Home Before Dark (CD & DVD)

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Editorial reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
Remarkably Home Before Dark is the first US chart topping album of Neil Diamond's forty year career. It appears to repeat the formula behind 2006's acclaimed 12 Songs--relatively understated arrangements and a subtle Rick Rubin production. But Diamond, though sixty-seven years old and the oldest recipient of a Number One so far, is no Johnny Cash, turning his unique voice to some well chosen contemporary material. Instead Home Before Dark is a collection of new Diamond songs, and though they might not match the boomers in his back catalogue they are hardly stripped back. These are songs designed to fill large venues alongside the showstoppers in Diamond's still energetic live show. "Pretty Amazing Grace" is in the great tradition of Diamond songs that defy their corniness with sheer catchiness, as is "One More Bite of the Apple" while "Don't Go There" features bracing backing vocals and a delightfully dated wobbly guitar hook. The duet with Natalie Maines, "Another Day (That Time Forgot)", would fit comfortably on American country radio while "The Power of Two" sounds like another hit in waiting. In fact this is more a conventional Diamond collection than a Rick Rubin production, dominated by lightly understated country rock arrangements played by a crack team including Smokey Hormel, Heartbreakers Benmont Tench and Mike Campbell and the usually experimental Matt Sweeney. This is a charming and consistently solid set, though Home Before Dark does lack the unexpected intensity that made 12 Songs stand out so. -—Steve Jelbert

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Customer reviews

review by: date: 2008-06-23 rating:
IS IT JUST ME?
To put it in 1 sentence - The CD notes are as boring as the songs.

Why is it "Cool" to dismiss Neil Diamonds work before his work with Rick Rubin?...Any one of his non Rubin produced albums are far better than this. YES....any one! Try "Lovescape" to start.....15 songs, mostly cowritten by members of his long standing band. Who agrees? REVIEW BY MR C WILLIAMS, NOT MRS J

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review by: Diana Goreham date: 2008-06-07 rating:
One of the best
Neil Diamond was on TV the other evening, An Audience with Neil Diamond. I do hope that Channel 4 make a DVD of it.
He was as wonderful as ever. How lovely to see him back and I cannot believe that you say he is 67, he has worn well, his voice is as good as ever. I cannot wait to go and see him.

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review by: date: 2008-05-22 rating:
ANOTHER AMAZING DIAMOND ALBUM
EVERY SONG ON THIS ALBUM IS A REAL GEM. THIS ALBUM HAS BEEN WELL WORTH WAITING FOR. NEIL DIAMOND IS A CLASSIC SONGWRITER/SINGER AND SHOWS ONCE AGAIN HOW BRILLIANT THIS MAN STILL IS. THE BEST SONG ON THE ALBUM IS "AMAZING GRACE" AND NEIL SINGS IT WITH SUCH HEART. CANNT WAIT TILL HE RELEASES ANOTHER ALBUM!!!!!!

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review by: date: 2008-05-22 rating:
Diamond in the rough
Literally never listened to a Neil Diamond album in my life, and then heard this and love it. My impression is that age has served Neil well, adding depth of sinceretly and experience to his lyrics, as well as an almost Johhny Cashe-seque grit to his voice. Like listening to a teacher singing you a lesson.


review by: Jonesy date: 2008-05-15 rating:
Different Shades of Dark
As I review this I note that Neil Diamond has just entered the Billboard 100 at number 1 for the first time in his career. This is an amazing turnaround for such an established artist. Not that many years ago he was perceived as someone who was decidedly showbiz and the purveyor of cheesy overblown extravaganza.

For true fans this was something that hurt, although there was certainly more than a grain of truth in the assessment. It has been said many times in previous reviews, a lot of them mine, that he peaked in the mid 70s, by which time he had written and recorded a catalogue of classic material.

Where did that man go? Well it seems that he simply took the easy option of treating his craft as something that could be turned on every now and then and ignore the critics...........and fans, as long as he still sold out every time he toured.

Why has he returned? Quite simply Rick Rubin! If it had been Diamond who had been chasing Rubin you might have thought that suddenly he had woken up and decided to redress the balance of credibility that had eroded the last 30 years of his career. But no.........it was Rubin who hounded Diamond.......thank goodness.

Diamond was like a man who had been in a deluded bubble for too long until Rubin stuck a pin in the inflated ego that "yes men" had helped to build up. Fortunately this bubble didn't just burst, it burst with such a bang it shook the very foundations of Diamond's comfort zone and woke him up to the reason why so many loyal fans kept sticking with him, even though the quality was dropping. Inside, everyone hoped or dreamt that one day he would produce the kind of material that could happily stand alongside his earlier classics..........you know what they are.

12 Songs made him work harder than he had done in a long time on writing quality songs that would bring him praise around the world for what he had originated and not regurgitated. Why? Because Rick Rubin had a first class reputation within the industry and wasn't going to put out anything that would embarrass him. Suddenly Diamond wasn't looking at pleasing the bosses in the music industry who promote and distribute CDs, now he had to satisfy Rubin and from that moment he started to write music that meant something to him. Just like when he had to crack the market in the early 60s, he had to have something that other people didn't............talent! He always had it, but he had to rediscover it.

The good news is that having found it again on 12 Songs, he has nurtured it even more on this album.

Musically it is far more melodic and interesting than his previous one. It is dark and self searching, but you get the feeling that everyone is far more comfortable this time around.


Personal favourites after a few listens are:

If I don't see you again...........a classic in the making that will be around for a long time

Pretty Amazing Grace.............melodic and a welcome change in mood

Don't go there............opens a little like Gordon Lightfoot's "Sundown" and morphs into a latter day Leonard Cohen, complete with Cohen signature female backing singers. Dark and humorous, a terrific track.

Forgotten...............great bluesy acoustic guitar accompaniment with a lovely organ sound in the background

Whose hands are these................good track with nice changes

No Words.......................First rate

It's a very good album and one that will inevitably get better after more listens. Like the last album, it is not easy listening first time around. But like all quality albums they grow and stay with you.

I hope that he records again with Rubin but doesn't try to do a third stark album again. I think in the hands of Rubin there is room for lighter material to creep in every now and again. A mix between this and Serenade and Moods would be terrific.

As for the DVD, I liked it. I think that he can forget about covering Paul Simon material in future, The Boxer was not a good cover. However I enjoyed watching him and the musicians playing their understated stuff in the studio.

Of the bonus tracks, Without Her and Make you feel my love are OK, but not show stopping. Lulu did a better version of the first and Bryan Ferry nailed the other one on his recent Dylanesque CD.

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