Hot August Night

by

Neil Diamond

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The very first time I played "Hot August Night" was in the dark ages of 1973. I had heard that it was perhaps the best live album of all time. I have never been a live album fan, and still am not. However, "Hot August Night" could not have been done as anything other than a live album. The ambiance of the Greek Theater in Los Angeles was the perfect setting for a singer/songwriter who performs better as a travelling troubadour than a studio musician. As a more recent example of this assertion, watch the ending of "Born in East L.A." when Neil Diamond sings "Coming to America". The song coupled with the movie and the action is a perfect fit, but I find it difficult to enjoy the song as much as a cycled FM song without the movie.

Having said that this album is good, the next question is: just how good is it? Other reviewers have compared this album to the all time live-album king, Peter Frampton's "Frampton Comes Alive", which everyone seemed to own in the 1970s. This album is not as hard a rocker, but as noted elsewhere, "Frampton Comes Alive" feels dated when you listen to it today; "Hot August Night" sounds as good, if not better, than when it was first released.

The sound quality is beyond excellent, it is outstanding. When listening to live albums it's often tempting to adjust the equalizer to reduce annoying hisses or crowd noise or some error in the recording process. No need with this album. Leave the adjustments where they normally are for any pop-rock album.

The songs on this album are a best of the best of early Neil Diamond music. You could see every one of these songs as a potential hit in the 60s and 70s. In fact, many of them were. Those that weren't perhaps should have been.

Some highlights of this CD:

"Prologue" is one of the best intros to any album, ever. That is all the comment you need about the prologue.

The first CD is one excellent Neil diamond song after another. They are all good, many mellow. There are a few rockers too. "Crunchy Granola Suite", "Cherry Cherry", and "Porcupine Pie", which is silly, all have a fast pace. The other songs are bluesy and some have a country flavor.

The second CD is a combination of blues/soft rock and an excellent rock song, "Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show", where Neil puts himself totally into his music. There is a lot of emotion on this second CD, and it is best listened to when you want to immerse yourself into a musical experience.

"Canta Libre", the second song on this CD, is reminiscent of Neil's songs on the "Jonathan Livingstone Seagull" soundtrack. Very mellow, very beautiful.

The remaining songs are music as art. "Morningside", "Holly Holy", and "I Am...I said" are just a few of the emotional songs that make you long for the days when this music was young. Listening now to "Morningside", the emotions it generates are just awesome. Neil is in this song, living it...

Enough said. This CD is perhaps the best live album of all time. At the very least it is in the top 3. If you've ever found yourself singing along with any of Neil's early songs, buy this. You'll want to play it over and over.