Neil Diamond - 12 Songs
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Artist: Neil DiamondBrand: Baker & Taylor
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2005-11-08
Model: 00828767750828
Music Label: Sony
Soundtracks:
- Oh Mary
- Hell Yeah
- Captain Of A Shipwreck
- Evermore
- Save Me A Saturday Night
- Delirious Love
- I'm On To You
- What's It Gonna Be
- Man Of God
- Create Me
- Face Me
- We
Music reviews of 12 Songs
Music Review: to the beat of delirious love
Rating: 5 Stars
of all the cd's I bought in the last few months,12 Songs is the one I'm addicted to.It shows me Neil's power as a songwriter that I relate to this album more then anything out by a band of my generation.
Neil Diamond sounds the most natural doing (early style)rock n roll.Take "Delirious Love".It is the type of hip-shaking 'doin' it' rocker that would make Jery Lee Lewis' "Great Balls Of Fire" proud.Then there is "Man of God".It is the type of gospel-flavoured,organ-based rocker that Neil used to do a lot in the late 1960's and early 1970's.It is Neil's best song about God since "Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show".
here are the highlights for me:
"Delirious Love"
a rockin',toe-tapper of a joyride that has the same 'magic'
as earlier classics like "I'm A Believer" and "Sweet Caroline".
The tastiest ear candy of 2005 also has a message-your grandpa can have exciting romance too.The words are so much fun-"Like a shot in the dawk she was hot like a spawk"!
"Oh Mary"
I didn't like this song at first.I skipped to the much bigger
sounding "Hell Yeah" the first few times.But over time "Oh Mary"
has become one of my favorites.This song would not feel out of place on a Radiohead album.The ghostly,,dreamy,atmospheric vibe.The fading,tolling piano.The lyrics are just heartbreakingly beatiful ("Oh Mary Let the chance go by It may never come again,I've been around and I know what happens And I'm too old to pretend")
"Hell Yeah"
my favorite song from the first listen.It is amazing how Neil can turn an acoustic guitar and his lion-roar of a voice into such an arena-size anthem of pride,defiance,fear,love and the passage of time.Neil also directly offers words of courage to the listener that I find very uplifting.He sings in such an assured way that you believe him when he sings that things will only get better.The last 20 seconds give me chills.
"Evermore"
Love is still on the Rocks in this gut wrenching ballad.This is the secong song on the cd that gives me chiils when the tension buildup reaches climax.I love the line "If you think of me in a year or two,Find that photograph showing me with you,What you see is what should be Evermore".I would be suprised if this song wont become a huge pop hit.
"Save Me A Saturday Night"
if "Evermore" is the soaring and soul searching Neil Diamond of the early 70's,this song is pure Tin Pan Alley rock n roll complete with chiming bells and pillowy beat.I love the loneliness in Neil's voice as he asks her to "Save me a Saturday night,Leave me some room at your table,I want to slip into your heart if I might,And stay just long as I'm able,Baby, save me a Saturday night".
"I'm On To You"
seductively-sung putdowns ("Baby I wish you well
But lovin' you hurt like hell") over groovy jazz-pop that would be perfect in an Austin Powers spy scene.The "Every Breath You Take" of the 2000's-I just love it!
"What's It Gonna Be"
Neil sounds like he is looking in the mirror and telling himself that he can face his fears,and we can too.A beautiful bluesy ballad with a late-night,only-the-lonely feel.
"Create Me"
a beautiful and deeply moving song that I admit makes me teary eyed.While lyrically it is like "Songs Of Life" (about the relationship between singer and song),the music would not be out of place on broadway.The lyrics show that the creation of songs is still important to Neil.Why he is still writing great original music while all his peers are doing muzak covers of pop standards,and selling out their classics to commercials.
"We"
"We" has the pre-rock simplicity and innocents that most of the
songs before it do not.I'm not usually a fan of oldtime pop but "We" is a great way to end this album.Like a couple at a 1940's ballroom dancing onto the night.I love the lyrical hook of the song "With a string you can tie a knot,But you gotta have something to tie it to,Otherwise all you've got is a knot
When it ties me to you,It's a whole other thing,Cause Love is all about We".Bouncy piece of pop heaven.
12 Songs is a gem start to finish,and an essential cd to Neil Diamond fans,and fans of melodic singer/songwriter rock n roll.
Description of 12 Songs
One of the year's most heavily-anticipated new releases, 12 Songs pairs the pop music icon with legendary producer Rick Rubin. Producing a Neil Diamond album has been a long-time dream for Rubin, whose extraordinary resume spans the history of hip-hop from LL Cool J to Jay Z, the world of hardcore rock from Slayer to System Of A Down, and the pantheon of mythic stars from Tom Petty and Donovan to Mick Jagger and Johnny Cash's immortal Grammy-winning American Recordings series."Most of the songs were recorded with Neil playing and singing at the same time," said Rick Rubin in a Rolling Stone article (9/22/05) profiling the producer, "and it's a different animal. It's taking him back to being more of a singer-songwriter. He really blows me away."
When it came time to record 12 Songs, Rick Rubin assembled a sympathetic ensemble of musicians to capture the essence of Neil Diamond's extraordinary new songs, each of them a finely-wrought gem, soul-searching, honest, yearning, and powerful.
A core group of musicians made up of Mike Campbell (guitar) and Benmont Tench (piano/organ) from Tom Petty's Heartbreakers and guitarist Smokey Hormel (Beck, Tom Waits) and other musicians including the renowned Larry Knechtel (piano) and Billy Preston (organ) played on the album.
The track listing for 12 Songs is: "Oh Mary," "Hell Yeah," "Captain of a Shipwreck," "Evermore," "Save Me A Saturday Night," "Delirious Love," "I'm On To You," "What's It Gonna Be," "Man of God," "Create Me," "Face Me," and "We." A special digipak edition of 12 Songs features two bonus tracks: "Men Are So Easy" and an alternate version of "Delirious Love" with guest artist Brian Wilson.
"?.judging by eight finished tracks," wrote Lorraine Ali, previewing 12 Songs for Newsweek (August 1, 2005), "this is the best work Diamond has done in 30 years."
Forget for a moment that you're a sophisticated consumer of music with a mercilessly low tolerance for schlock: Neil Diamond--"Cracklin' Rosie" and "Forever in Blue Jeans" be damned--is going to break your heart. 12 Songs, the hotly anticipated collaboration between Rick Rubin and the formerly jumpsuited Don Juan, exceeds all hopped-up expectations, deflating fans' concerns that their hero might fall flat on the frames of his huge sunglasses in attempting to turn out something hip and harnessing what sounds like decades' worth of untapped, superior songcraft instead. There it is on "Captain of a Shipwreck," a declaration of love that skims the poetic with its promise that "If you're captain of a shipwreck/I'll be first mate to your shame," and around it comes again on "Hell Yeah," a life-affirming, rumor-debunking anthem fairly bursting with bravado (think "I Am...I Said," but with context). Bravado aside, expect no pulled punches here. Rubin's masterful approach is to let Neil Diamond do what Neil Diamond does best, and that is to strap on a loose guitar and let those teflon-ravaged vocals ride over it. Some rides, of course, are smoother than others--Brian Wilson's guest spot on bonus track "Delirious Love" is so melodic and harmony-rich it ought to have sails attached, while "What's It Gonna Be" sounds like something snatched in a pre-dawn lark from a Leonard Cohen disc. All of it is lovely, every last track. A respectful rescripting of the legend, a la the Rubin-aided recasting of Johnny Cash after 2002's American Recordings, is in order. --Tammy La Gorce
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