Description

Having grown up in the era of punk I eschewed everything Neil Diamond-shaped until about 6 months ago, when I discovered he wrote "I'm a Believer" - one of my desert island disks - "Red Red Wine" and "Girl, You'll be a Woman Soon". Since then I've been discovering - and very much enjoying - Neil Diamond's 1960s stuff. To me, it's immediate, personal and he achieves an amazing intimacy - as if he's in the room with you - definitely more like a live gig than a record. And then there's his voice.... Mmm... nuff said. However, my allegiance stops at about 1972. Heaven knows what happened aftermore… that but the personal connection disappeared - presumably buried under the kind of orchestra which, if you joined up the musicians end to end, might conceivably stretch around the world several times. The song writing quality is there - play one on an acoustic guitar and you'll see what I mean - but it's... muted, as if he knows what to do and is going through the motions rather than really engaged in what he's doing (I'm sure he wasn't but that's how it comes across).

What Rick Rubin seems to have done, bless him, is sit Mr Diamond down with a pile of his own records and ask the question anyone who appreciated him in the 60s must have been wondering all these years. "What in the name of heaven have you been doing? What happened?" And the result is he goes back to basics and creates what for me is one of the most interesting, compelling and absorbing albums I've heard in a long time. The connection is back, with a vengeance. This is an older and wiser man - the voice is less smooth, more lived in but no less expressive. He's been around and he's more confident, more assured and very comfortable about who he is - it's different yet the same and that's intriguing. Despite buying this album 3 months ago I'm still playing it more than any other and I still find I get hooked. Once I start the first song, I have to listen to it all and more often than not, I then have to listen to it all again. There are less instruments here but no shortage of lush, melodious arrangements and some great choices for those which do appear, you don't often hear a bassoon in pop music... well... you don't hear a bassoon anywhere that often do you?

I thoroughly recommend this album, it's not Neil Diamond as you expect him to be, it's Neil Diamond as he should be. Cracking stuff!

Rumour has it he's written 36 songs in all... Excellent! I can't wait to hear the rest of them.

If it helps you in your choice, here's the kind of stuff I usually listen to: the Beatles, the Stranglers, Coldplay, Keane, Air, Lemon Jelly, the Monkees, the Pernice Brothers, Grandaddy, Kasabian, Snow Patrol, Athlete, Kaiser Chiefs, Pink Floyd, Ian Dury, Blondie, Fatboy Slim, Groove Armada, Blur and um... Abba... I also like Ska, 60s Motown, 60s Soul and 60s R&B.

Tracks

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Info:

Category:

Music > Albums

Case Type:

CD

Release Type:

Retail

Comments:

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Cover Info:

Title:

Neil Diamond - 12 Songs (2006) Retail CD

Part:

Front

Dimensions:

1638 x 1445 px

Size:

400 KB

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Report a Problem Wrong Cover Duplicate Image Bad Quality Wrong Info

24/01/07 by allcdcovers

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