriter whose music was most assuredly not aimed at children. Starting with Twelve Songs and continuing through the unexpected late-'70s blockbuster Short People and the more recent Harps and Angels and Dark Matter (with a side trip into musical theater with Faust) Newman specialized in work that tested the listener's ability to comprehend unreliable narratives and tolerate soliloquies by fictional individuals who represented real, often problematic individuals and spoke in their voices. Newman's characters often had agendas that were broken, deluded, sinister, corrupt, or just super-problematic. The work articulated attitudes that were socially unacceptable even in 1974 and still are, in a manner that initially seemed to endorse them but turned out to be examples of an artist letting a character blab on and on until they incriminate themselves.

Released in 1974, Good Old Boys is arguably the peak achievement of Newman's early years. Focusing on the 20th American south, the album dives headfirst into topics that would never be allowed anywhere near commercial radio. Newman's characters include despotic Louisiana Gov. Huey Long ("Every Man a King," "Kingfish"); a husband who insults his wife and her extended family but nevertheless adores her, mainly because she looks beyond his own shortcomings and he's terrified of death ("A Wedding in Cherokee County"); an inarticulate but clearly bitter and heartbroken "cracker" describing a massive flood, and then-president Calvin Coolidge grubbing for votes in the aftermath ("Louisiana 1929"); and a racist, antisemitic Southern reactionary in "Rednecks" who initially seems to be embracing the stereotype of the southern white bigot (and uses the N-word a whopping seven times) but turns out to be an astute critic of Northern whites' superiority complex. It's a richly imagined mural of Americana that presents the nation's delusions matter-of-factly, confident in the listener's ability to see through them.

All copies are used and in good condition, though you can immediate tell that they were played a lot before the owner parted with them. Album jacket may be faded or exhibit signs of shelf wear.

TRACK LIST

Side ONE:

1. Rednecks

2. Birmingham

3. Marie

4. Mr. President

5. Guilty.

Side TWO:

1. Lousiana

2. Every Man A King

3. Kingfish

4. Naked Man

5. Wedding in Cherokee County

6. Back On My Feet Again

7. Rollin

• Package Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 12.2 x 12.2 x 0.3 inches; 8 ounces
• Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ Reprise Records
• Label ‏ : ‎ Reprise Records
• Run time ‏ : ‎ 38 minutes
• Date First Available ‏ : ‎ March 31, 2007
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B000P105TU
• Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1