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Miami Herald article
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Paul Maclauchlan
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Oct 23, 2008 12:24 PDT
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Diamond gets ready to reconnect with S. Florida fans
by Howard Cohen
October 23 2008
A critic just called Neil Diamond ''the rocking rabbi of ecumenical pop.''
Lavish praise for one of the singer-songwriter's three sold-out concerts in
Los Angeles earlier this month.
The multitudes who have consistently made Diamond one of the concert
industry's top draws know that a Neil Diamond concert is part revival
meeting, part globe-trotting music lesson, a dash of rock 'n' roll
salvation, and testimony to the almighty matriarch known as Sweet Caroline.
Fans who will go to Sunrise's BankAtlantic Center Sunday are well versed in
the Caroline drill. Diamond and his veteran band will pick up the familiar
chord progression (da da da da da da da), the ''New York City born and
raised'' singer will scale the refrain (Good times never seemed so good) and
fans will explode in unison, So good, so good, so good!
The call-and-response routine, which certainly has its roots in houses of
worship, still uplifts the star nearly 40 years after giving birth to this
mythical, magical Caroline (later revealed to be named after Caroline
Kennedy). Hearing his words coming back at him 15,000-strong nightly,
however, took some getting used to.
THEIR SONG
''It was a little surprising at first,'' Diamond said. ``Forty years ago I
didn't understand it, but I love the fact the audience will sing along and
have their own take on the songs and it becomes part of their lives. It's
their song.''
Diamond's Los Angeles run of shows took place during the Jewish High
Holidays, as did this phone interview, and if it initially seemed
incongruous to attend to business it still somehow seemed appropriate.
''I went to temple this morning,'' Diamond, 67, said in his familiar, deep
rumble, ``but I'm not taking the whole day off. I have to work.''
His work is pop music and it has a vast reach. This is the man who once
played the son of a cantor in the 1980 film version of The Jazz Singer and
whose songs Man of God, Holly Holy, Leave a Little Room for God, The Good
Lord Loves You, Walk on Water and Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show,
as well as the Jewish prayer of atonement, Kol Nidre from The Jazz Singer
soundtrack, are awash in religious allegory and gospel fervor.
''I think there has always been a spiritual influence on my work but I
really never paid any attention to it or focused on it. It's not something I
tried to bring out explicitly,'' Diamond said. For Diamond, self-censoring
-- in lyric, music, the craggily worn burr of his baritone -- is anathema.
His most recent albums, 12 Songs and this year's Billboard No. 1, Home
Before Dark have earned Diamond the best reviews of his career, a featured
spot as a guest coach on American Idol last season, and boast the deepest
writing he has attempted.
''I'm trying to let it all hang out and make the song as strong as it can
be,'' Diamond says simply, without grandeur. ``I don't edit myself.''
This could partly explain why Diamond still sells enough tickets to extend
his tour in a time of economic uncertainty, can earn his first No. 1 album
42 years after his chart debut, The Feel of Neil Diamond, and can have a
hipster producer like Rick Rubin (Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Dixie
Chicks) clamoring to produce him.
HIS INFLUENCES
''I don't think there was any one person, but I loved the music, there were
great songs out there,'' Diamond says of his formative influences that
inspired him to enter the business, first as a Brill Building songwriter in
the mid 1960s (the Monkees' smash, I'm a Believer, later covered by Smash
Mouth in Shrek, is Diamond's song), and ultimately as a performer.
'All the early rock 'n' roll songs, Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, the Everly
Brothers, who were my idols, these were all unique people, unique voices.
You can't copy them,'' Diamond said. ``Eventually, I had to find my own
voice on the records and fortunately I did. I don't think I sound like
anybody else.''
His better songs also owe little allegiance to a conventional career path.
The African Trilogy on side two of the 1970 LP Tap Root Manuscript,
highlighted by the Top 40 single Soolaimon, predated Paul Simon's celebrated
African excursion Graceland by 16 years. ''As a writer, I like to try new
styles,'' Diamond said. ``I don't want to keep repeating myself.''
So far, Diamond's strategy at fan management appears to be working.
''I hope I established a strong relationship with my audience,'' Diamond
says, an understatement. ``I think that's the key to it. They've become
familiar with my songs over the years, not only the hits, and I'm very
grateful. I love going up there and having fun. There's something
exhilarating about turning on 15,000 people. It's a lot of fun as opposed to
the grunt work of the writing. There's a very extroverted part of me I like
to explore.''
--
.../Paul Maclauchlan
Whizzo Chocolate Company, Oakville ON Canada
paul-@sympatico.ca http://whizzo.ca <http://whizzo.ca/>
http://whizzo.blogspot.com <http://whizzo.blogspot.com/>
In Neil's Words:
"You're alive,
You might as well be glad"
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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