And all those songs made him a zillionaire. I knew one of the guys who repped his catalogue, said he was the nicest guy in the music business. That alone is enough for me.
Such a beautifully written piece! Some of my earliest favorite musical memories include Neil Diamond. My dad had recorded an hours long reel to reel tape of his music and it was often playing as I was growing up in the early 70s (along with Abba, The Bee Gees, Simon and Garfunkel). I’ve absolutely adored his music since I was a kid.
I finally got to see him perform live on August 7, 2005, one of the best days of my life. I spent the afternoon in Canton watching my football idol Dan Marino be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. After leaving the ceremony we took the hour drive north to Cleveland and watched Neil Diamond put on an awesome performance at the Gund Arena. The show was transcendent and at 64 he brought the house down. An enduring memory of a magical musical moment.
Excellent piece. Growing up in the 70s and early 80s, I thought Neil Diamond was just a schmaltzy pop singer – it took “Solitary Man,” “Shilo” and the Classics: The Early Years compilation in the late 80s to alert me to what a brilliant songwriter he actually was… and that he got as much out of three or four chords as the Ramones later did.
In short, I really enjoyed the essay. It was really good to revisit Diamond’s earlier work. So wonderfully authentic. I hadn’t thought of him in terms of the 2 and a-half-minute song length recently, if at all. But of course, you’ve nailed it. He was a master at it.
And all those songs made him a zillionaire. I knew one of the guys who repped his catalogue, said he was the nicest guy in the music business. That alone is enough for me.
Such a beautifully written piece! Some of my earliest favorite musical memories include Neil Diamond. My dad had recorded an hours long reel to reel tape of his music and it was often playing as I was growing up in the early 70s (along with Abba, The Bee Gees, Simon and Garfunkel). I’ve absolutely adored his music since I was a kid.
I finally got to see him perform live on August 7, 2005, one of the best days of my life. I spent the afternoon in Canton watching my football idol Dan Marino be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. After leaving the ceremony we took the hour drive north to Cleveland and watched Neil Diamond put on an awesome performance at the Gund Arena. The show was transcendent and at 64 he brought the house down. An enduring memory of a magical musical moment.
Excellent piece. Growing up in the 70s and early 80s, I thought Neil Diamond was just a schmaltzy pop singer – it took “Solitary Man,” “Shilo” and the Classics: The Early Years compilation in the late 80s to alert me to what a brilliant songwriter he actually was… and that he got as much out of three or four chords as the Ramones later did.
In short, I really enjoyed the essay. It was really good to revisit Diamond’s earlier work. So wonderfully authentic. I hadn’t thought of him in terms of the 2 and a-half-minute song length recently, if at all. But of course, you’ve nailed it. He was a master at it.
As I told someone from NYC, I had a theory that there's no good musicians from NYC, they're from somewhere else.
Thanks for another anecdote verifying my theory. 😄