Trouble in Paradise
He's written some of the thorniest, darkest vignettes ever  tucked into the verses and chorus of a pop song, but Randy Newman's greatest commercial successes have  come with his most ephemeral material.  "Short People" was a throwaway, albeit a terrific one,  but it catapulted him onto pop charts and generated controversy among dim-bulbs who didn't realize he was  kidding.  Dwarfing that hit (pun intended) was "I Love L.A.," which has become an anthem despite the squalor  of its imagery and Newman's hilarious inclusion of some of the ugliest thoroughfares imaginable in his  litany of glorious local streets.Trouble in Paradisethus derives much of its familiarity from this one  romping gag, yet its best songs tilt toward Newman's darker side, none more so than "Christmas in Capetown,"  which reconstructs the holiday through the eyes of an Afrikaner racist. Ho, ho, ho.--Sam  Sutherland