Amid less fanfare then perhaps it should have had, Neil Diamond released an album in May called 'Home Before Dark'. So, the big deal here is that he is an old guy now. The other big deal is that Rick Rubin has produced his last few albums. But really, and none of the reviews seem to be picking up on this, the real big deal is that his persona has made this wonderful transition from playboy, to slightly melancholic playboy. It's like he always seemed to be someone's ex-husband with that ego, you know the showmanship of buying a sportscar and a linen suit and dating younger ladies. But now he's like the ex-husband/boyfriend you still quietly love. He comes in and sits at your kitchen table and whips out his guitar and it turns out that for 30 years he's been thinking about what went wrong.

It's great, he's managed to stay inside his goofy "I'm a loverman" act, but turn it into something bittersweet. Also his voice with it's gravelly texture gets better over time. The less suave he is, the more I love him.

If I Don't See you Again

Don't Go There