Sail Away (Randy Newman album)
| Sail Away | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by Randy Newman | ||||
| Released | May 1972 | |||
| Studio | Amigo Studios, Western Studios, Poppi Studios, Los Angeles | |||
| Length | 30:07 | |||
| Label | Reprise | |||
| Producer | Lenny Waronker and Russ Titelman | |||
| Randy Newman chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |
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| Robert Christgau | A− |
| Rolling Stone | (favorable) |
Sail Away is an album by Randy Newman, released in May 1972. It was produced by Lenny Waronker and Russ Titelman and issued on Reprise Records. While all of its songs were written and composed by Newman, several had already been recorded by other artists.
In 2003, it was ranked number 321 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
As with all of Newman's early albums, several of its songs had been previously recorded by other artists. In this case, "Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear" had been a UK hit for Alan Price in 1967, and "Dayton, Ohio - 1903" had been recorded by Billy J. Kramer as a single in 1969 and by Harry Nilsson on his 1970 album Nilsson Sings Newman. Newman himself had also previously recorded "Last Night I Had A Dream" as a single, issued in September 1968. The version heard on Sail Away is a re-recording with a notably different arrangement. "You Can Leave Your Hat On" was recorded by Joe Cocker and this version was featured on the soundtrack of the film 9 1/2 Weeks starring Kim Basinger.
"He Gives Us All His Love" was also initially written and recorded by Newman in a sparser and slower arrangement for the 1971 film Cold Turkey. The film issued no soundtrack, and the first commercially available recordings of this song were issued by Sundance (March 1971) and Ed Ames (October 1971).
The song "Lonely at the Top" was written specifically with Frank Sinatra in mind, although he never recorded it.
The album was reissued by Rhino Records on May 5, 2002, with several previously unreleased bonus tracks.
Brian Wilson has said that this album profoundly affected him at the time of its release, briefly keeping him from sliding further into depression and mental illness. In particular, Wilson noted that he listened to Sail Away "over and over" while physically writing down the lyrics which became the "Mount Vernon and Fairway (A Fairy Tale)" suite from the 1973 Beach Boys album Holland.
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