The two hundred and fourty-first album: #241 Randy Newman - Sail Away
It's hard to ignore how much of a throwback this album feels to be in places, with Lonely at the Top feeling like a track that could have been in Sinatra's repertoire and others throwing back to older gospel music influences. The short length of most sense feels like they contribute as well, so there are more jumps between stylings - there's an electric guitar in Last Night I Had A Dream, which is followed by Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear, which plays purely on the piano and which I can imagine a performer singing sat at the piano in a 1920s music hall performance.
Even so, these were all composed and written by Randy Newman himself, here recording new material and songs he'd written for others in the past. When he's able to get out there with his own material, a sarcastic hint in some of the best (to me) like Political Science, that really works in making a point while really inhabiting a character. While the music can feel older, the lyrics are more often of a contemporary nature. They're worth listening to and paying attention to, as that's what really enhances and makes the album.