Performer Notes

Personnel: Randy Newman (vocals, piano); Blake Mills (guitar); Jo Ann Turovsky (harp); Eun Mee Ahn, Alyssa Park, Irina Voloshina, Lorand Lokuszta, Helen Nightengale, Lisa Sutton, Amy Hershberger, Marc Sazer, Tamara Hatwan , Kevin Connelly, Jessica E. Guideri, Jacqueline Brand , Bruce Dukov, Julie Gigante, Maria Newman, Sarah Thornblade, Roger Wilkie, Belinda Broughton (violin); Shawn Mann, Carolyn Riley, Thomas Diener, Luke Maurer, Matthew Funes , Scott Hosfeld, Michael Nowack, Brian Dembow, Dave Walther , Alma Fernandez (viola); Timothy Landauer, Armen Ksajikian, Dennis Karmazyn, Laszlo Mezo, Kim Scholes , Jacob Braun , Stephen Erdody , Dane Little (cello); Jenni Olson , Benjamin Smolen , Geri Rotella (flute); Nick Ariondo (accordion); Stuart Clark , Ralph Williams (clarinet); Leslie Reed (oboe); Kenneth Munday , Damian Montano, Rose Corrigan (bassoon); Dan Higgins , John Yoakum (alto saxophone); Bill Listen, Rusty Higgins (tenor saxophone); Greg Huckins (baritone saxophone); Jon Lewis , Larry Hall , Dan Fornero, Wayne Bergeron (trumpet); Andrew Martin , Bob McChesney, Craig Gosnell (trombone); Jim Self (tuba); Teag Reaves, Steven Becknell, Dylan Hart, Ben Jaber (horns); Mitchell Froom (keyboards); Matt Chamberlain (drums); Alan Estes, Gregory Goodall (percussion).
Audio Mixer: David Boucher.
Recording information: Sony Seoring Stage, Culver City, CA; Sunset Sound Studios, Hollywood, CA; University High, Los Angeles, CA.
Early in his career, Randy Newman used to regularly puzzle over his lack of commercial success, seemingly unaware that his trademark combination of New Orleans piano and wildly unreliable narrators was hardly a sure path to the Hit Parade. Decades later, Newman has found a side door to fame and wealth as a composer of film scores and likeable theme tunes for Pixar features. As a consequence, the man who created dark masterpieces like 12 Songs, Sail Away, and Good Old Boys is too busy to make the same sort of albums he released when he was a mere cult figure. 2017's Dark Matter comes nine years after 2008's Harps and Angels (which in turn arrived nine years after 1999's Bad Love), but for fans of Newman's work, the consolation prize for his non-prolific nature is that his albums have been free of filler, and Dark Matter ranks with his best work of the '70s and '80s. If anything, Newman has become a more ambitious songwriter than he was in his younger days; there's a scope to his storytelling that's bigger but just as satisfying as his '70s milestones, and years of writing and arranging for an orchestra have taught him how to use the tonal colors of a large ensemble to his advantage without drowning out the nuances. And Newman's endless cynicism and fascination with offbeat characters is served brilliantly on Dark Matter, as science squares off against faith, Sonny Boy Williamson encounters Rice Miller, the Kennedys plot the Bay of Pigs Invasion, Vladimir Putin ponders his land and his power, and a well-meaning beach bum survives the passing parade of history. Even the album's weakest cut, "It's a Jungle Out There," works in context, and the two numbers about the bonds of family, "Lost Without You" and "Wandering Boy," are thoughtful and genuinely moving. And the easy, endlessly reliable stride of Newman's piano remains one of popular music's most underrated pleasures. At his current pace, Randy Newman will be 83 by the time he gets around to releasing the follow-up to Dark Matter, but judging from this, if there's anyone capable of that sort of late-career milestone, it's him. ~ Mark Deming

Professional Reviews

Rolling Stone - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "Small-scale dramas hit home harder, like 'On the Beach,' a wistful Western-swing tune about a depressing aged surfer burnout, and the devastatingly beautiful solo-piano lament 'Wandering Boy'..."

Magnet - "[W]e get several reliably tender ballads from a true virtuoso sentimentalist, especially the deeply touching 'Lost Without You'..."

Mojo (Publisher) (p.88) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[B]rimming with his sweet-sour magic....There's a familiar sense that such small tales might somehow hold the key to much bigger subjects..."

Paste (magazine) - "[S]ome of the most fun and intoxicating material of his career....The theatrical arc of the long-winded concept piece 'The Great Debate' opens the album..."

Pitchfork (Website) - "He has lost little of his bite and none of his humor....He seems less interested in polemics than before, less interested in leveraging sentiment with disgust, giving over -- ever so slightly -- to a softer intention."

Album: Dark Matter
#	Song Title		Time
1)	The Great Debate	More Info...
2)	Brothers	More Info...
3)	Putin	More Info...
4)	Lost Without You	More Info...
5)	Sonny Boy	More Info...
6)	It's a Jungle out There (V2)	More Info...
7)	She Chose Me	More Info...
8)	On the Beach	More Info...
9)	Wandering Boy	More Info...
2)	Brothers	More Info...	0:05
3)	Putin	More Info...	0:03
4)	Lost Without You	More Info...	0:04
5)	Sonny Boy	More Info...	0:04
6)	It's a Jungle Out There (V2)	More Info...	0:03
7)	She Chose Me	More Info...	0:03
8)	On the Beach	More Info...	0:04
9)	Wandering Boy	More Info...	0:03

Album: Dark Matter
#	Song Title		Time
1)	The Great Debate	More Info...
2)	Brothers	More Info...
3)	Putin	More Info...
4)	Lost Without You	More Info...
5)	Sonny Boy	More Info...
6)	It's a Jungle out There (V2)	More Info...
7)	She Chose Me	More Info...
8)	On the Beach	More Info...
9)	Wandering Boy	More Info...
2)	Brothers	More Info...	0:05
3)	Putin	More Info...	0:03
4)	Lost Without You	More Info...	0:04
5)	Sonny Boy	More Info...	0:04
6)	It's a Jungle Out There (V2)	More Info...	0:03
7)	She Chose Me	More Info...	0:03
8)	On the Beach	More Info...	0:04
9)	Wandering Boy	More Info...	0:03