Forty years ago, Neil Diamond played 10 sold out nights at the Greek theatre in Los Angeles, an open air amphitheatre holding around 5700 people – thats a lot of people over a ten night run. The album ”Hot August night” was recorded at one of those shows, and on release it became a massive success around the world, spending 39 weeks at the top of the charts in Australia, and spending 20 weeks in the UK album charts. It became one of his biggest selling albums ever, going multi-platinum in the US at a time when that required seriously high sales.
Now Universal are re-releasing the album in a deluxe edition. As you’d expect from the other releases that have had the deluxe edition treatment recently, Universal have dug out some extra material for inclusion. There are three extra songs that weren’t included in the original album (presumably because back then the limitations of vinyl would have menat going from a double album to a triple album and pushing costs up significantly). There is also more of his banter with the audience included as well as him introducing the band.
The ”new” songs are ”A modern day version of love”, ”I think its going to rain today” and ”Gitchy Goomy”.
If you’d asked me a couple of weeks ago if I was a fan of Neil Diamond then I’d have said no, but that’s mainly because with the exception of one song (America) I’d never really taken the time to listen to him. Now though, I’d probably give a different answer. Having listened to this album several times I’m very impressed by his voice, his songwriting, and how good he seems as a performer.
While for many people, ”Red red wine” is associated with UB40, it was Neil Diamond who wrote it, and his version is included here. It’s the first time I’ve heard his version, so I wasn’t sure how I’d like it as I really like the UB40 cover. I needn’t have worried though as Neil Diamond’s version is excellent. It’s very different to the UB40 one, but it really is a great song and is brilliantly performed.
An excellent live album from a legendary performer. Fans who already have the original album should certainly consider upgrading to the deluxe edition for the extra material, and any Neil Diamond fans without this in their collection should certainly look at buying it.
Track listing:
1. Prologue
2. Crunchy Granola Suite
3. Done Too Soon
4. Dialogue
5. Solitary Man
6. Cherry Cherry
7. Sweet Caroline
8. Porcupine Pie
9. You’re So Sweet
10. Red Red Wine
11. Soggy Pretzels
12. Gitchy Goomy
13. And The Grass Won’t Pay No Mind
14. I Think It’s Going To Rain Today
15. Shilo
16. Modern Day Version Of Love
17. Girl You’ll Be A Woman Soon
18. Walk On Water
19. Kentucky Woman
20. Stones
21. Musician Intros
