Diamond says love’s still a mystery
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Popular crooner … singer-songwriter Neil Diamond is back with a new album. Picture: AP
Source: AP
NEIL Diamond is “very much in love.”
The 73-year-old singer and songwriter married his manager Katie McNeil two years ago so it was no surprise he teased the release of his new album with the song The Art Of Love.
After a lifetime of relationships, which include three marriages, and a vast repertoire of love songs, Diamond could be expected to have accumulated some wisdom on the subject.
Yet the eternal romantic says it remains as much a mystery to him now as it did when he first started writing out of university and in New York’s famed hit factory, the Brill Buidling, in the 1960s.
“Well, I have always been a by romantic person, I wouldn’t call myself a realist at all,” he says from his Los Angeles home.
“Romance has always carried the day with me and it’s an unknowable subject. I don’t know why but I can’t tackle it, I haven’t solved it yet.”
While Diamond enjoyed early chart success as a songwriter when The Monkees recorded his tunes I’m A Believer and A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You, his own artistic breakthrough came with the lovelorn lament Solitary Man.
For all the celebratory good times of Sweet Caroline and Cherry Cherry, there has always been a deep vein of melancholy in Diamond’s music and Melody Road, his 32nd studio album in a five-decade career, also mines that rich emotional well.
After The Art Of Love, Diamond released the hauntingly grandiose single Nothing But A Heartache.
Diamond isn’t sure where such an intense song came from considering his current loved-up circumstances, even as he insists this is one of the most “intensely personal” albums of his career.
“I am still trying to understand it myself. I do know it’s very personal,” he says.
“I know that because it hurts when I sing it.”
Believer … Singer-songwriter Neil Diamond is in love but is still trying to understand it. Picture: AP
Source: AP
Even when cloaked in those trademark sequined shirts, a throwback to ‘70s showman schtick, Diamond has maintained an enviable authenticity thatstrikes a chord with fans and critics alike.
That sincerity is powerfully on display in the emotionally bare bones performance he delivers in the Nothing But a Heartache video.
Diamond says the video was a tough shoot because he hates miming.
“I had quite a bit of trouble doing that video because I am not very good at lip syncing,” he says.
“I would rather do it live. A matter of fact with The Jazz Singer many years ago, the usual way to do it in movies is to lip synch everything.
“But I told the director upfront that I was very bad at it so they agreed to do all the music live in that movie.”
Music legend … singer Neil Diamond in Sydney. Picture: Brad Hunter
Source: News Limited
Diamond’s previous two albums, 12 Songs and Home Before Dark, were produced by music guru Rick Rubin.
But Melody Road, his first new recordings in six years, was co-produced by the equally revered Don Was (Rolling Stones, The Highwaymen, John Mayer) and Jacknife Lee (U2, Snow Patrol, Bloc Party).
After 50 years in the studio, Diamond says he still needs a guiding hand.
“Don Was is a very warm, encouraging and friendly producer and I wanted that very badly for this album,” Diamond says.
“If I don’t have that encouragement, I feel I am singing into a void.
“I am not writing these tunes for my own amusement; I need someone there to tell me if it’s worthwhile.”
Up close … Neil Diamond has shared his personal feelings on his albums.
Source: Supplied
The other important sounding board is his 96-year-old mother Rose. Every album has to be run by her before its release.
But he knows sometimes her reactions are not going to be of the encouraging kind.
Diamond says he has to play his new music to her even if he knows he is not going to like what she says.
“I have to forgive her for being so brutally honest over my lifetime. She wants to hear everything I do but I don’t have to like what she says,” he says.
He need fear no such reprisals from his audience after selling more than 125 million records worldwide and achieving No. 1s in the US and UK and a top 10 in Australia with his previous release Home Before Dark.
Diamond adores his fans.
“I don’t need thousands, I am lucky I have thousands and I just want to make them as happy as I possibly can with my singing,” he says.
He plans to support Melody Road with a world tour which will include Australia and, despite his age, has no desire to retire.
With Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and the Stones proving the 70s offer no barrier to musical success or vitality, Diamond is determined to persevere,
“I wrote a song about 40 years ago called Canta Libre, a song of freedom, and the lyric goes ‘Makes me feel like a young bird flyin’, ‘Cross my mind and layin’ in my bed, Keeps me away from the thought of dyin’.’
“Music still keeps me away from the thought of not being here. I will keep doing it until I can’t anymore.”
Melody Road is out on Friday.
