“Hot August Night” - Neil Diamond

Today I’ll take a complete 180 from yesterday’s post. Sometime in the mid ‘70s, Terri and I attended a party in Napa. I can’t remember who’s party it was. I can’t remember the circumstance. But I do remember a particular record that the host put on the turntable that night. Listening to the first few minutes of side one as the orchestra builds in intensity, the two of us thought… who the hell is this?

To say we were surprised at Hot August Night and Neil Diamond is an understatement. We didn’t have any of his records but we knew every song and most every word. The record is an explosion of Pop covering his entire greatest hits catalogue up to that point in August of ‘72. I can only imagine what an incredible experience it would have been to be in that audience at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles on that summer night.

There are some singer/songwriters that have an innate ability to capture an audience completely. Listening to this album confirms Diamond has that gene. At times the orchestra and band fall out of the listening spectrum and it’s just Neil Diamond, his guitar, and his songs. I’m reminded of others across the rock/folk/pop spectrum that carry this DNA. A decade ago we saw Jackson Brown in a solo acoustic performance in Wallingford CT. In the early 80’s it was Dan Fogelberg on stage alone at University of New Orleans. Next month is will be Warren Haynes at the Ridgefield Playhouse.

As with many of my reviews this month, the songs on this record are timeless. You can BET that we will all be long gone from this earth, yet the Boston Red Sox will still be playing “Sweet Caroline” before the bottom of the eighth at every home game at Fenway. “SO GOOD, SO GOOD, SO GOOD!”