{"id":41705,"date":"2009-09-28T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-09-28T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/hot-august-night-nyc-cd-dvd\/"},"modified":"2009-09-28T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2009-09-28T00:00:00","slug":"hot-august-night-nyc-cd-dvd","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/hot-august-night-nyc-cd-dvd\/","title":{"rendered":"Hot August Night\/NYC (CD\/DVD)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"MsoNormal\">I have been a Neil Diamond fan since his early days recording for the old Bang Label. 45 rpm records of such hits as \u201cSolitary Man,\u201d \u201cCherry Cherry,\u201d \u201cGirl You\u2019ll Be A Woman Soon,\u201d \u201cThank The Lord For The Night Time,\u201d and \u201cKentucky Woman\u201d still reside in my record collection. I bought <i>Hot August Night <\/i>in 1972, <i>Hot August Night II <\/i>in 1987, and now in 2009, we have <i>Hot August Night\/NYC.<o:p><\/o:p><\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">This DVD has a lot to recommend it. It was filmed during his four sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden during August of 2008. The sound and the visual quality are both excellent. Diamond surrounds himself with a band complete with brass, which fills in the sound and makes many of the performances very dynamic. He also uses background singers, which are a great help to his vocals. I have seen Neil Diamond in concert several times and have a number of his live recordings, but this may be his most consistent release vocally. His voice may not be as strong as it was forty years ago, but he controls it well and does not overreach. I have heard him when he was scratchy and sounded tired, but that is not the case here. <\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">The two-hour twenty-six song concert is a combination of new and old with a few surprises. There is also a DVD bonus feature titled \u201cWelcome Home Neil\u201d where he returns to his old <st1:place w:st=\"on\">Brooklyn<\/st1:place> neighborhood. <\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">\u201cHolly Holy\u201d gets the concert off to a good start with the use of the aforementioned brass. \u201cCherry Cherry,\u201d \u201cThank The Lord For The Night Time,\u201d \u201cCracklin\u2019 Rosie,\u201d Sweet Caroline,\u201d and \u201cI Am\u2026I Said\u201d all are performed to a warm audience reaction. I have also seen him in concert when he totally ignores his band, but here he allows them to shine a little on their own.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">The inclusion of \u201cStreet Life\u201d was an unusual but wise decision; it\u2019s one of the strongest tracks here. \u201cI\u2019m A Believer,\u201d which became a hit for The Monkees, is also resurrected. Throw in \u201cBrooklyn Roads,\u201d \u201cCrunchy Granola Suite,\u201d and \u201cDone Too Soon\u201d and you have a nice selection of lesser-known tunes. <\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Also appearing for the first time live are such songs as \u201cHome Before Dark,\u201d \u201cDon\u2019t Go There,\u201d and \u201cMan Of God,\u201d all of which fit in nicely. Rousing versions of \u201c<st1:country-region w:st=\"on\"><st1:place w:st=\"on\">America<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region>\u201d and \u201cBrother Love\u2019s Traveling Salvation Show\u201d bring the concert to a satisfying conclusion.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">There is one more bonus included and that was a separate CD titled <i>Neil Diamond 10 Favorites. <\/i>It supposedly consists of some of Neil\u2019s favorite tunes. While there is nothing really new it is perfect for the car CD player. <\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">As he nears the fifty-year mark in his career, Neil Diamond is who he is. <i>Hot August Night\/NYC <\/i>presents him at his best and represents a nice retrospective of his long and illustrious career. It\u2019s a must-have for his fans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":30069,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[8238],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-41705","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-neil-diamond","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41705"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41705\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=41705"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=41705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}