Jump to content

Anybody like Neil Diamond?


kwakatak

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 59
  • Created
  • Last Reply
  • Members

The man was phenomenol in his day!

I didn't realize he played the guitar parts and was quite good at it too.

Thanks for sharing this, but I was planning on getting some sleep after my second job tonight....WRONG......

Couldn't get enough of his songs.

Quite an Artist! :thu:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

That's really an early vid.....his prime. Neil was one of those guys perfect for his time. Not that you can't say that about entertainers in general, but he really fit his brand of music into a slot that was pretty filled up by other kinds of music. A great writer for sure and a voice unmistakably his own. Appreciate the reminder on this thread. I'll probably dust off some of the vinyl before the days out.:thu:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I've admitted to this guilty pleasure in the past. Was a superfan in the late 60's to mid-70's, before the sequins and Vegas posing started (and creativity ceased). Saw him in concert several times in the 70's. Bought an Ovation, because he played one. :facepalm: I think his "Hot August Night" songbook was my first--still have it over 30 years later (lot's of tape holding it together).

 

Was very pleased with the last 2 albums. Rick Ruben helped him return to the introspective songwriter that made him appealing over 30 years ago. The stripped down production reminded me why I liked him in the first place. Wish he hadn't waited 'til he was pushing 70 years old to do it. His duet with Natalie Maynes on the last album is a great song and performance.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I liked his early stuff. later on he went "Vegas" on us, and I nearly puked. (Sort of like Elvis.)

Early Elvis = good

post-modern Elvis = interminably insufferable.

 

after a while, anything involving singing just sort of left me cold. singing/schminging. oy vey. enough already.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

If you have ever moved away from the area where you grew up you will appreciate his song "I Am I Said". There's a line in there that says "LA's fine but it's not home, New York's home but it's not mine no more". We moved from Ohio to Arizona about the time that song was popular and it really rang true to me then. I agree with those who think his late 60's, early 70's stuff was his best. Haven't heard either of the last two albums, but certainly "Hot August Night" is in a class by itself.

 

JR

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

How to say this without being boorish. Hmmmm. I don't like him. Never did. "Forever in Blue Jeans Babe" still makes me puke. Having said that though, It's just a personal thing. I think he was always Vegas. I should try him out again if he's got some new stuff.

 

I will open myself up though to widespread flaming and projectile vomit.

 

I think Barry Manilow is a brilliant songwriter. I don't think he ever wrote a klinker. Way Vegas though, gotta admit. I've often thought of taking some of his songs and making them acoustic and right.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

How to say this without being boorish. Hmmmm. I don't like him. Never did. "Forever in Blue Jeans Babe" still makes me puke. Having said that though, It's just a personal thing. I think he was always Vegas. I should try him out again if he's got some new stuff.


I will open myself up though to widespread flaming and projectile vomit.


I think Barry Manilow is a brilliant songwriter. I don't think he ever wrote a klinker. Way Vegas though, gotta admit. I've often thought of taking some of his songs and making them acoustic and right.

Maybe you missed the good stuff before "Blue Jeans", which I agree is as fluffy as cotton candy...HOWEVER...nothing about "Stones", "I Am I Said", or "Solitary Man" (just to name three early hits) is Vegas. Each one is at heart an incredibly good and vital song. Obviously songs that came straight from the heart. Having said that, I do find his arrangements a bit sugary--the strings always feel like gilding the lily in a very unnecessary and overwrought way. But when it's just that voice and a guitar, he's golden.

 

How very unfortunate that ND went all decadent-Elvis on us in mid-career. I think the worshipful female fan base must've went to his head. The guy was way better than that. He screwed the pooch, to be sure.

 

But sometimes I ask myself: if whenever I went onstage, women flung their undergarments at me, what would I do? :) Might go to my head, make me do things I later regret.

 

Also: I don't hate Barry but in terms of legacy, ND and Barry are in separate worlds, IMHO.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Maybe you missed the good stuff before "Blue Jeans", which I agree is as fluffy as cotton candy...
HOWEVER
...nothing about "Stones", "I Am I Said", or "Solitary Man" (just to name three early hits) is Vegas. Each one is at heart an incredibly good and vital song. Obviously songs that came straight from the heart. Having said that, I do find his arrangements a bit sugary--the strings always feel like gilding the lily in a very unnecessary and overwrought way. But when it's just that voice and a guitar, he's golden.


How very unfortunate that ND went all decadent-Elvis on us in mid-career. I think the worshipful female fan base must've went to his head. The guy was way better than that. He screwed the pooch, to be sure.


But sometimes I ask myself: if whenever I went onstage, women flung their undergarments at me, what would I do?
:)
Might go to my head, make me do things I later regret.


Also: I don't hate Barry but in terms of legacy, ND and Barry are in separate worlds, IMHO.

 

"Stones" is one of my all time favorites. I had the rare privilege of seeing him perform it live. Awesome!!!!!!!!

 

Frankly, Michael, I'd love to hear you perform it. I think your voice is particularly well suited for this one. C'mon........let's hear it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I think Barry Manilow is a brilliant songwriter. I don't think he ever wrote a klinker. Way Vegas though, gotta admit. I've often thought of taking some of his songs and making them acoustic and right.

I hereby formally request that you adapt "Copacabana" for the December VOM1T. ;)

 

And I could do Manilow's "Some Kind of Friend". Because I cut my teeth on Jethro Tull, from whom he shamelessly and unforgivably ripped off the essential riff, that one would be a cinch for me...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Frankly, Michael, I'd love to hear you perform it. I think your voice is particularly well suited for this one. C'mon........let's hear it.

Only if you promise to fling your undergarments at me. ;)

 

I do love a challenge--I'm going to explore this, because that song for me is top-five all-time. Not top five ND; top-five all songs ever written. But I doubt I can do it justice--not sure I can get to the high parts, so limited in range am I.

 

ND's voice is to die for.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Only if you promise to fling your undergarments at me.
;)

I do love a challenge--I'm going to explore this, because that song for me is top-five all-time. Not top five ND; top-five all songs ever written. But I doubt I can do it justice--not sure I can get to the high parts, so limited in range am I.


ND's voice is to die for.

 

Okay. You want the black/hot pink pair or the ones with neon hearts on them? Or maybe some red/black ones? :poke:

 

 

Yeah, that was one of his greatest songs. :thu:

 

On second thought......forget the ones with hearts on them....they belong to somebody else. So do the black leather ones. :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.


×
×
  • Create New...