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Showing reviews 6-10 of 77
 Solid Improvement Over "12 Songs" May 6, 2008
R. Lingsweiler
7 out of 9 found this review helpful
When "12 Songs" came out, it was heralded as a major comeback and a chance to hear "relevant" Neil Diamond songs again. While Rick Rubin's name being attached to the album definitely gave it an extra bit of cool, I'll admit that the tunes took a long time to appreciate and I found myself wondering when I was going to latch onto a melody that I'd want to hear over and over (or even hum along with). There were a few, but it stil ended up being an album to appreciate more than enjoy. When I heard that Rubin was producing a follow-up, I had some concerns as to whether the new album would be more of the same. The good news is, the answer is yes and no. It's definitely a Rubin production...you can hear it in the clarity of the instruments and Neil's voice. BUT, there's definitely more tunefulness to the songs this time around, more a sense of a band playing so that you can appreciate their contributions (especally Mssrs. Campbell and Tench). All in all, if you think of "12 Songs" as a dress rehearsal, then "Home Before Dark" becomes the main attraction, and it's a darn good one. I'd give it 4 1/2 stars if I could. Enjoy!
 Where the words are found by the poet's eye May 7, 2008
Phillip Livingstone
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
In the beginning there were the words and then the most imposing live act and now 45 years later after the joy and mastery of 12 Songs, comes the triumphant Home Before Dark. The words come from a rare and poetic place and touch the heart and mind in a refreshing and triumphant way. Like 12 songs, the words and voice tell a poignant story of live and love - in Home Before Dark - they come and touch you in many different ways and stay with you. The songs are longer and deserve to be with great words, a great story, beautiful arrangements and a beautiful and hauntingly real duet. These songs will stand the test of time from the master singer songwriter of my lifetime. There are songs on this album which the Neil Diamond band will make concert classics in the months ahead. I can't wait for the Diamond to sing them to us all live in concert. All the songs so far are favourites! Highly recommended 7 *******stars/5.
 Another disappointment May 7, 2008
Scott Garner
6 out of 21 found this review helpful
In Home Before Dark Neil Diamond may have written the first song in pop history to reference a bug stuck in a bowl trying to get out... hardly a poetic image. But he has done it here on his latest outing, once again produced by master producer Rick Rubin. There are some definite "cringe" moments in Home Before Dark, such as when Diamond utilizes the sophmoric commercial device of spelling out the title of one of his songs - Forgotten - letter by letter. He did the same thing in Mission of Love from Three Chord Opera, and also in the title cut from his In My Lifetime collection. When he falls prey to this silly device I think of Hall and Oates singing M-E-T-H-O-D O-F L-O-V-E in their 80's hit Method of Modern Love. I really don't want to think of Hall and Oates at all. Where is the the Neil DIamond who wrote the masterful Stones from 1971, I've Been This Way Before, Lady Magdalene, or Songs of Life. Diamond used to be a great poet, but now one can almost hear the awkward strain of Diamond trying to get a phrase to rhyme in some of these new compositions. Diamond's last several CD's have been billed by his PR as highly personal, intimate, and self revealing. I think most fans have had enough of the intimate, soft side of Diamond. How wonderful would it be if Diamond would release an album of bouncy rock tunes songs that were actually fun to listen to.
Possibly the finest recording of Diamond's career May 7, 2008
DalkeyPlayer (Ireland)
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
Diamond's second collaboration with Rick Rubin, following on from 12 Songs, sees him embrace, more fully, the stripped down production values that put a premium on songcraft and honesty of delivery. This is a very intimate, personal, lyrical and powerful piece of work. Where Diamond had been a little tentative in his approach to Rubin's uncluttered production values on 12 songs, here he is confident and authoritative and fully committed.
The opening track, If I Don't See You Again, sets the tone for the entire collection. Running to a full 7 minutes it is superbly crafted and lyrically engaging. It is one of those songs that engages fully on first hearing and then improves with every subsequent exposure.
Pretty Amazing Grace, the song Diamond performed recently on American Idol, draws you in, builds beautifully and stays in your head long after it is over.
The Duet with Natalie Maines, Another Day (That Time Forgot), is one of the highlights of this collection. The song is wistful and wonderful and the way their voices complement each other is exquisite.
Forgotten is almost a throwback to Diamond's Bang days, but here is a man who has lived a full life and is not pretending otherwise. The Power Of Two is a power love song in the best Diamond tradition.
I could go on, but you get the picture. This is a collection I would heartily recommend to anyone that enjoys pure songwriting, delivered simply, elegantly, eloquently and with integrity and passion. I thought 12 Songs was one of the records of 2005. This is superior in every way.
If You've Liked Neil Diamond at any Stage of his Career May 9, 2008
R. S. Litman (Pennsylvania USA)
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
If you've liked Neil Diamond at any stage of his career, you have got to hear this album. Reviews are not my area of expertise, so when I do write one, it means I was especially moved to write about something.
I have played almost nothing but Neil Diamond in the past 48 hours. I had a little bit of Beatles on in the car, and I also dug out my copy of the 1994 CD "From Crayons to Perfume: The Best of Lulu" because it now contains TWO songs that Neil Diamond has recorded--his own oldie "The Boat That I Row" plus a song written by Harry Nilsson that is called "Without Him" when sung by female artists and "Without Her" when sung by male artists such as Neil Diamond. "Without Her" is one of the two bonus cuts on the CD of the deluxe edition. (Incidentally, this is not to be confused with a song that Nilsson had a big hit with but didn't write called "Without You"!)
And speaking of the deluxe edition, I recommend buying it, but more for the accompanying DVD rather than the two extra songs. "Without Her" is nice to listen to, but the Bob Dylan song that closes the album, "Make You Feel My Love", has so far not made an impression on me. Neil goes further into covering other introspective singer-songwriters when he does Paul Simon's hit from Simon's days with Art Garfunkel, "The Boxer", on the DVD. Of the three songs written by others that are in the deluxe edition, "The Boxer" is my favorite rendition. I wish that DVD's were designed to at least play audio-only on CD players that aren't also DVD players so that I could enjoy this on more of my players!
I am a hopeless oldies relic, who, if asked to sing any song by an all-female group whose name begins with Dixie C, would burst out with, "Going to the chapel and we're/gonna get mar-ar-ar-ied," the opening lines from the huge 1964 hit "Chapel of Love" by the Dixie Cups. Although I was aware of the Dixie Chicks' political controversies over the years, I had not known much about their music. I can now say that I have heard group member Natalie Maines sing. I will take "Another Day (That Time Forgot)", her duet with Neil, over "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" any day. And here is an interesting coincidence--the Dixie Cups were produced by Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, who produced Neil Diamond's early hits on Bang records, and the Dixie Chicks are produced by Rick Rubin, who has produced Neil's two most recent albums!
Now, let's get back to my original recommendation, that if you've liked Neil Diamond at any stage of his career, you need to hear this album. In the past couple of days, I have alternated "Home Before Dark" with what I think are some of his best recordings over the years. Sometimes, I enjoyed what I was hearing when playing the other albums; other times, I longed to be back with "Home Before Dark". And ironically, "12 Songs", his highly acclaimed album from 2 1/2 years ago, one which I couldn't put away when it first came out, was suddenly, to me, as much of a collection of yesterday's songs as Neil's own song, "Yesterday's Songs", from the early 1980s! But when I played "Classics: The Early Years", covering his hits for Bang Records in the 1960s, and "His 12 Greatest Hits", covering his hits for Uni Records in the late 1960s and early 1970s, it was a welcome change of pace.
Well, I've posted enough. Time to get back to listening and watching "Home Before Dark".
Oh, one final thing--my favorite song on the album is "No Words", and my second favorite is "Whose Hands Are These". They are consecutive cuts on the album, and sometimes I just play the two of them, back-to-back, over and over again.
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