Wonderama

By the time Wonderama was released in 1992, Randy had recently celebrated 20 years in the music biz, and for the past couple of albums, he had developed a more soft, acoustic singer/songwriter style that he started with 1989’s Return to Paradise. While Paradise and its follow-up, Until We Have Wings were both on the more serious side (with the exception of a couple of songs on the live performance of …Wings), Randy returned with producer Terry Taylor of Daniel Amos to bring his next project some humor and character. What resulted was the recording of a world within itself, the aptly-titled Wonderama.

The album begins with the title track, welcoming us into an imaginary world filled with childlike wonder. The second song, “I Will Follow” leads us further into this world, but with sort of a Mexican flavor, as if we’re about to step into an epic Western.

The third song, “Barbie Nation” is more radio-friendly acoustic-pop, but doesn’t digress from the ‘wonderamaland’ feel of this album. The lyrics touch on the false images of the ideal female.

“She was told that, in the end, every Barbie gets her Ken,
Lie, lie, lie, no such guy, just pretend,
We pull the strings, wind the doll,
We create the myth that she can have it all – it’s a sin,
But it’s all right, it’s okay; though your dignity is all that’s left to trade,
It’s okay, that’s all right.

You’re the queen of the Barbie nation,
Queen of the Barbie nation,
Queen of the Barbie nation tonight.”

This reviewer’s four favorite songs off the album are lined up next, and are perhaps among Randy’s top 10 best songs of all time. First is the beautiful and oft-overlooked, “Don’t Be Sad,” followed, ironically, by the sad song, “Rachel Delevorias,” which is Randy’s reflection about a girl during his childhood who had a good heart but was often teased for not fitting in. Whether or not it’s a true story is moot. It is still a poignant song about regrets we might face regarding how we may have once treated somone, and is perhaps a lesson for those youngsters who are listening and are prone to teasing.

“Rachel Delevoryas moved back east with her family,
Now she’s dressed in a beautiful gown, standing on stage with the symphony,
Rachel plays the violin,
But every night when the lights go down, I wonder if she still remembers those days, and cruel little boys in this one horse town.

And it was clear that she’d never be one of us,
With her dowdy clothes, and her violin, and a name like Rachel Delevoryas,
A name like Rachel Delevoryas.”

One of Randy’s most satirical songs is next, “Great Big Stupid World.” This one was a jab at pop culture and the way in which we make lesser, more trivial things a greater priority than God.

“Well, we’re studying the National Enquirer,
Is it true Sonny Bono is the antichrist?
We debate if TV wrestling is really a sport while we’re testing rock & roll, and it’s effect on mice,
Bonding with our little computer screens, getting anorexic on our Lean Cuisines,
Turning plastic surgeons into millionaires so everybody finally gets to look like Cher.

‘Cause it’s a great, big, stupid world, and we’re feeling kinda queasy as it turns around,
Great, big, stupid world, and we’re never really sure if we’re up or down,
We’re on a dirt clod out in space; where it stops, nobody knows,
If Jesus came back today they’d try to book him on the Oprah Winfrey show,
‘Cause it’s a great, big, stupid…great, big, stupid…great, big, stupid world.“

I’m sure you’ll agree, it’s a bit bold by today’s standards. That’s because it rather daringly names names and insinuates that those whom he names, including their fans, might be stupid. While it seemed like perfectly normal satire back then, today’s politically-correct society might find it a tad offensive. But as he said to preface “Ramada Inn” on his previous album, I’m sure “it’s all in good fun.”

The next favorite is the touching, “Sing in Portuguese,” about his grandmother, Mary. Again, whether or not this story is true is beside the point. This is a wonderful song regardless, and Randy lends a bit of Portuguese flavor to the song to add to the ambience. The lyrics are so crisp and clear that we can easily picture the whole story unfold like a movie as he sings. Another moot point is the reference to Mary’s rosary beads. For those of us who are not Catholics, to get hung up on that issue misses the beauty and honesty of this story.

“My grandfather passed away before he had time to grow old,
The life of an immigrant farmer had taken a terrible toll,
And Mary once told me she often would wake in the night,
And she’d still hear him call through the dark down the hall,
And she’d kneel by her bed and take out her rosary beads,
And the tears would fall as she’d pray in Portuguese.

La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la,
La, la, la, la, la, la,
“Ate amanha miu amor [see you tomorrow, my love],“ she’d pray in Portuguese.“

The next few songs brings us back around a little more into the “wonderama” childlike world with the poppy, “Of Mice and Men,” the slow and mournful, “Lost Parade” and the chilling, “Lantern in the Snow” with the Danny Elfman -esque background music and haunting instrumental break.

Overall, I think a lot of people may have overlooked this album when it was first released (myself included) because many fans longed for him to eventually return to his rock n’ roll style that we missed so much. But it didn’t take long for this reviewer to take to its timeless artistic excellence, thanks to the wonderful creative team of Randy and Terry.