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/ Reviews

Special Review: Neil Diamond, "Melody Road"

October 21, 2014 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

Melody RoadFor Neil Diamond, good times never felt so good.

The venerable singer-songwriter, a robust 73, continues his late-career winning streak with Melody Road, his 32nd studio album. It’s a record of firsts – his first LP under a new agreement with Capitol Records following 40+ years with Columbia Records, and his first of original material since 2008’s Home Before Dark. On this 12-track set, Diamond is in a contemplative mood, offering songs of age and experience in his still-resonant voice. But this brooding “solitary man” is now writing and singing from a place of contentment, embracing the sunshine and sentimentality of a life clearly enriched and inspired by his 2012 marriage.

Sonically, Melody Road melds the rootsy acoustic approach of the Rick Rubin-helmed 12 Songs and Home Before Dark with the widescreen orchestrations that were a major part of the Diamond sound in previous years. Significantly, though, Diamond’s guitar is still out front as on those two albums, and the “back to basics” style still prevails under the auspices of producers Don Was (The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan) and Jacknife Lee (R.E.M., Snow Patrol, Taylor Swift). He’s joined by a cast of musicians including Joey Waronker on drums, Richard Bennett and Smokey Hormel on guitars, and Benmont Tench and Greg Phillinganes on keyboards, plus The Waters on backing vocals and longtime associate Alan Lindgren for string arrangements. With these talents bringing his new works alive, Diamond’s craft as a songwriter remains undiminished, and Melody Road radiates the light in which he seems to be basking. As a result, it’s a less stark collection than either 12 Songs or Home Before Dark. But despite lacking the grit of those two albums, Melody Road still feels like the conclusion of a trilogy, or the light at the end of the tunnel.

The warm, inviting title track (“Melody from the heart/Melody from the start/Telling me things will be okay/I think that I just might stay/On Melody Road…”) bookends the album. With its “Song Sung Blue” lilt, it’s a balm that sets the tone for this sunny and frequently autobiographical album. Despite song titles like “Something Blue” and “Nothing But a Heartache,” Diamond is upbeat on this trip down Melody Road. The former is, simply, classic Neil Diamond. One of many songs here inspired by and directed to his new wife, it’s an expression of what the artist calls “the accident of love.” It’s set to a gentle bounce strummed on guitars and banjo with bass and brushed percussion, subtle horns, and a rollicking piano solo. One can easily see this perky pop gem taking a clap-along place at a future Diamond show.   (He’s embarking on a major tour in 2015.) As for the impassioned, intense “Heartache,” its full-throated delivery is reminiscent of “Beautiful Noise” crossed with “I Am…I Said.”   In it, a genuine-sounding Diamond paints love as one’s personal savior, or a light from the darkness. Sharp electric guitar adds to the textures on this track, the album’s dramatic centerpiece.

New wife Katie McNeil is also the likely recipient of the gently romantic “(Ooo) Do I Wanna Be Yours” and the straightforward, amiable “Marry Me Now,” on which low, oom-pah brass turns into an exultant, almost-Dixieland revel. As ever, Diamond is wholly believable even when espousing a simple sentiment like “Marriage is not an easy thing/But look at all the joy it brings…” The aura of sweetness continues on the appealing “Sunny Disposition.” “She had a sunny disposition/He had a cloud that never went away,” sings the famous loner in this heartfelt, third-person story song.

Other tracks on Melody Road look to Diamond’s past rather than present. The singer sounds like a man reborn on the upbeat, guitar-driven splendor of “First Time,” a note of encouragement to those just starting out. “Alone at the Ball” is a more pointed “word to the wise” from someone who’s been there. Diamond is likewise in reflective mode on the sad, ironically uptempo “In Better Days.” He’s touching as he revisits a past relationship in loving if conflicted terms: “Why do we promise forever and never stay that long? Why do we swear to care until we die? And what does it mean when two lovers sing a loving song/Then move along and not know why?” When listening to this confessional track, it’s hard not to think of the singer’s 26-year marriage to his wife Marcia, which ended amicably in divorce in 1995.

Hit the jump to keep travelling down Melody Road!

The album’s most offbeat moment is “Seongah and Jimmy,” another song that seems to have great personal resonance for Diamond. A cross-cultural love story (she’s from Korea, he’s from Long Island) set in his native Brooklyn, the lengthy composition features some of his most oddly specific lyrics: “She wants her masters/He helps her study/He has a toothache/She finds a dentist/He says, I love you/She knows he means it.” The effect almost takes the listener out of the song, yet it’s clear that Diamond is trying to find the poetry in the mundane as he paints a vivid picture of the daily existence of his two characters. “Love happens in Brooklyn,” he concludes. “I lived there long ago, and nothing’s changed,” he asserts over a bed of strings and laconic horns that eventually explode into a grandiosity otherwise absent from the album. The earnest song isn’t wholly fulfilling, but it brings into sharp focus Diamond’s ambitions for Melody Road and its musings on the faces of love in all its many forms.

Before the closing reprise of “Melody Road,” Diamond offers a stately, low-key rumination on “The Art of Love.” When he sings in wizened tones, “The art of love is who you share it with,” there’s no doubt he’s sharing a belief in which he’s invested. The songs on Melody Road certainly seem interconnected enough to form a suite, and “The Art of Love” restates the theme with restrained eloquence. By the album’s conclusion, it’s hard not to share in Diamond’s happiness and bright outlook, and indeed, many of these melodies are take-home tunes that instantly lodge in the brain and refuse to leave.

What path will Neil Diamond travel after Melody Road? It’s difficult to tell. On this big-hearted record, he’s found a happy medium between the unembellished, solemn beauty of his earliest years and the glittery grand scale of his most anthemic songs. But whichever Diamond you prefer, a trip down Melody Road should beckon you.

Melody Road can be ordered at Amazon U.S. and Amazon U.K.!

Categories: Reviews Formats: CD Genre: Pop Tags: Neil Diamond

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Joe Marchese

JOE MARCHESE (Editor) joined The Second Disc shortly after its launch in early 2010, and has since penned daily news and reviews about classic music of all genres. In 2015, Joe formed the Second Disc Records label. Celebrating the great songwriters, producers and artists who created the sound of American popular song, Second Disc Records, in conjunction with Real Gone Music, has released newly-curated collections produced by Joe from iconic artists such as Johnny Mathis, Bobby Darin, Laura Nyro, Melissa Manchester, Chet Atkins, and many others. He has contributed liner notes to reissues from a diverse array of artists, among them Nat "King" Cole, Paul Williams, Lesley Gore, Dusty Springfield, B.J. Thomas, The 5th Dimension, Burt Bacharach, The Mamas and the Papas, Carpenters, Perry Como, Rod McKuen, Doris Day, Jackie DeShannon, and Andy Williams, and has compiled releases for talents including Robert Goulet and Keith Allison of Paul Revere and the Raiders. Over the past two decades, Joe has also worked in a variety of capacities on and off Broadway as well as at some of the premier theatres in the U.S., including Lincoln Center Theater, George Street Playhouse, Paper Mill Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre, and the York Theatre Company. He has felt privileged to work on productions alongside artists such as the late Jack Klugman, Eli Wallach, Arthur Laurents, Betty Comden and Adolph Green. In 2009, Joe began contributing theatre and music reviews to the print publication The Sondheim Review, and in 2012, he joined the staff of The Digital Bits as a regular contributor writing about film and television on DVD and Blu-ray. Joe currently resides in the suburbs of New York City.

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Comments

  1. James Gooch says

    October 21, 2014 at 2:47 pm

    The version they sell at Target has two bonus tracks, "Something" (George Harrison/The Beatles) and "Remember" (Nilsson).

    Reply
  2. Dorman Shindler says

    November 6, 2014 at 6:40 am

    It's nice to read another review from the that doesn't give this album and Diamond short shrift (unlike those by "Rolling Stone", etc.), doling out lukewarm "three-star" ratings. And it's good to see some reviewers glomming the over-riding, and obvious, themes of the album: Diamond's ongoing relationship with his musical muse ("Melody Road", "First Time", "Alone at the Ball") and the transcendent power of love (obviously in the upbeat, lighter tunes like "Sunny Disposition" and "Something Blue", but most especially in songs like "Nothing But a Heartache" and "The Art of Love"). And it's good to read another review that recognizes the melding of the "Rubin" school of producing with what Diamond was doing all along (orchestration and a wide variety of instrumentation), as well as the fact that he has, once again, attempted a bit of musical stretching of his wings (the distinctly Polynesian rhythms and such from "Ooo Do I Wanna Be Yours" -- imagine a ukulele instead of a guitar playing -- to the purposely operatic devices of "Seongah and Jimmy" -- a mixing of the mundane and the miraculous; the litanies; etc -- to the Dixieland stylings at the end of "Marry Me Now").

    Diamond hasn't put out that many albums wherein only HE wrote all -- or at least most -- of the songs, and of those, only two or three ("Taproot Manuscript", "Beautiful Noise", "Home Before Dark") have strong thematic elements running through them. "Melody Road" definitely fits well in that rarefied company in Diamond's oeuvre. And I'm certain that -- because of a pre-set bias from most reviewers, and not a few fans -- it will likely be looked upon as one of his most under-rated albums.

    Reply

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