Neil Diamond ‘Hot August Night’: Renowned Hits & Self-Indulgent Gems
by Amy Hughes
The double album craze was in full force during 1972. Among the four-sided treasures released that year: the Allman Brothers Band’s Eat a Peach, the Rolling Stones’ Exile on Main St., the Kinks’ Everybody’s in Show-Biz and the live two-LP set Hot August Night from Neil Diamond. Recorded on August 24 of that year at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, from a perspective of 50-plus years it’s a curio-cabinet collection of renowned hits and self-indulgent gems. To say that even then Neil Diamond was a polarizing pop music figure is a huge understatement.
By 1972, Diamond was firmly entrenched in his status as a multi-million-selling superstar. As one of the legendary Brill Building songwriters of the 1960s, Diamond had written songs for Jay and the Americans and, most famously, the Monkees, with “I’m A Believer” topping the charts in 1966.
However, Diamond finally broke rank and became a recognizable stage presence with “Sweet Caroline,” “I Am…I Said” and, in May 1972, “Song Sung Blue.” While stating in 1977 that he felt torn about his ability as a songwriter, he nonetheless felt no qualms about performing live. “The bigger the audience,” he said to Billboard, “the more anticipation, the more excitement.”
Neil Diamond (photo from his Facebook page)
He had previously played the Greek Theatre in 1971, selling out over seven nights at the prestigious outdoor venue. But in 1972, with 10 concerts booked and backed by a crack band and a multi-piece orchestra conducted by Lee Holdridge, the feeling emanating from the grooves was that this was, in quotes, an important event.
So revered was the vibe that you can’t really tell this is a live album. In the strictest sense, yes, there is a buzzing from the 4,000-plus attendees, in the background. The applause is there, not restrained, but it’s certainly not overtly smothering in adulation for the artist. Diamond was a master of the stage by this point, but he also knew who he was playing to. And to put it mildly, his subjects were there to praise their leader.
While much isn’t needed to describe the intro to “Crunchy Granola Suite,” as it’s rather indescribably ordinary as far as suites go, 1970’s “Done Too Soon” is “We Didn’t Start the Fire” living in a time machine 19 years previous, via name-checking Chico Marx, “Wolfie” Mozart, Humphrey Bogart and Genghis Khan with gusto, precision and, obviously, humor.
Can you even fathom that “Dialogue,” 1:22 of pure Neil addressing the crowd (“Take a look behind you and see what I’m seein.’ Like trees in the sky! It’s beautiful!”) is listed as a track? I’m sure you didn’t. He then launches into the obligatory knowns—“Solitary Man,” “Cherry, Cherry,” et al.—before hitting upon “Red Red Wine,” which is unrecognizable in its original Diamond-penned form. Taken over in 1983 by UB40 and given a ska-reggae flavor styling, to hear it by the songwriter, vocalizing in a throatier, easy-listening vein is to hear it again for the first time.
Interrupting this paean to alcohol is the country-tinged “Soggy Pretzels.” On the surface, it’s a lament about a woman who’s sitting in a corner of a Mississippi bar, crying into said pretzels and beer. It’s not to say Diamond wasn’t heartfelt in his concern about a female patron in distress. It’s that, well, it’s definitely hard not to stifle a laugh (or the eyeball gaze upward) over the title and have a modicum of empathy left over for the gal.
Another questionable song (again, it’s a Diamond-written bauble), “Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon,” comes from the unintendedly cringey viewpoint of a then 31-year-old bathed in glowing stage lights, wearing beaded denim and a shirt open to expose a chest full of hair, singing to a demographically older crowd at the Greek Theatre. Sincerity most assuredly can move along now.
If there were some inconsistencies in the previous two sides, Diamond casts that to the curb with side three, getting down to serious business with his earlier-in-the-year hit “Play Me.” Cementing his reputation with double entendres, cascading from acoustic guitars that foreshadow the dreaded Yacht Rock era, it pays mind that the tune was co-written with session guitarist/producer Richard Bennett who, while in the cavalcade of players onstage that night, went on to work with Diamond for the next 17 years.
It might be a miscalculation but considering that “Song Sung Blue” and “Cracklin’ Rosie” are presented back-to-back, it looks like pure plugged-in delivery. The former, with its classical period sleepy-time waltz, was put up against the full-throttle of the latter, as Diamond went all-in growl, but foregoing the deep bass notes he dug up on the original recording.
It’s not that Diamond relied entirely on presentation over substance. He had the chops to get a song resonating. But with the solemn delivery of “Holly Holy,” it strikes a chord of self-importance that can only be traced to an audience’s gracious acceptance and gets strained further with “I Am…I Said.” Played as a post-therapy workout with a ringing righteousness, the song jumped the shark later into comedy material for writer Dave Barry, who dared to ask the question, “Neil, with great emotion, sings, ‘I am, I said, to no one there. And no one heard at all, not even the chair.’ What kind of line is that? Is Neil telling us he’s surprised that the chair didn’t hear him?”
The concluding piece, “Soolaimon”/“Brother Love’s Travelling Salvation Show,” is 9:36 of tribal beats, mashed with singalong chants to the gods (maybe) and tied up with a 1969 Diamond composition that hinges on the repetitive “Hallelujah” and a fading coda worthy of Las Vegas Elvis. One can only imagine that it could have extended even further with a revivalist chorus and Diamond leading the congregation out of the venue.
Surprisingly, Hot August Night is held in hushed reverence, even with modern-day detractors bent on explaining with equal parts chalk and cheese, how Diamond did what he did in 1972. He went on to replicate it to lesser plaudits in 1987, 2009 and 2018 which, by then, solely hinged on nostalgia and Diamond glittery shirts.
In playing up the numbers game, Hot August Night, released on Dec. 9, 1972, is one of the biggest-selling albums in Australia, where it spent 29 weeks at #1 in 1973 and 1974. For those of a certain American generation, it was a staple on the 8-track for road trips and on the stereo console in many a family living room during that period, where it topped at #5 on the Billboard 200. The album is available in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here.
Hot August Night was reissued in 2012 for a 40th anniversary deluxe edition adding four bonus tracks, including “I Think It’s Gonna Rain Today,” penned by Randy Newman, and a 7:25 “Musicians Intro” that allowed Diamond an extended showcase to feature his onstage entourage.
Related: When Neil Diamond gave a surprise post-retirement performance
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1 Comment so far
Jump into a conversationYes indeed–play this on 8-track. It was 1972 after all.