Hot August Night

Hot August Night is a 1972 live double album by Neil Diamond^[1] ("Hot August night" is also the opening lyric to Diamond's 1969 single "Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show"). The album is a recording of a Diamond concert on August 24, 1972, one of ten sold-out concerts that Diamond performed that month at The Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. This also marks the first album released by the newly formed MCA Records (a merging of the Uni, Kapp, and Decca labels).^[2]

This album, and its predecessor album Moods, are generally acknowledged to be the two most important recording projects of Diamond's career in terms of defining his signature sound, and in the case of Hot August Night his live performance style, for the future.

Diamond later released two live "sequel" albums, Hot August Night II (1987) and Hot August Night/NYC (2009).

Australian reception

The album has become a great success for Diamond, and in Australia, it spent 29 weeks at number 1 on the album charts during 1973 and 1974. In 2003, Delta Goodrem with her Sony BMG-based album Innocent Eyes, also achieved number 1 on the Australian album chart for 29 weeks, thereby tying her with Neil Diamond.

It was the number one charting album in Australia for the 1970s, entering the Australian album charts in late 1972 and was still charting in the top 20 in 1976. It re-entered the Australian top 10 in 1982.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	^[3]
Robert Christgau	D+^[4]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	^[5]

In a contemporary review for Rolling Stone, music critic Lester Bangs called Hot August Night a "fine presentation of the entire spectrum" of Diamond's work and praised its music as "great, pretentious, goofy pop" with a melodramatic, "hymn-like feeling".^[6] In his review for Creem, Robert Christgau panned the album as a failed attempt at "bad art", and found Diamond's humor "sententious" and his country-western songs tasteless.^[4]

In a retrospective review, Allmusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine called Hot August Night "the ultimate Neil Diamond record ... [which] shows Diamond the icon in full glory."^[3] Rob Sheffield, writing in The Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), dubbed the album "the triumph of Neilness" and said that its music is slightly more "lax" than his studio recordings, but "festive".^[5]

Track listing

All songs written by Neil Diamond, except "I Think It's Going to Rain Today" (Randy Newman)

1972 vinyl edition

Side one
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Prologue"	3:07
2.	"Crunchy Granola Suite"	4:26
3.	"Done Too Soon"	3:22
4.	"Dialogue"	1:22
5.	"Solitary Man"	3:14
6.	"Cherry, Cherry"	4:43
7.	"Sweet Caroline"	4:06

Side two
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Porcupine Pie"	1:51
2.	"You're So Sweet"	2:17
3.	"Red Red Wine"	3:56
4.	"Soggy Pretzels"	3:24
5.	"And the Grass Won't Pay No Mind"	4:39
6.	"Shilo"	3:35
7.	"Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon"	2:48

Side three
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Play Me"	4:43
2.	"Canta Libre"	5:28
3.	"Morningside"	5:35
4.	"Song Sung Blue"	4:53
5.	"Cracklin' Rosie"	2:45

Side four
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Holly Holy"	6:18
2.	"I Am... I Said"	6:09
3.	"Soolaimon" / "Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show"	9:36

2000 compact disc release

Disc one
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Prologue"	3:07
2.	"Crunchy Granola Suite"	4:26
3.	"Done Too Soon"	3:22
4.	"Dialogue"	1:22
5.	"Solitary Man"	3:14
6.	"Cherry, Cherry"	4:43
7.	"Sweet Caroline"	4:06
8.	"Porcupine Pie"	1:51
9.	"You're So Sweet"	2:17
10.	"Red, Red Wine"	3:56
11.	"Soggy Pretzels"	3:24
12.	"And the Grass Won't Pay No Mind"	4:39
13.	"Shilo"	3:35
14.	"Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon"	2:48
15.	"Walk On Water" (bonus track)	3:30
16.	"Kentucky Woman" (bonus track)	2:01
17.	"Stones" (bonus track)	3:59

Disc two
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Play Me"	4:43
2.	"Canta Libre"	5:28
3.	"Morningside"	5:35
4.	"Song Sung Blue"	4:53
5.	"Cracklin' Rosie"	2:45
6.	"Holly Holy"	6:18
7.	"I Am...I Said"	6:09
8.	"Soolaimon" / "Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show"	9:36

2012 40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition Compact Disc Release

Disc one
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Prologue"	3:07
2.	"Crunchy Granola Suite"	4:26
3.	"Done Too Soon"	3:22
4.	"Dialogue"	1:22
5.	"Solitary Man"	3:14
6.	"Cherry, Cherry"	4:43
7.	"Sweet Caroline"	4:06
8.	"Porcupine Pie"	1:51
9.	"You're So Sweet"	2:17
10.	"Red, Red Wine"	3:56
11.	"Soggy Pretzels"	3:24
12.	"Gitchy Goomy" (new bonus track)	3:49
13.	"And the Grass Won't Pay No Mind"	4:39
14.	"I Think It's Going to Rain Today" (new bonus track)	4:12
15.	"Shilo"	3:35
16.	"Modern Day Version of Love" (new bonus track)	3:31
17.	"Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon"	2:48
18.	"Walk On Water"	3:30
19.	"Kentucky Woman"	2:01
20.	"Stones"	3:59
21.	"Musician Intros" (new bonus track)	7:25

Disc two
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Play Me"	4:43
2.	"Canta Libre"	5:28
3.	"Morningside"	5:35
4.	"Song Sung Blue"	4:53
5.	"Cracklin' Rosie"	2:45
6.	"Holly Holy"	6:18
7.	"I Am... I Said"	6:09
8.	"Soolaimon" / "Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show"	9:36

Personnel

Neil Diamond — vocals and guitar
Richard Bennett — guitar
Danny Nicholson — guitar
Emory Gordy, Jr. — guitar and vibraphone
Alan Lindgren — keyboards
Reinie Press — bass
Dennis St. John — drums
Jefferson Kewley — percussion
String section — Sidney Sharp, Philip Candreva, Paulo Alencar, Baldassare Ferlazzo, Robert Lipsett, Haim Shtrum, Ron Folsom, Henry Ferber, Hyman Goodman, William Henderson, John DeVoogdt, Wilbert Nuttycombe, Jay Rosen, Walter Wiemeyer, Shari Zippert, Ralph Schaeffer, Tibor Zelig, Walter Rower, Salvatore Crimi, Richard Kaufman, David Turner (violins), Linn Subotnick, Philip Goldberg, Sven Reher, Myron Sandler, Marilyn Baker, Samuel Boghossian (violas), Jesse Ehrlich, Jerome Kessler, Raymond Kelley, Nathan Gershman, Alice Ober, Giacinto Nardulli (violoncelli), Timothy Barr, Jess Bourgeois, Don Bagley (bass violins)

Orchestra conducted by Lee Holdridge

Chart positions

Year	Chart	Position
1972	USA Billboard Album Top 200	5
1972	UK Album Chart	21
1973	Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart	1
1975	Dutch LP Top 50	14

References

↑ Diamond, Neil (December 9, 1972). Hot August Night (album). MCA records. MCA 2-8000.
↑ "MCA Records Announcement". Billboard Magazine. Billboard: 16–17. November 25, 1972. Retrieved August 21, 2015.
1 2 Thomas, Stephen. "Hot August Night - Neil Diamond". AllMusic. Retrieved 2012-01-11.
1 2 Christgau, Robert (March 1973). "The Christgau Consumer Guide". Creem. Retrieved April 21, 2013.
1 2 Sheffield, Rob; et al. (November 2, 2004). Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian, eds. The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 233–4. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
↑ Bangs, Lester (March 15, 1973). "Neil Diamond: Hot August Night". Rolling Stone. New York. Archived from the original on March 29, 2009. Retrieved April 21, 2013. CS1 maint: Unfit url (link)

External links

Hot August Night at Discogs (list of releases)
"The Night Neil Diamond Whanged His Clanger" by Steven Hyden

Preceded by Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player by Elton John	Australian Kent Music Report number-one album May 21 - June 3, 1973 June 25 - July 8, 1973 July 30 - November 25, 1973 December 24, 1973 - January 27, 1974 February 25 - March 17, 1974	Succeeded by Houses of the Holy by Led Zeppelin

Neil Diamond

Studio albums	The Feel of Neil Diamond Just for You Velvet Gloves and Spit Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show Touching You, Touching Me Tap Root Manuscript Stones Moods Serenade Beautiful Noise I'm Glad You're Here with Me Tonight You Don't Bring Me Flowers September Morn On the Way to the Sky Heartlight Primitive Headed for the Future The Best Years of Our Lives Lovescape The Christmas Album Up on the Roof: Songs from the Brill Building The Christmas Album, Volume II Tennessee Moon The Movie Album: As Time Goes By Three Chord Opera 12 Songs Home Before Dark A Cherry Cherry Christmas Dreams Melody Road

Soundtrack albums	Jonathan Livingston Seagull The Jazz Singer

Live albums	Gold: Recorded Live at the Troubadour Hot August Night Love at the Greek Hot August Night II Live in America Stages: Performances 1970–2002 Hot August Night/NYC

Compilation albums	Neil Diamond's Greatest Hits Shilo Do It! Double Gold Rainbow His 12 Greatest Hits And the Singer Sings His Song Early Classics 12 Greatest Hits, Vol. II Classics: The Early Years The Greatest Hits: 1966–1992 Glory Road: 1968 to 1972 In My Lifetime The Neil Diamond Collection Play Me: The Complete Uni Studio Recordings...Plus! The Essential Neil Diamond The Essential Neil Diamond 3.0

Concert tours	Melody Road Tour (2015)

Related articles	Discography Jonathan Livingston Seagull The Jazz Singer Saving Silverman

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