Tag: Neil Diamond

Neil Diamond – 50th Anniversary Collector’s Edition (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/192 kHz | Time – 06:51:58 minutes | 15,8 GB | Genre: Pop Rock
Studio Master, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Neil Diamond

Although UMe/Capitol already ‘celebrated’ Neil Diamond‘s 50 years in music 18 months ago with a three-disc set called the ’50th anniversary collection’ it seems they haven’t celebrated enough and so will this month offer forward the ’50th Anniversary Collectors Edition’ a six-disc hardcover book deluxe package that features the same artwork, but this time includes six CDs of content, including rarities, demos and 14 previously unreleased tracks.

This set contains a full disc of unreleased songs, including ‘Sunflower,’ (originally recorded by Glen Campbell recently updated by Neil Diamond), ‘Before I Had a Dime’ and ‘C’est La Vie’ (a song that Neil co-wrote with friend Gilbert Bécaud). Also unreleased are two original demos of ‘I Am…I Said’ and ‘America,’.

I suppose they’ve got there in the end, as this set is far more appealing than last year’s effort – and is reasonably priced – although one wonders whether Universal Music plan to release 50th anniversary editions of Neil Diamond’s output every year, going forward?

For now, this year’s Neil Diamond 50th Anniversary Collector’s Edition will be released on 30 November 2018.

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Neil Diamond – A Cherry Cherry Christmas (2009/2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 45:12 minutes | 1,8 GB | Genre: Christmas
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Universal Music

Neil Diamond’s first two holiday albums were plainly titled The Christmas Album and The Christmas Album, Vol. 2, which gave a pretty good indication of the by-the-book music they contained, just like how the very name of 2009’s A Cherry Cherry Christmas is a tip-off that this collection is a decidedly less serious affair, even if it recycles a good chunk of the same recordings that comprised those earlier albums. A Cherry Cherry Christmas keeps a barbershop quartet arrangement of “Deck the Halls,” a doo wop “White Christmas,” and a swinging “Jingle Bell Rock,” but what’s notable are the additions: a ridiculous, self-celebrating “Cherry Cherry Christmas” that’s trumped only by a goofy cover of Adam Sandler’s “Chanukah Song.” These two new cuts make Diamond seem like the garrulous uncle at your family’s holiday party, the one who is eager to prove how cool he is, which only makes him seem all the more out of touch.

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Neil Diamond – Hot August Night III (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz  | Time – 02:22:12 minutes | 3,11 GB | Genre: Pop Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Neil Diamond

Los Angeles – June 22, 2018 – On August 17, Capitol/UMe will celebrate one of the century’s most electrifying live albums, with the release of Neil Diamond’s Hot August Night Ill, a live concert DVD/CD Blu-Ray multi-disc set. Hot August Night Ill chronicles Diamond’s triumphant return to the legendary Greek Theatre in Los Angeles in August 2012.The magical evening was Diamond’s 40th anniversary celebration of the original multiplatinum-selling Hot August Night collection that was recorded at the very same venue in 1972.

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Neil Diamond – Melody Road (2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/96 kHz | Time – 46:20 minutes | 0,99 GB | Genre: Pop Rock
Studio Master, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © Capitol Records

Leaving behind Columbia Records along with his latter-day collaborator producer Rick Rubin, Neil Diamond sets up shop at Capitol — which now belongs to Universal Records, who owns his classic recordings for Uni and MCA — and teams with producer Don Was for 2014’s Melody Road. Diamond may have left his label of 40 years, but in an odd way, Melody Road is a return home after his stark wanderings of the 2000s. Rubin encouraged Diamond to be spare, sometimes recording him with little more than an acoustic guitar, but Was — who is assisted by Jacknife Lee — coaxes the singer/songwriter to bring back the schmaltz, an essential element of Neil’s glory days that was largely ignored on the Rubin records. Was and Lee retain a hint of that new millennial intimacy — it’s never once as overblown as his ’70s records — but the songs themselves alternate between stately ballads, effervescent bubblegum, and self-important pomp. As on his best ’70s records, which Melody Road often resembles in both construction and consistency, Diamond is best when he keeps his ambitions relatively simple. There’s majesty on the title track and haunting splendor on “Alone at the Ball,” and they find their counterparts in the joyous “Something Blue” and “Marry Me Now,” along with the spirited ramble of “First Time.” Each of these songs evoke memories of Diamond’s peak — a little bit of “Solitary Man,” a little bit of “I Am…I Said,” a little bit of “Cherry Cherry” — while the tedious socially aware slog of “Seongah and Jimmy” and endless ballad “(OOO) Do I Wanna Be Yours” bring back the Diamond that’s often forgotten, the Diamond whose LPs often got bogged down in middlebrow aspirations. As much as these weigh down Melody Road, it’s also true that there’s never been a Neil Diamond record where he doesn’t stray into this murky territory. What makes a difference here is the general lightness of his new songs and Was and Lee’s sympathetic production; the two play off each other perfectly, turning this into the first latter-day Diamond record to feel quintessentially Neil Diamond.

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Neil Diamond – Home Before Dark (2008/2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:02:54 minutes | 1,23 GB | Genre: Pop Rock
Studio Master, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Capitol Records

Home Before Dark is Neil Diamond’s second collaboration with producer Rick Rubin. It follows the fine but ill-fated 12 Songs, which was sabotaged by Sony’s “Rootkit” program scandal: a nefarious bit of “copy protection” software that invaded the operating system of PCs and wreaked havoc. 12 Songs had to be recalled from store shelves just as Diamond received better reviews than he had in a decade. Sony reissued it in 2007, but the damage was done. Diamond, disappointed but undaunted, sought out Rubin. Rubin enlisted Heartbreakers keyboardist Benmont Tench and lead guitarist Mike Campbell, studio guitarist/bassist Smokey Hormel, and former Chavez guitar slinger Matt Sweeney. There are no drums. David Campbell did some skeletal string arrangements, but that’s it. In addition, Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks duets on the track “Another Day (That Time Forgot).” Home Before Dark is a more exposed Diamond than listeners have ever heard. He’s out there, bashing on his guitar and singing from a position of extreme vulnerability; he’s on a wire without a net. His musicians understand what is so dynamically and poetically evident in the songs, and use painterly care in adorning them. Diamond is not a young man anymore and, thankfully, he doesn’t write like one — though he sounds lean and hungry for something just out of reach. “Forgotten” has a rock & roll progression worthy of his Bang singles. Its lyric reflects the travails of a protagonist whose heart bears hurt without the grace and wisdom that age is supposed to bring. The grain in his voice is fierce; it quavers just a bit in the refrain, and Sweeney’s electric guitar nails it to the wall. It follows “One More Bite of the Apple,” another rollicking rocker, but this one is about reuniting with his true beloved — songwriting itself.

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Neil Diamond – Tennessee Moon (1996/2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:08:07 minutes | 2,92 GB | Genre: Pop
Studio Master, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Universal Music

„Tennessee Moon“ finds Neil Diamond duetting with Waylon Jennings, co-writing with Harlan Howard, and backed by the cream of modern country session musicians. It’s his Nashville move, and it’s bookended by two wonderful paeans to the country life. The album-opening title cut is a country-rocker that features some jangly electric guitar, pedal steel and fiddle, and a lyric about a songwriter leaving Hollywood behind and moving to Nashville in search of Hank Williams’ spirit. “Blue Highway” is even better. Co-written by Diamond and Howard (author of “I Fall To Pieces,” “Heartaches By The Number” and many other country standards), it rejects big-city life with the quiet authority of a cowboyish acoustic-guitar strum and a pledge to leave town via the side roads (because the interstate “represents all the things I hate”).

As it happens, the sixteen cuts in between, written with various Nashville pros, leave Hollywood only half-behind. Diamond still possesses the cornball pop craft that’s always served him well; love ballads like “Marry Me” or “Everybody” would work equally well in any city, in any genre, for better or worse. The best songs really do take Tennessee to heart. “Reminisce,” co-written and sung with Raul Malo of The Mavericks, has the dramatic flair of a Roy Orbison rock ballad, and “No Limit” has the juiced-up, acoustic country-rock flavor of the early Everly Brothers. Both songs raise the memory of Diamond the cool young rock craftsman.

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Neil Diamond – Hot August Night II (1987/2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:12:58 minutes | 3,28 GB | Genre: Pop
Studio Master, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Geffen

Hot August Night 2, is the follow up album to Hot August Night 1 which was one f the best and highly acclaimed live albums in the 70’s.The sequel recorded in the Greek Theatre in LA, maybe not as good as the original, but still contains some of Neil’s early greats like Cracklin Rosie, Sweet Caroline and I am I Said amongst others.
Over all this album is ok but as it gets going Neils voice begins to get tired and very rough indeed spoiling some of his great tracks, however this is a bad thing its just putting more of Neils emotion into the tracks, something wich Neils live perfomances are famed. If you like Neils Live albums then get this one, it may not be his best but Its very good all the same.

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Neil Diamond – Up On The Roof: Songs From The Brill Building (1993/2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 55:57 minutes | 2,45 GB | Genre: Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Universal Music

This is Diamond’s equivalent of, say, one of Barbra Streisand’s Broadway albums. Come to think of it, it’s Broadway that Diamond is returning to as well; specifically, the corner of 49th Street, where he and many others turned out songs for music publishers. Some of these songs were written there; most were only in the spirit of that modern Tin Pan Alley. Handling the work of his then-rivals, such as “Spanish Harlem,” “A Groovy Kind of Love,” and “River Deep – Mountain High,” Diamond adopts his usual hammy style (he always sounds like he thinks he’s a much better singer than he is). Peter Asher patented a neo-’60s production style in crafting oldies for Linda Ronstadt in the ’70s, and he does the same thing here, which is only to say that the album is not as overproduced as some of Diamond’s recent albums, not that Asher’s versions are any competition to Phil Spector’s originals. Actually, this record sounds exactly like you would expect it to: just call to mind a familiar song like “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” and imagine what it would sound like if Neil Diamond sang it. While this is clearly a holding action from the point of view of Diamond’s recording career, fans can decide for themselves whether it’s valid and, perhaps more problematic, necessary. You pays your money…

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Neil Diamond – The Movie Album: As Time Goes By (1988/2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:07:03 minutes | 2,98 GB | Genre: Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Geffen

On this lazy, nearly shameless album (two CDs that don’t even make it to 70 minutes combined), Neil Diamond visits movie songs past (“As Time Goes By”) and present (“My Heart Will Go On”) with stops along the way for takes on almost anything you would anticipate an album and artist like this would cover (“Unchained Melody”? There. “Can You Feel the Love Tonight”? Ditto. “Moon River”? Yep, it’s there.) Assisted by conductor Elmer Bernstein and an 80-piece orchestra, Diamond takes a 20-song stroll down film memory lane on The Movie Album: As Time Goes By with a bombast that often borders on parody. Oversinging like he’s never oversung before, Diamond makes even the most inspired tunes of the bunch (“And I Love Her,” “Can’t Help Falling in Love”) into Branson-worthy set pieces that are all melodramatic glitz and no style. A black stain on both Diamond and movies.

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