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+--- Thread: Neil Diamond - Melody Road (/showthread.php?tid=11850)
Neil Diamond - Melody Road - Music Head - 01-11-2014
enters the Billboard chart this week at #3
Spotify online listen
4.0 of 5.0 from allmusic
32nd studio album
label change after 40 years (Columbia to Capitol) with Don Was producing
still writing all of his own stuff
voice is still classic Neil and he's 73
artist website - http://www.neildiamond.com/
Bio - from allmusic
![[Image: MI0003364436.jpg?partner=allrovi.com]](http://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_400/MI0003/364/MI0003364436.jpg?partner=allrovi.com)
bio is too long
Album Review - from allmusic
![[Image: 220px-NeilDiamondMelodyRoad.jpg]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/36/NeilDiamondMelodyRoad.jpg/220px-NeilDiamondMelodyRoad.jpg)
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 Amâ¦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.
the first single:
[video=youtube;_qjqysU36tw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qjqysU36tw[/video]
Track Listing
1. Melody Road
2. First Time
3. Seongah and Jimmy
4. Something Blue
5. Nothing But a Heartache
6. In Better Days
7. (Ooo) Do I Wanna Be Yours
8. Alone at the Ball
9. Sunny Disposition
10. Marry Me Now
11. The Art of Love
12 Melody Road (Reprise)
Neil Diamond - Melody Road - SteveO - 01-11-2014
Nice no nonsense simple straight ahead song! Can't go wrong with Steely Dan producer Don Was!
What's with the pic of the black guy? ...I must be missing something?
Neil Diamond - Melody Road - jazzboCR - 01-11-2014
SteveO Wrote:Nice no nonsense simple straight ahead song! Can't go wrong with Steely Dan producer Don Was!
What's with the pic of the black guy? ...I must be missing something?
That pic is an ad header often found at the top of AMG's listings. I don't know what for--never though to look further.
Don Was's day job is Prez of Blue Note Records--but he's not dabbling here; keeping his brain stem active.
Definitely agree with MH on the bio length--and that comes from OCD me.
Neil Diamond - Melody Road - Music Head - 02-11-2014
sorry about the album pic
corrected now
Neil Diamond - Melody Road - jazzboCR - 02-11-2014
Music Head Wrote:sorry about the album pic
corrected now
Good going, guy--it was kind of jarring.