12 Songs (Randy Newman Album) - Reception

Reception

12 Songs was well received by contemporary music critics. Bruce Grimes of Rolling Stone gave it a rave review and called it "the announcement of the full emergence of a leading innovator in rock and roll". Robert Christgau wrote in his initial review of the album, "In every respect—composition, arrangement, production, performance—this is the finest record of the year, much more accessible than the great-but-weird album that preceded it.

Christgau called it "a perfect album" in a retrospective review. Piero Scaruffi wrote in his review, "Newman, one of the most accomplished songwriters of his time, revealed his prodigious talent on, a cycle of vignettes about life in the city, that boasted catchy melodies as well as eclectic arrangements." Allmusic editor Mark Deming dubbed the album "superb material brilliantly executed" and cited it as Newman's "first great album, and ... still one of his finest moments on record." In 2003, the album was ranked number 354 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. In The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), Rolling Stone journalist Rob Sheffield gave the album five out of five stars and cited it as "where Newman got loose as a rock & roller, ditching the complex orchestrations for a bluesy, easy-swinging satire of America".