The World Forgot

Gone are the days when Neil Diamond was simply another joke preforming a charade of a show out in Vegas. His fall from grace left him seeming locked into sequins and shows packed with an ever gentrifying audience {or the younger set crowding in like so many children catching a glimpse of the bearded lady}. Fortunately, as the story goes, along came Rick Rubin. Rubin put his trademark stripped down on Neil Diamond’s previous effort, 12 Songs, encouraging the aging trobadour to pick up a guitar and actually write and preform his own music again. I loved that album and I love Neil’s latest effort, Home Before Dark (amazon) (iTunes), even more.

Where 12 Songs stripped Neil down to his most basic instincts Home Before Dark gives him room to play. The sounds found here are bigger and speak more of the cannon of Neil’s career. It reminds me a lot of the later work of Johnny Cash, also produced by Rick Rubin, in that it at times is intensely autobiographical while at the same time there seems to be an overarching sense of age infused into every lyric. This album is a bit less restrained than 12 Songs, and although some of the songs found here are simple, there are times when the full flavor of Neil Diamond, from folk hero to Vegas burnout, shines through and shines through gloriously.

mp3 : Neil Diamond - One More Bite of The Apple
mp3 : Neil Diamond - The Power of Two

It feels like the perfect album to listen to around the campfire, on a rainy road, or in the basement with some friends, drinking some cold ones and talking about remember when. From start to finish it’s another solid effort. {And I must add, of all the aging rockers, Neil Diamond is the most senatorial in appearance. He’s simply aged with grace, despite the shenanigans.}

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