I never thought I'd ever be posting anything about
Neil Diamond. I used to be a big fan, until he signed
with Columbia and they tried to turn him into Steve
Lawrence, Jr. and had him doing duets with Barbra
Streisand. But his new album, '12 Songs,' was
produced by Rick Rubin, who does not do junk,
hopefully signalling a return to what Neil does best.
I'm cautiously optimistic that this will be his best
album since the end of the '70s. Read on:



Entertainment Weekly


12 Songs
Neil Diamond

Reviewed by David Browne

You've encountered him before, but rarely like this.
He's at the bar, nursing a drink and holding forth in
that voice-of-God way. He calls himself a ''lucky old
dreamer'' but worries he's ''too old to pretend''
there are happy endings. He admits he's been hurt and
lied to, and that he's ''gotta say it fast'' because,
as a man in his 60s, he's feeling more than a little
perishable. He'll listen to your worries, but he's in
need of solace and salvation himself, and he thinks he
still may be able to find it with one last great love.
He's a bit of a windbag, but you like him anyway,
especially when he hauls out a well-trod idea like
''Be careful how time's spent, because it's never
gonna last'' and makes it sound like anything but a
cliché.

That's the Neil Diamond we hear on 12 Songs, and it's
about time. Although he's still capable of melancholic
magnificence (2001's ''I Haven't Played This Song in
Years,'' a worthy successor to his underrated '70s
ballads), Diamond has spent the last two decades in a
purgatory of sparkly shirts, unremarkable Lite FM
fodder, and concert crowds who still (groan) interject
''ba-ba-ba!'' into ''Sweet Caroline.''

Rick Rubin, his new producer, decided to downsize
Diamond's music. Finally, the songs don't sound as if
they were arranged to fill arenas; the singer's well-
preserved, Corinthian-leather voice and softly
strummed chords are the focus. Only once, on the
overheated ''Delirious Love,'' does Diamond risk
embarrassment by getting horny-old-guy frisky. Mostly,
Rubin restores a graceful simplicity to the songs,
from the bashful seduction ''Save Me a Saturday
Night'' to the doleful dirge ''Oh Mary,'' and ''I'm On
to You'' is a marvel: a rare snappish post-breakup
putdown that sounds as if Diamond were stranded in a
jazz cocktail bar.

12 Songs isn't merely a reprise of Rubin's work with
Johnny Cash. Rubin may have wanted to present his new
client as nakedly as he did Cash, but you can almost
hear Diamond resisting. Songs that start simply — like
''Hell Yeah'' and ''Evermore''— gradually swell with
the addition of billowy strings and stately pianos.
That tension between Rubin's desire to pare it down
and Diamond's tendency to amp it up makes for the best
musical checks and balances; nothing gets too
unplugged or too bombastic. And Chris Martin could
learn a thing or two about crafting a virile, unsappy
lean-on-me ode from ''Captain of a Shipwreck'' and
''What's It Gonna Be.''

Those expecting another ''Cherry, Cherry'' will be
disappointed; those days are long gone. Yet 12 Songs
sounds more natural — and more honest — than, say, the
latest by the Rolling Stones. Granted, it does end
with ''We,'' a song so corny it could have been a TV
theme had television existed in 1925. It seems an odd
way to wrap up, but actually, it's about right — the
sound of that guy in the bar meandering out, a hint of
a spring in his step and a cautious sense of hope in
his head. Grade: A

(Posted:11/04/05)



Copyright © 2005 Entertainment Weekly and Time Inc.
All rights reserved.







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