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Q MagazineNov 13, 2014While he's lost more of his craft, he's rarely sounded so at ease with himself. [Dec 2014, p.109]
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UncutNov 11, 2014Co-producers Don Was and Jacknife Lee bring an Orbisonian scale to Melody Road, surrounding him with ornate yet tasteful arrangements worked up by LA's top session cats. [Dec 2014, p.75]
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Oct 20, 2014What makes a difference here is the general lightness of his new songs and Was and Lee's sympathetic production; the two play off each other perfectly, turning this into the first latter-day Diamond record to feel quintessentially Neil Diamond.
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Oct 21, 2014There are no duds on his first all-new album since 2008--just 12 stripped down soft-rock tracks, not too heavy on the strings, hitting consistently hard whether Diamond plays the winsome crooner ("Something Blue") or the bummed-out belter ("Alone at the Ball").
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Oct 20, 2014Are these new tunes likely to move arena audiences in the same way? Nah. But Diamond sings as though they will. He's still a believer.
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MojoNov 6, 2014It yields mixed results. [Nov 2014, p.100]
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Oct 21, 2014It’s a richly orchestral work, eager for drama and full of appealing tunes.
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Oct 20, 2014There’s soppy, there’s schmaltz, and then there’s the latest from Neil Diamond.... Sweep away the saccharine and Diamond’s craft as a songwriter still gleams.
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Oct 20, 2014The jaunty simplicity of First Time and cod calypso of Sunny Disposition are a tad MOR-by-numbers, perfectly well executed but lacking any real spark. The innate drama in Diamond’s powerful and resonant voice is much better served by the more eloquent and layered In Better Days and the Orbisonesque slow burn, Nothing But A Heartache.
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Oct 21, 2014If this underwritten, over produced debut for Capitol (after being affiliated with Columbia since 1973) is the best he can muster up in six years, it’s sad to say, it’s time to consider retirement.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 2 out of 2
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Mixed: 0 out of 2
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Negative: 0 out of 2
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Mar 8, 2019I love this album and consider it under-appreciated. It gets listened to more than any other ND album I have.