Neil Diamond: Beautiful Noise

A beautifully recorded concept album about Diamond's own emergence from the Brooklyn streets and from the Brill Building's Tin Pan Alley. Produced by Robbie Robertson.
-- William Ruhlmann. All-Music Guide

Robbie Robertson said he was fascinated by the Tin Pan Alley tradition that Diamond represented, and claimed that the concept behind Beautiful Noise was to pay tribute to "that rock'n'roll version of Tin Pan Alley I'd first encountered with Ronnie Hawkins when I was fifteen". The album was recorded at the Band's Shangri-La studio in Malibu. With a little help from Garth, who played organ on the gospel-Broadway hybrid "Surviving The Life", and the sole Diamond/Robertson collaboration "Dry Your Eyes" (that also appeared on the "Last Waltz" album), Robbie put together a suite of string-saturated MOR songs. His own guitar-playing was not much in evidence, though one could make it out on "Lady-Oh", "Jungle Time" and "Dry Your Eyes". It was all pretty schlocky stuff, but Diamond's fans liked it enough to push it up to #4 when it was released in the summer.
-- extracted from Barney Hoskyns' Across the Great Divide

Robbie Robertson on guitar on three tracks. Garth Hudson's Lowrey organ can be heard on two songs, on one of them he is playing together with Robbie.

Tracks

1. Beautiful Noise
2. Stargazer
3. Lady-Oh
4. Don't Think .. Feel
5. Surviving The Life
6. If You Know What I Mean
7. Street Life
8. Home Is A Wounded Heart
9. Jungletime
10. Signs
11. Dry Your Eyes

Sidemen

• Robbie Robertson, producer/guitars
• Garth Hudson, organ

Neil Diamond - Beautiful Noise - 1976 - Columbia PC 33965
Compact Disc: Sony 33965

AMG Rating: Good