Mom had a few favorites like Andy Williams and Perry Como but the singer she liked the most was Neil Diamond. She had a couple of Neil’s albums including this one Hot August Night. During The Scratchy 45 Days, we stayed away from the albums and just focused on the 45s. We’d get the albums out from time to time mostly at Christmas, since most of them were Christmas albums or when we would do Spotlight Operas. I tell you more about them soon.
Again, this may be the nostalgia talking but there is something cool about Neil Diamond’s voice and musical style. He has so many hits and they all seem to transport me back to The Scratchy 45 Days. It always remind me of cruising in the car, it is always summer and it is always a Hot August Night.
Let’s drop a stack of 7 with Neil Diamond starting with my favorite – Sweet Caroline
I Am.. I Said
Song Sung Blue
Cracklin’ Rosie
Play Me
Stones
Brother Love’s Traveling Salvation Show
Kind of hard to imagine a Hot August Night on a cold winter’s night in January.
One of my Neil Diamond favorites is when he and Barbra Streisand sang You Don’t Bring me Flowers. Ironically enough each artist recorded it separately and some guy at a radio station spliced them together into one song. It was such a big hit that the two artists recorded it together for an official version. It’s a sad song, but I still really like it. I like his other work too, including, but not limited to his song Love on the Rocks from Jazz Singer.