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Editorial Review:
Remarkably Home Before Dark is the first US chart topping album of Neil Diamond's forty year career. It appears to repeat the formula behind 2006's acclaimed 12 Songs--relatively understated arrangements and a subtle Rick Rubin production. But Diamond, though sixty-seven years old and the oldest recipient of a Number One so far, is no Johnny Cash, turning his unique voice to some well chosen contemporary material. Instead Home Before Dark is a collection of new Diamond songs, and though they might not match the boomers in his back catalogue they are hardly stripped back. These are songs designed to fill large venues alongside the showstoppers in Diamond's still energetic live show. "Pretty Amazing Grace" is in the great tradition of Diamond songs that defy their corniness with sheer catchiness, as is "One More Bite of the Apple" while "Don't Go There" features bracing backing vocals and a delightfully dated wobbly guitar hook. The duet with Natalie Maines, "Another Day (That Time Forgot)", would fit comfortably on American country radio while "The Power of Two" sounds like another hit in waiting. In fact this is more a conventional Diamond collection than a Rick Rubin production, dominated by lightly understated country rock arrangements played by a crack team including Smokey Hormel, Heartbreakers Benmont Tench and Mike Campbell and the usually experimental Matt Sweeney. This is a charming and consistently solid set, though Home Before Dark does lack the unexpected intensity that made 12 Songs stand out so. -—Steve Jelbert
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
I Know Why You Are Here.... Look, I know what's going on here. Like most of us you've been long aware of Neil Diamond - perhaps secretly admired him even - and can belt out 'Sweet Caroline' and 'Cracklin' Rosie' with the best of them when you hear it on the car radio, but you never thought you'd actually shell out and buy one of his albums being as it would sit in your CD collection amongst the 'D's' of Dylan, Drake etc. But then...but then... A few years back you started seeing strange reviews in your favourite music magazine or... more info
Born again Diamond fan I had not really thought about or listened to ND for many years. Then seeing him on a TV programme promoting Home Before Dark I was truly smitten. I bought the CD and was blown away by the songs. This prompted me to buy more. Hot August Night being one and I realised I had missed out on a lot over the years by not listening to him.
I can truly say I am a born again Diamond fan and can't wait for the next album.
Diamond Gold It is not hard to see why Neil stopped making music for so many years, I mean let's face it, any new material he puts out will be compared with his humungous back catalogue of popular songs. The previous offereing '12 Songs' for instance was nice enough, but after playing it quite a bit at first, there wasn't anything to keep me coming back for more, so it's been collecting dust for the last year or so. 'Home Before Dark' however, is quite a different proposition. The album was being promoted with... more info
Nothing like as strong as 12 Songs Another new release, another raft (?) of 5 star Amazon customer reviews. Is it only me that feels that the majority of reviews on Amazon are given by die-hard fans who would give a 5 star review for a CD of their beloved artist breaking wind for 2 hours. The trouble is that this makes a mockery of the whole review process and ends up hindering rather than helping the average purchaser separating the Tom Waits CDs from the Robbie Williams CDs. The only solution I find is to look at all reviews by a... more info
Tracks:
If I Don't See You Again
Pretty Amazing Grace
Don't Go There
Another Day That Time Forgot (featuring Natalie Maines)
