Randy Newman: Sail Away Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		0.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		5.0

Randy Newman: Sail Away Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 10, 2026

Note: The latest bunch of Quadio releases from Rhino feature three artists who have already had at least one previous Quadio release, namely Carly Simon, Randy Newman and Seals & Crofts, along with newcomer Mongo Santamaria.

Some of you may have seen the news that broke very recently (as this review is being written) that Taylor Swift evidently "secretly" contributed a song to the new Toy Story 5. I actually wondered in passing when I saw the news whether or not she had reached out to Randy Newman for advice, since Newman contributed so memorably to the first four films in terms of songs in particular, and especially because he scored the latest installment as well. While there's no reportage that I could find that suggests such an interaction, it's notable that Swift is on record as stating Newman is "the architect of the Toy Story musical universe". Of course quite a bit before this particular Newman became more associated with film work, he had already written several iconic tunes recorded by a host of notables, and had also started releasing his own albums on Reprise. Rhino previously released a CD of Sail Away with some excellent bonus tracks, and if this Quadio release doesn't repeat that strategy (only the original album tracks are offered), it offers a really appealing four channel mix of the album. Sail Away has made several "all time greatest albums" lists through the years, and this new release offers a new opportunity to find out why. It's especially fun to hear Randy's own singing and arrangements on several tunes on this disc which became pretty substantial hits for cover artists.

The album's track list can be seen in the screenshots of the disc menu accompanying this review. See the video section below for information about navigating through the menu.

Randy Newman: Sail Away Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

This is another Quadio release with a static menu. As usual, the track listing changes color depending on whether you scroll, chapter skip (which amounts to next track) or actually individually select tracks, and I've offered some examples of the different changes on tap. Unfortunately this is another audio Blu-ray from Rhino where you have to navigate through the tracks to get to the audio codecs to change those, and also unfortunately this is another case where the song starts over once a different codec is chosen.

Randy Newman: Sail Away Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Randy Newman: Sail Away features DTS-HD Master Audio 4.0 and DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 options. The quad mix offers appealing separation and at least at times some surprising placements, as in the great acoustic piano intro to Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear, which is anchored pretty firmly toward the rear channels, with Randy's genial if rough and tumble voice emanating from the front channels. Other songs like Old Man (covered in a really gorgeous version by Art Garfunkel on his Angel Clare album) tend to offer both vocals and piano coming at the listener from all four channels simultaneously. The string arrangement in that tune is also kind of like a warm embrace surrounding the listener. Instrumental accompaniments can be really nicely directional, as in Memo to My Son with guitars reward and piano frontward. Randy's voice is well prioritized throughout.

Randy Newman: Sail Away Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

As usual with the Quadio releases, there are no on disc supplements. An insert leaflet reproduces the album's lyrics and credits and also includes Quadio's standard photos of master tape boxes.

Randy Newman: Sail Away Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Sail Away is probably another prime example of the stupidity of us bone headed American consumers, since this now legendary album didn't exactly set the charts on fire when it was originally released. This Quadio offering is a fantastic way to reexperience one of the titans of American songcraft. Highly recommended.