Having said that this album is good, the next question is: just how good is it? Other reviewers have compared this album to the all time live-album king, Peter Frampton's "Frampton Comes Alive", which everyone seemed to own in the 1970s. This album is not as hard a rocker, but as noted elsewhere, "Frampton Comes Alive" feels dated when you listen to it today; "Hot August Night" sounds as good, if not better, than when it was first released.
The sound quality is beyond excellent, it is outstanding. When listening to live albums it's often tempting to adjust the equalizer to reduce annoying hisses or crowd noise or some error in the recording process. No need with this album. Leave the adjustments where they normally are for any pop-rock album.
The songs on this album are a best of the best of early Neil Diamond music. You could see every one of these songs as a potential hit in the 60s and 70s. In fact, many of them were. Those that weren't perhaps should have been.
Some highlights of this CD:
"Prologue" is one of the best intros to any album, ever. That is all the comment you need about the prologue.
The first CD is one excellent Neil diamond song after another. They are all good, many mellow. There are a few rockers too. "Crunchy Granola Suite", "Cherry Cherry", and "Porcupine Pie", which is silly, all have a fast pace. The other songs are bluesy and some have a country flavor.
The second CD is a combination of blues/soft rock and an excellent rock song, "Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show", where Neil puts himself totally into his music. There is a lot of emotion on this second CD, and it is best listened to when you want to immerse yourself into a musical experience.
"Canta Libre", the second song on this CD, is reminiscent of Neil's songs on the "Jonathan Livingstone Seagull" soundtrack. Very mellow, very beautiful.
The remaining songs are music as art. "Morningside", "Holly Holy", and "I Am...I said" are just a few of the emotional songs that make you long for the days when this music was young. Listening now to "Morningside", the emotions it generates are just awesome. Neil is in this song, living it...
Enough said. This CD is perhaps the best live album of all time. At the very least it is in the top 3. If you've ever found yourself singing along with any of Neil's early songs, buy this. You'll want to play it over and over.
Hot August Night is probably the best live concert ever recorded. The intensity is sustained all throughout the performance, electrifying his audience and listeners alike, making this record drip with so much energy. The intro, "Prologue", is a killer tune. It is a masterpiece. Just listen to it build up to a climax as it gets layered into an atmosphere of strings, keyboards, acoustics and percussions (the sound is greatly improved on the remaster--crisp sounding). It is a majestic piece. Sure, Neil has those songs with corny titles and lyrics to it (i.e. "Soggy Pretzels", "You're So Sweet Horseflies Keep Hangin' Round Your Face", "Crunchy Granola Suite", "Porcupine Pie", and even "Song Sung Blue"), but aren't artist allowed to tease and have fun?
"I Am... I Said", "Morningside" and "Canta Libre" are some of the more emotional tracks of the set as Neil Diamond takes you to one moving song to another as he connects with his audience through songs and banter. While "Holly Holy" (a definite favorite of mine), and definitely the best version compared to the stale and thin sounding original studio recording off the Touching You, Touching Me album, sets the tone and pace as the show climaxes to a thunderous end to some of Neil's percussive moments on the album. The big climax of "Holly Holy" sees Neil Diamond exploding into dramatic rage and passion (this is repeated on the closer "Brother Love`s..."), making this a high point of the album. "Holly Holy" is a very beautiful song and a masterpiece as well. Band and orchestra should be applauded here. This leads into a quieter, almost solemn intro into "I Am... I Said" (the calm before the storm) that builds up into a huge emotional burst, full-orchestra, keys and percussions kicking into the music. The Walk Off as orchestra and band explode to a built up "I Am... I Said" instrumental before everything breaks loose as nonstop percussions rumble into "Soolaimon/Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show" medley. What a listening experience this brings on repeated play. As the band and orchestra encores to the tune of "Brother Love's...", I stay glued, still, onto my seat, moved by it all like I where in that concert, wishing that it never ended--it always feels that way with me. Musicianship is topnotch and cohesive, and yes, special mention has to be given to drummer Dennis St. John for his amazing distinct and tireless work all throughout. (The first time I ever heard "Holly Holy" playing on the radio in the early `70s was by Hugo Montenegro. I did not even know Neil Diamond existed, but even when I finally discovered Neil, it was the Hugo Montenegro cover that became my measure of that song's beautiful style. The Touching You, Touching Me original version, despite the strings has a poor and uneven mix, and the Gold (first ND live record) version is raw and simple with only electric guitar, bass and drums as backup instruments.)
The beauty about Hot August Night is that all of the songs Neil performed are his original compositions. He got to do this again the last time when he recorded Love At The Greek after the Beautiful Noise album. In retrospect, I wish Neil also sang in this concert "High Rolling Man" (I love the piano riffs on this one), "Captain Sunshine" (beautiful lyrics and melody) and "Lordy" (beautiful melody and beat). Incidentally, I read years ago that the string section was used on this particular night only for the recording purposes of this show. If you are a Neil Diamond fan but don't own Hot August Night yet, get it. It is worth more than the countless ridiculous ND greatest hits and compilations that are being released faster than you could say "You're So Sweet Horseflies Keep Hangin' Round Your Face". If you are not a Neil Diamond fan yet but are contemplating on becoming one, Hot August Night is definitely the best start for you (though In My Lifetime and Play Me: The Complete Uni Studio Recordings are also well recommended for their sheer historical overview of Neil Diamond`s music), mind you, this concert was recorded in 1972, so you should know what Neil Diamond songs to expect from that era--timeless classics. What were you expecting me to say?
As for Dave Barry's inclusion of "I Am.. I Said" to the "Worst Songs Ever" list, who cares? That is his opinion and he can keep it. Like most of us, we also have our opinions and "I Am... I Said" is a song with profound lyrical content--a true masterpiece.
Hot August Night is easily Neil Diamond's best live recording,and perhaps the best live recording of any artist, period! Thelistener can expect to find every song that Neil sings on this album virtually unaltered from its original studio version. I suspect that many of the songs on this album were being performedlive for the first time. Perhaps that's why this live performance was downright exceptional!
Hot August Night not only showcases Neil Diamond the singer; moreimportantly, it shines the spotlight on Neil Diamond the artist.Those who are not fans of Neil Diamond's music will find in this album a work of art, while those who are fans will just plain love it!!!
Holy Holly is my highpoint. Where did he pull that from?!!? If he could only do that more, perhaps folks wouldn't have the label on him that they tend to nowadays. Just look at that cover picture!!!! Soolaimon/Brother Love's is amazing. Beats the live versions to death.
Too bad there is no video of this one.
My parents attended one of the shows at the Greek in August of 1972, so naturally, we HAD to have the album as soon as it came out. For me and my brothers, this album became the soundtrack of our childhood. Each of the four of us now have this on CD, cassette, or LP (I even have the Songbook with all the songs trancribed in the key they're presented here). For us, it's a time machine. From the opening strings on Prologue to the guitar lick being played during the fade out after Brother Love, it's an album you have to listen to from start to finish. Now that it's been remastered with Walk On Water, Kentucky Woman and Stones (one of my all-time favorite ND tunes), it has become possible that a great thing CAN become better. He's a great performer live (I saw him in '82 and '93), but I can't imagine what these nights at the Greek must have been like in person. I only know that it sounded phenomenal.
