Neil Diamond: Sweet Caroline: Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show (Japanese Pressing) CD Track Listing

A list by checkmate

Neil Diamond Sweet Caroline: Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show (Japanese Pressing) (1969)
Sweet Caroline: Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show (Japanese Pressing)\n\nOriginally Released April 1969\nCD Edition Released June 1987\n\nAMG EXPERT REVIEW: Neil Diamond's second album for Uni offered the typical strengths and weaknesses of his LPs for the label. The strengths? A good single (the title track) and a rather remarkable stylistic diversity. The weaknesses? The failure of any of the other tracks to stand out nearly as much as the single, and the feeling that sometimes Diamond was doing something just to prove he could do it, without the quality material to justify the experimentation. Although taken by itself almost any track sounds normal, running all together the record sounds kind of weird. There's a rather respectable Dion-esque bluesy groove on "Dig In" (cool stuttering organ on this one); "River Runs, New Grown Plums" has the stop-start rhythm and crisp AM production of earlier singles like "Kentucky Woman," but isn't as strong a tune. Less impressively, "Long Gone" is tinged with country-rock; "And the Grass Won't Pay No Mind" and "Juliet" are above-average MOR pop; "Hurtin' You Don't Come Easy" is introspective singer/songwriting; and "You're So Sweet Horseflies Keep Hangin' 'Round Your Face" is dumb country satire. At other points, it just sounds like his late-'60s singles, without being strong enough to justify inclusion on a 45. The album was improved considerably when the hit "Sweet Caroline" was added after its initial release, and the title changed to Sweet Caroline: Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show. -- Richie Unterberger \n \n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nSimple, but More Genuine, March 30, 2001\nReviewer: Nathan Southern (Santa Monica, CA)\nThis isn't a tremendous or exceptional album-- but it manages to be consistently enjoyable and fun. The simplicity of the songs, both thematically (new love, wandering throughout the country, revival preaching), and instrumentally (classical guitar, drums, faint strings, moog) blend perfectly with Neil's deep, raspy, impassioned voice. Throughout, the album clearly showcases the early Diamond's inborn talent for song composition. \n\nListeners may be surprised to discover that the album doesn't rely heavily on filler, all of the songs on par with the two title numbers (the AM radio staples "Sweet Caroline" and "Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show"). A few numbers (notably "Juliet" and "Deep in the Morning") arguably stick in the mind longer than the overplayed, three-chord title tracks. \n\nIf "Sweet Caroline/Brother Love's" falls through or wears thin with repetition, it only happens when one considers the fascinating, eclectic, groundbreaking musical experimentation that began to emerge in 1969. Instrumentally, this album could never stand up, for instance, to "Abbey Road" or "Tommy" -- it isn't as sophisticated. It's more lighthearted, more breezy and fleeting. But Diamond perfectly captures an idiosyncratic, late sixties, middle American flavor so much more clearly than his rock contemporaries (just as Sergio Mendes does, in a much different way) -- that he establishes a more genuine sound and a more believable record of how it felt to come-of-age in 1969-1970. \n\nHighly recommended for Diamond fans, and those interested in the late sixties and/or the late Brill Building period.\n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nFor Neil Diamond, Good Times Never Seemed So Good!, September 22, 2000\nReviewer: David Hugaert (Honolulu, HI United States)\nWhere it began for Neil Diamond...the Brill Building, Bang Records, then leading up to the Uni years, beginning with "Velvet Gloves And Spit". Next in line is "Sweet Caroline/Brother Love's". Each and every song here was written by Neil, and all of them are favorites! The best here are probably "Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show", "Dig In", "Long Gone", "And The Grass Won't Pay No Mind", "Glory Road", "Deep In The Morning", "If I Never Knew Your Name", "Memphis Streets" and "Sweet Caroline". If you're a Neil Diamond fan, or just an incurable romantic, this CD is for you. Don't delay, buy it today!\n\n\nHalf.com Album Notes\nProducers: Chips Moman, Neil Diamond, Tom Cataland, Tommy Cogsbill.\n\nAlso available with "Touching You, Touching Me" on 1 cassette.\n\nThis early Neil Diamond record offers a nice glimpse into the singer/songwriter's developing craft. Released in 1969 on the heels of his first Top 40 hit, "Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show" (the lead-off track here), SWEET CAROLINE is somewhat rootsier than many of Diamond's later releases. Intimate, introspective ballads such as "Juliet" are placed alongside acoustic, R&B-flavored numbers like "Dig In" (which sounds like it might have been the result of an informal jam session), though the whole is unified by an understated, rhythmic mood.\n\nBy and large, SWEET CAROLINE bears the influence of the late-'60s folk-rock boom, with a focus on Diamond's songwriting, playing, and singing. Still, there is evidence of the dramatic flair that would characterize the artist's later work on cuts like "And the Grass Won't Pay No Mind" with its string-enhanced arrangements, backup vocals, and building crescendos. Country parody ("You're So Sweet, Horseflies Keep Hangin' Round Your Face") notwithstanding, one can hear Diamond developing his later persona here, especially on the dynamic "Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show" and the title track (which was added to the album, along with its new title, at a later pressing).
This rock cd contains 13 tracks and runs 40min 12sec.
Freedb: b5096a0d
Buy: from Amazon.com

Categories

Latest lists

Neil Diamond: Sweet Caroline: Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show (Japanese Pressing) CD Track Listing

Category

Tags

cyList

Legal