Best known for his biting wit and often irreverent pop-rock,
Randy Newman shows another side of himself on this soundtrack to the Disney animated film
A Bug's Life, which included the voices of
Kevin Spacey,
Madeline Kahn and former Seinfeld star Julia Louis-Dreyfus. The main focus of this CD isn't Newman the pop-rocker, but Newman the composer of instrumental movie music. Only on the humorous opener "The Time of Your Life" do we hear Newman sing; after that, every piece on the album is an orchestral instrumental heard in the film.
A Bug's Life isn't an essential purchase by any means, although some of Newman's more hardcore and devoted fans might find it mildly interesting to hear this other side of him. ~ Alex Henderson