Neil Diamond "Hell Yeah" and "Captain of a Shipwreck"

Neil Diamond, known in this household as The Jewish Elvis, has become a retro-cultural touchstone in the past few years, owing in equal parts to the unironic presence of “Sweet Caroline” in the film Beautiful Girls (inspiring far too many unfortunate frat singalongs at local bars), a cameo in the otherwise vomit-inducing Saving Silverman, and Will Ferrell’s horrible yet hilarious re-imagining of the Jazz Singer as a drug-addled sociopath (”one time I did it with a dead guy”) on SNL. The D’s distinct, highly affected and dare I say, great singing style has been rendered anachronistic by today’s preference toward the un-refined, left to find much of its fan base in karaoke audiences. The new Rick Rubin-produced 12 Songs hopes to remedy this, by applying the same stark, sleek magic that propped up Johnny Cash for his final few years. Rubin uses the same brush on Neil, bringing his unique, slightly dark baritone (it’s like Leonard Cohen without, well, Leonard Cohen) to the fore and the surrounding instrumentation at a minimum. After one listen, I must say it works relatively well, but mostly to re-figure Neil Diamond as the second coming of Gordon Lightfoot. His voice still sounds like it’s attempting to reach the upper levels of Circus Circus, and the husky inflections are all the more prominent when only surrounded by piano and acoustic guitar. The drama is still there, but with a different supporting cast. Whether it can make hip the guy that once sang “The Pot Smoker’s Song” is another thing entirely.

“Hell Yeah” (mp3)
“Captain of a Shipwreck” (mp3)

Pre-order 12 Songs here, on delicious RIAA-approved copy-protected acetate.

Filed under: Neil Diamond