Solitary man (Neil Diamond) (LP 2384)

Neil Diamond  Hot August Night (CD, MCA Records, 1972) **  

Genre: pop 

Places I remember: Shona Walding's collection

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Sweet Caroline

Gear costume: Cherry Cherry

Active compensatory factors: I was faced with a seminal question when I was given this as part of Shona's CD collection by her sister Terese. Keep it or not?

My past was screaming - throw it away, while my present was saying - don't be a judgmental baby. Steven Wilson's wise words that there should be no such thing as guilty pleasures also rang in my ears.

Don't get me wrong, I've loved Neil Diamond songs over the years (hello - The Monkees) but I've always disliked his vocal style, and well yes - label me shallow - his image. Even an appearance in The Last Waltz didn't convert me. But that was also back in the seventies.

Now? Well, now I'm prepared to give it a listen at least (this is the first time I've ever listened to it actually) and reserve a spot in the collection next to his Greatest Hits collections (also from Shona and Lindsey's collections).

Back in the seventies though? Forget about it. I found plenty to dislike: there's that cover where he looks like he's pregnant cradling a baby bump, or else something else; there's the strings; and the hype - this was everywhere in the early seventies. In my imagination, older sophisticate hipsters loved it. Which made me immediately wary.

Keep in mind - in 1972 I was listening to Black Sabbath, Frank Zappa, The Stones, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Bowie, T Rex, Jimi Hendrix, Slade and Deep Purple.

Now? His performance between songs is pretty cringey, but many of the songs themselves hold up, many don't (Soggy Pretzels, Canta Libre), many of them are brilliant: Solitary Man; Sweet Caroline; Holy Holy. The hits are there.

Where do they all belong? Okay - I have that one out of my system now. Will I ever listen to it again? Probably not, but it stays...for now. 

Next up in the popstar ranks - Dire Straits.