Neil Diamond, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member-elect. Leon Russell is also in this class. Chic should have been in too. Maybe next year. It's a bit hard to tell this, but these are the two gatefold photos on the inside of his classic Hot August Night double live album. I am sort of an expect on that sub-genre (double live albums) and I think I need to elevate this record up into my Top Five. Hot August Night is a 1972 live double album by Neil Diamond. The record got its name from the opening lyrics from Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show. This record is from a live concert of August 24, 1972, "one of ten sold out concerts that Diamond performed that month at The Greek Theatre in Los Angeles." On it - Cherry, Cherry is one of the finest versions of any song, ever recorded at a live concert for use on a live record. It captures the best use of a a featured accoustic guitar to go along with the other, electric ones. It just pure smokes, cranked. When Neil says, "Take it, Alan," he is speaking to Alan Lindgren - on keyboards. And, the Hanmond B3 and violin strings we hear at the beginning of Crunchy Granola Suite is an epic opening to a record. Here Neil uses guitar session god Richard Bennett as his featured touring sideman, who has worked with and for Mark Knopfler, Billy Joel, Rodney Crowell and Vince Gill. Bennett has produced Grammy award winning artists like Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris, and Marty Stuart.
In Fall of 2009 I took the kids down to Bloomington, IN for the IU-PU Old Oaken Bucket game. During a TV time out, they put over the loud speakers, "Sweet Caroline". When the TV time out ended, the fans kept singing "Sweet Caroline". It was near sunset and with a purple sky in the background, 50,000 people said to Hell with college football, let's keep singing Neil Diamnond! For that alone, he's in my HOF!
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