Back when I was eleven or so there were two tapes that got played all the time when I was either going back to school or leaving school on a Friday for home. One was The Singles 1969-73 (The Carpenters) and the other, Neil Diamond's Hot August Night - a live album. This whole concert is one of my favourites.
You get this classical music opening that for me is akin to the use of Stravinsky in Nocturne (Siouxsie and The Banshees) with Rites Of Spring and The Firebird Suite which opens Yessongs (Yes). The opener here, Prologue fuses so well into Crunchy Granola Suite and the rest as they say, is history. Talking of history, here's a little about Neil...
Born in Brooklyn, New York, on January 24, 1941, Neil Diamond began writing songs while studying at New York University. His own hits include "Sweet Caroline," "America" and "Heartlight." He also wrote "I'm A Believer" performed by The Monkees, and his song "Red, Red Wine" was a big hit for band UB40 in 1983. Diamond's recent albums include 12 Songs (2005) and Home Before Dark (2008).
The son of a shop owner, Diamond spent most of his youth in Brooklyn. He did live in Wyoming for a time while his father served in the military. Diamond got his first guitar at age 16. Before long, he began writing his own songs. Diamond landed a fencing scholarship to New York University. While a premed student at the university, he continued to pursue his interest in music. Neil Diamond is currently 75 years young.