Tuesday, July 6, 2021

Neil Diamond - The Greatest Hits 1966-1992

I had written off this review as “God, Neil Diamond.  That’s music my mum liked”.  But this album really opened my eyes.

The first band I was in was an acoustic duo and we really could have benefited from listening to this album.  Putting aside that he was one of the best songwriters of his generation (or maybe even of all time) the production flourishes that are used would really have lifted some of our songs.  In fact, they lift some of these songs from being “good” to being “great”.   

Some songs have groovy bass lines that complement the chords (Cherry Cherry), on one particular example (Sweet Caroline) there are trumpet notes that lift the chorus to another level.  All of Solitary Man is actually quite amazing.  Not only that, he’s a great singer.  I had previously only heard UB40’s version of Red Red Wine, but his phrasing on this made me listen to the song in a new way. 

A revelation. 

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1990 1991   1992 1993   1994   1995   1996 1997   1998   1999