Born Again (Randy Newman album)

Born Again
Studio album by
Randy Newman
Released August 1979
Recorded 1979
Studio Warner Brothers Recording Studios (North Hollywood)
A&M Studios (Hollywood)
Genre Rock, avant-pop
Length 35:19
Label Warner Bros., Reprise
Producer Lenny 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. 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. 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
Source Rating
AllMusic
Christgau's Record Guide B+
MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide
The Rolling Stone Album Guide

Newman expected the album to be a hit. Instead, the album sold relatively poorly, with worse reviews than its predecessor. Prior to its release, Newman called Born Again "a larger insult" 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." "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." 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. 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." 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."

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) 65

Personnel

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