Randy Newman has never fit squarely into any conventional pop music category. He's a pianist in a world of guitarists, a froggy singer in a world of AutoTune. He doesn't even hold up as an underrated bard of the literary class -- after all, the guy does have two Oscars, and he's scored some of the most unapologetically mainstream films of his generation. What he is is an American original, an artist who has spent his career funneling more deadpan wit and social commentary into three-minute pop melodies than perhaps any contemporary songwriter besides Bob Dylan. His perennial touchstones -- race, place, love, aging, parenting and posing -- were as present on his first record as they were in the music he made more than four decades later. In other words, he's an artist who's known all along what he had to offer, and who has spent nearly a half-century casting a cockeyed glance toward his subject matter. Read full article here: www.emusic.com/listen/#/music-news/icon/icon-randy…