Neil Diamond: Tap Root Manuscript CD Track Listing

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Neil Diamond Tap Root Manuscript (1972)
Originally Released 1970\nCD Edition Released ??\n\nAMG EXPERT REVIEW: The follow-up to Touching You, Touching Me was an ambitious set of songs, all originals except for a Top 20 cover of "He Ain't Heavy...He's My Brother," including the side-long suite "The African Trilogy" (which featured the hit "Soolaimon"), the number one hit "Cracklin' Rosie," and "Done Too Soon." Going gold within two months, this album confirmed Diamond's breakthrough as a recording star. -- William Ruhlmann \n \nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nA Legend In His Own Time., November 7, 2005\nReviewer: Betty Burks (Knoxville, TN)\nOn CBS Sunday Morning, I learned that it is not 'hip' to be a Neil Diamond fan, and never has been. He claims to be the original 'outsider' (Rodney Crowell is the newest one), and likes it that way. We wandered back to the little dumpy club in New York where he got his start at $50 a night performance. \n\nThe summer I visited my son's 'family' in Chicago, he asked if I liked Neil Diamond and was surprised when I admitted that I do. My introduction to this incredible songwriter was the movie, 'Jonathan Livingston Seagull' and then along came his rendition of 'The Jazz Singer,' which I loved. Now, he has out a new CD, 'Twelve Songs' with the way he sounds today -- not much different from the early years. I missed his rock songs as I was never into the rock music scene with the drugs and confusion. My music of choice was pop with the baritone Eddie Fisher. Neil still has his melodious baritone (though strained) sounds and is as good now as he was forty years ago.\n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nNeil Diamond At His Absolute Best, December 8, 2004\nReviewer: GregCnAZ "Greg" (Phoenix, AZ USA)\nIn my opinion, this is THE best Neil Diamond album ever recorded. "Stones" and "Moods" were close with many of the same production values, but "TRM" could not be topped. My first exposure to this album was when I was 10. My aunt and uncle had just purchased a new set of stereo components and they loved playing this album for those who had never heard it before. When I first heard Neil's amazing voice, the incredible orchestral arrangements by Lee Holdridge, and the experimental concept of "The African Trilogy", I at my young age never knew music could sound so good. Though some may argue the point, I believe this album sounds just as good today as it did in 1970. There's not much music around today that can claim that. \n\nMost people are familiar with the two big singles from this album, Cracklin' Rosie and Soolaimon. But, if you've never heard "Tap Root Manuscript" from beginning to end, you owe it to yourself to add this to your collection. True, the CD doesn't have all the cool packaging of the original album, but the music is there and intact. \n\nHey MCA, how about a 25th Anniversary edition of "TPR" for 2005 with all the original artwork and liner notes restored?! I'm sure I'm not the only ND fan that would snatch that one up in a second. \n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nTaps musical, childhood roots, April 8, 2004\nReviewer: J. Marsh (Missouri, USA)\n\nI was born in late 1969, and my parents must have bought this album shortly thereafter, for I have always known it. These songs are interwoven into my earliest memories. Consequently, it's probably not possible to write an entirely objective review. But I think my judgment may have matured to the point where I can separate at least some of the musical wheat from the chaff of my childhood. \nThis album was obviously a labor of love for Neil Diamond. Everything about it was lovingly wrought, including the packaging. In fact, my only complaint about the CD reissue is the loss of the gorgeous design work of art director John C. Le Prevost, designer Virginia Clark, photographers Jim Metropole and Larry Bartome, and calligrapher Jonzarr Haber. The original album cover had a satisfying heft to it, being printed on incredibly heavy, textured stock. Although it housed a single record, it folded out like a double album, revealing the other half of the moody, introspective photograph that began on the front cover and continued on like a Cinerama movie screen. Included inside was a booklet, printed on fine writing paper, supplying the lyrics for 'Childsong,' 'I Am The Lion,' 'Soolaimon,' and 'Missa' (in both English and Swahili) in earthy sepia calligraphy. Additionally, it included Neil Diamond's own explanation of the concept of the album: \n\n"When rhythm and blues lost its sensuality for me I fell in love with a woman named gospel. We met secretly in the churches of Harlem, and made love at revival meetings in Mississippi. And loving her as I did, I found a great yearning to know of her roots. And I found them. And they were in Africa. And they left me breathless. The African Trilogy is an attempt to convey my passion for the folk music of that black continent. -n.d." \n\nSadly, this inscription and the other extras were left off of the reissue CD. Gone are the printed lyrics, the quality paper, the calligraphy, the credits, and all the other features that gave 'Tap Root Manuscript' its air of earnest dignity. The CD merely has a glossy photo of the front cover. Gone is the other half of the photograph. The spine is generic. There are no liner notes, and inside is a jarringly anachronistic and graphically ugly advertisement listing other MCA artists. If I were Neil Diamond, I would be peeved. Heck, I'm not Neil Diamond and I'm still peeved.\n\nNonetheless, the music remains, and what others have said above is true. 'Tap Root Manuscript' beat Paul Simon's 'Graceland' to the punch by a good 15 years. It also foreshadowed David Byrne's Brazilian epic, 'Rei Momo.' But neither Byrne nor Simon were brave enough or honest enough to include something as overtly Christian as 'Missa' (in English, "Christ, Christ, Christ, I shall meet him... A child has been born. Christ, gloria.") Neil Diamond remains the only artist to acknowledge the explosion of Christianity in Africa and to link it to American gospel music, though at times 'African Trilogy' sounds more like traditional choral music and chant than gospel.\n\nOn another technical note, I am grateful that the CD returns to the original continuity of the album. Like the Sergeant Pepper album, some of the songs on of 'Tap Root Manuscript' were contiguous, without the standard five seconds or so of silence in between. When MCA released the cassette version, they arbitrarily stuck in some pauses that didn't belong, with a result that sounded careless and disjointed. The CD version wisely restores the original, continuous format. \n\nThis is one of the few albums I own that is good all the way through. It is also one of the very few that seems to appeal to all generations. My boomer parents, my classically trained wife, my 70-year-old mother-in-law, and my Radiohead-loving brother all have embraced it. \n\nI recently played 'I Am the Lion' for my three-year-old daughter, and it captured her imagination with an immediacy that echoed the me I must have been thirty years ago. I had forgotten all about that. It's sort of nice to be able to recapture it.\n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nA Modern Concerto, January 19, 2004\nReviewer: James R. Whalen (Fairfax, VA)\nThis may be my all time favorite album. I originally had the vinyl which is now replaced by a CD. This is beautiful music to listen to on many occasions, particularly the old "side 2". The musical themes cycle through the whole album and reappear under haunting and different circumstances. If you like the way classical composers weave in and out of different mucical themes and instrumentation, you'll love Neil Diamond's explorations of several patterns in this album. Some seem based upon African music which I generally don't appreciate. But this album is an exception. I think the greatest appreciation of it comes from listening to the whole thing at once. It'll give you goosebumps.\n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nLove it, but puzzled with the Kiswahili, October 1, 2002\nReviewer: Lawrence A. Barr (Indiana, PA USA)\nWe first owned and listened to this album while living in Kenya. So of course we loved the African parts! I am wondering if anyone connected with Neil Diamond would know where he got the words of "Missa". There are a few errors that I can explain, but one I can't: "mtoto mazaliwa" should be "mtoto amezaliwa" (a child is born). I am wondering if the meter demanded the shortened form, which would be "mtoto 'mezaliwa." Anyone know?\n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nIntriguing Experimental Neil Diamond Album!, July 17, 2002\nReviewer: Barron Laycock "Labradorman" (Temple, New Hampshire United States)\nAt the time of his greatest popularity, Neil Diamond was quite experimental in some of his albums, which boldly showed his unusual willingness to take chances in pursuit of broadening his musical abilities and interests. This album, "Tap Root Manuscript", was the result of one such effort to experiment with African sounds and instruments, and one which paid off in terms of his commercial success and also with a number of top ten hits coming directly from the album. Some of the songs, like "Crackling Rosie", were not part of the concept, while others such as "Soolaimon", definitely were. At any rate, the combination of the two aspects of the album made for a number one Billboard rating. \nIncluded here are other popular songs like "Done Too Soon", and a cover of "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother". I especially like the whole African song cycle, from "Childsong" through its reprise at the end of the album. "I am The Lion", "Madrigal", and "African Suite" are all interesting and quite innovative for the late 1960s time frame of the original recording. This was a trend-setting album and another notch in the growing body of recordings Diamond produced in his reign as one of America's favorite singer-songwriters of the 1960s and 1970s. Enjoy!\n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nGood-pretty good album, worth buying, December 28, 2000\nReviewer: Richard R McGraw "helpmeimdying" (Newburgh, NY USA)\nThere is something unique about Neil Diamond and he seems to be harnessing this uniquness very well on this album. This album demonstrates his ability to write really catchy songs and very mystical profound, moving songs. The album does fall short with a few average songs, some long winded instrumentals and some expermentions with African music that seem but aimless. These "songs" are still beautiful though, even if I don't have patients for them. I don't like the specific references to people used in the song "Done too soon" a style exemplified by Billy Joels "We didn't start the Fire". But the song ends with a very pretty universal tone. "Coldwater morning" is one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard. With classics like Crakling Rosie, He's not Heavy, and strong songs like solomain and the fun "I am the lion", and the strange "childsong" added to this the experimental and beautiful production, This album is worth buying. I give it 3 1/2 out of five stars.\n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nLong before Graceland there was this, September 10, 2000\nReviewer: Stephen Lloyd (London, England) \nThis was an brave album in 1970 - mixing a side of what would now be called "classic Diamond" with a side of African concept music. It works in a way I doubt anyone expected. Side one contains the amazing "Coldwater Morning" which is still one of his best ballads, "Done too Soon" - again long before Billy Joel lit his fire along a similar vein - the laid back jazzy "Free Life" and global smash "Cracklin Rosie". Weakest is his version of "He Ain' Heavy" - lost amongst the 1000s who have now covered that. Side two fits together like a glove and a hand, wonderful in concept and execution. Hard to describe, just brilliant. This was one hard album to follow.\n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nBest Neil Diamond album...ever!, August 31, 2000\nReviewer: David Hugaert (Honolulu, HI United States)\nWhat makes this CD such a joy to listen to is the musical arrangement of the songs and the catchy lyrics. The instrumentals "Madrigal", "Missa", and "African Suite", give this CD a "progressive-rock" feel to it. Very creative! "Childsong" and "I Am The Lion" are wonderful arrangments as well. Let's not forget the hit "Cracklin' Rosie", which Neil says the inspration of this song came from him visiting an Indian Reservation in Canada, where the natives were lonely on Saturday nights and drank "Cracklin' Rose" Wine (aka Muscatel). The song "Free Life" can pertain to an existence with no worries, and just feeling carefree, which is the way you'll feel when you listen to this CD. Please enjoy!\n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nJoyous Moments, August 30, 2000\nReviewer: swilson_76@hotmail.com (Dallas, TX)\nCall me blessed - in my childhood, my dad "made" me listen to Neil and I thank him for it. One day he played this and I heard the kids singing about a lion and I was hooked. Whenever I feel a bit down, I play this album and immediately my spirit is lifted up. How can it not? The songs, especially "Soolaimon," express such joy, passion, and a sense of musical freedom, that one can get, and often does, caught up in the moment Neil created with song. I think this album is ahead of its time using African influences and styles. Its no wonder I also love Paul Simon's Graceland. The simular expression in the music is beautiful. If you are a Diamond fan, this one MUST be in your collection.\n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nDelightfully different Diamond, May 5, 2000\nReviewer: Eric V. Moye (Dallas, by way of Gotham)\nThis was such a departure from the Brill Building tunes! Neil Diamond so dominated the sixties with song after wonderful song. This album has included a few of his 'traditional' pieces here to satisfy the fan who wants the music the way it had been. The commerically popular include "Cracklin Rosie" and "Done Too Soon" and his emotive "He Ain't Heavy". \nThe magic, though, comes on side two with "The African Trilogy". I, too could have done without the sound effects, but they do not distract me too much (not like the critic) from the wonderfully gentle and passionate music. Almost a full decade before Paul Simon discovered the beautiful sounds of Soweto in Graceland or Brasilia in Rhythm of the Saints, N.D. was way out in front of the pack.\n\nI had been too many years without hearing this album. It was immediately as comfortable and familiar as a lover's embrace.\n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nA far cry from Africa, September 17, 1999\nReviewer: Peter Letheby (Adelaide, South Australia Australia)\nDiamond's best work pre-dated the mega successes of "Hot August Night" and "Moods", as evidenced by this concept album of pastiche African tribal rhythms (years before "Graceland") and good old fashioned Brill Building pop. "Soolaimon", one of Diamond's best hits of 1970, heralds the Africana theme with its pulsating rhythms and primal scream - "God of my want, want, want; Lord of my need, need, need". "Done Too Soon" and "Free Life" represent Diamond at his most compelling - sharply drawn, yet poignant, parables about the complex nature of the human condition.\n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nDiamond is Bacchus incarnate, June 15, 1999\nReviewer: warthog@lamar.colostate.edu ((peregrine, no location))\nThis album is structured around a saccharine lattice, but all the better: form dissolves, cannot contain the hot liquid passion that is Neil Diamond. His voice slips deep into our darkest psychic cheese and holds it in front of us, sohwing us a heart we thought was hollow is as full as a thanksgiving fon-du pot...\n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nNon-traditional Diamond, you will be pleasantly surprised, December 21, 1998\nReviewer: A music fan\nThis one's different from all the rest. Turn OFF your Heartlight and listen to some real Diamond music. Give The African Trilogy a try, I bet you'll like it.\n\n\nHalf.com Details \nProducer: Neil Diamond, Tom Catalano \n\nAlbum Notes\nHalf a straight-ahead pop album and half an exotic song cycle centered on a musical portrait of Africa, TAP ROOT MANUSCRIPT provides prime examples both of Neil Diamond's superlative way with a pop song in the classic "Cracklin' Rosie," and of his ambitious artistic leanings in most of the album's second half. Blending African rhythms and Christian imagery was obviously no problem for this Jewish singer-songwriter from Coney Island, as shown by songs like the LION KING precursor "Soolaimon" and the majestic, gospel-influenced "Missa," while the children's choruses on "Childsong" and "I Am the Lion" are utterly charming.\n\nIndustry Reviews\n...a half step at being artistic....The only trouble is, I haven't any idea who would want to listen to it. Certainly not the audience he has...\nRolling Stone (04/01/1971)\n\n\nROLLING STONE REVIEW\nIf groups are a thing of the past, and the solo artist has again come into prominence, then maybe Neil Diamond's time has come.\n\nIt's not that he hasn't achieved success in his field. Once a young kid from Coney Island, turned down by every music publisher in New York, he turned out a string of top-selling singles that fairly rivals John Fogerty, and probably made a lot of music business people wish they had listened earlier. He set out to conquer the industry, and he did it. First as a writer, then as a singer of his own material.\n\nBut Diamond has always aimed at a fairly teenybop audience. And, now he isn't satisfied. He wants to be an artist. Since, presumably, no one is an artist on 45s, and since his albums have never been more than assemblages of singles that made it and singles that didn't, he's tried something different with his last two albums. One was successful, and one wasn't. I doubt that either will afford him recognition beyond which he holds. But, maybe.\n\nHis latest album, Tap Root Manuscript, is a half step at being Artistic.\n\nSide One is the usual a couple of dynamite singles and a couple of not-so-hot singles. "Cracklin' Rosie," which made it to number one nationally, is excellent Neil Diamond. Named after the wine of the same name ("Cracklin' Rose, you're a store-bought woman") Rosie's a good chick. Diamond isn't afraid to throw in a little early-Sixties schmaltz. He has thoroughly bypassed, or ignored "rock" progressive or otherwise. He's chosen to go ahead with straight pop. But, two things set him apart from, say, Bobby Vee. One is that he has a really knockout voice once it might have been called a "strong baritone." And two, he's deeply involved with the music he writes.\n\n"He Ain't Heavy...He's My Brother," one of the only songs Diamond has recorded that he didn't write, is a good example of the straight-on soul that Neil Diamond can sing. "Free Life" is another good cut, although it hasn't made it on Top-40. "Done Too Soon" is one of the duds. Reminiscent of Paul Simon's "A Simple Desultory Phillipic," it's just a rhyming list of famous, groovy people who were ahead of their time done too soon.\n\nSide Two is the Artistry, open to question. This is The African Trilogy (a folk ballet). It's a varied and ambitious work. Here is the written introduction:\n\n"When rhythm and blues lost its sensuality for me I fell in love with a woman named gospel. We met secretly in the churches of Harlem and made love at revival meetings in Mississippi.\n\n"And loving her as I did. I found a great yearning to know her roots. And I found them. And they were in Africa. And they left me breathless.\n\n"The African triology is an attempt to convey my passion for the folk music of that black continent."\n\nI know you're laughing. The strange thing is, it's not that bad a piece of music. It's certainly far less pretentious than its introduction. The worst of it has been identified as: "wimoweh" off-key, the "Missa Luba" by Doc Severinsen, or the sound track to Elephant Walk. In its better parts, though, it's quite charming children's chorus, interpretations of African music and the like. The only trouble is, I haven't any idea who would want to listen to it. Certainly not the audience he has. No one interested in African ballet. Freaks leave the room when it's on. But then again the Moody Blues got rich off stuff that's sillier than this. If somebody gives you a copy, listen to it, but I wouldn't recommend your blowing your dope money on it.\n\nNeil Diamond Gold, on the other hand, is probably his best album. He already has a Greatest Hits album on Bang, his first label. But, this record is all his best songs, from early and late, with something added. Gold is recorded live and he comes across much better on this record than he does on his singles.\n\nThe singles have a tendency to be overproduced. Gold has guitar, bass, and drums, with some backup singing. It does the world for him. He's forced to add a little more to his voice and it's worth it, even if it produces some excess. His looseness reveals a potent singer.\n\nThe version of "Kentucky Woman" he does is the best one I've ever heard. In fact, all his get-it-on songs, "Thank The Lord For the Nightime," "Sweet Caroline," "Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show" sound better for being reduced to a kind of whoop and holler presentation. It's not the kind of record you'd want to play all the time. Neil Diamond is not a singer of great depth, nor is his music many-faceted. But, frequently, it just hits the spot.\n\nThe slow stuff on Gold is very pretty: "And The Singer Sings His Song" and "Solitary Man" have the straightforward approach of country music. It's unabashed sentiment and you have to be willing to meet the singer halfway. Sometimes, his excesses are too much. "Cherry Cherry" is unconvincing emotion and he murders "Both Sides Now." But, those are exceptions. All in all, Gold is a record I've had for quite a few months, played fairly often, and plan on keeping. Unless you hate Neil Diamond, and a few people do, it's definitely worthwhile. Fspecially side two.\n\nNeil Diamond is a talented song writer and an excellent singer, but he is limited. I can understand his wanting to go past Top-40 writing, but, by overreaching himself, as he does on African Triology, he'll keep himself in Top-40. Whatever his moves, I hope he keeps writing singles. They're among the best there are. (RS 79 - Apr 1, 1971) -- AIEC DEBRO
This rock cd contains 12 tracks and runs 35min 51sec.
Freedb: a708650c
Buy: from Amazon.com

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