Following an 11-year period that saw him abandon his own projects for work in film soundtracks, Randy Newman was coaxed into making another solo album in 1999. Producers Tchad Blake and Mitchell Froom give Bad Love an organic, rotund feel, and the arrangements are full of punch and surprise. As usual, Newman is preoccupied with what he sees as humanity’s fundamental flaws: hubris, vanity and ignorance. His work in movies seems to have made him more theatrical and also more hilarious, often in the same song, as evidenced by “The World Isn’t Fair.” As the world approaches the millennium and Newman pushes 60, the songwriter can’t avoid ruminating on the ruin brought about by the passage of time. It surfaces repeatedly, whether he’s dealing with relationships (“Better Off Dead,” “Shame,” “I’m Dead (But I Don’t Know It)”) or the state of American attitudes (“My Country,” “Big Hat, No Cattle”). As his complaints become more pointed, his kindness in turn becomes deeper. Between his satires he disarms us with “I Miss You” and “Going Home,” firm, faithful resolutions bobbing in a sea of frustration.