We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago……
By 1971 he was pop music royalty. He had written tons of hits for others and himself. Neil Diamond was as hot as a songwriter could get. I’m a Believer, Solitary Man, Cherry Cherry, Kentucky Woman, Shilo, Brother Love’s Traveling Salvation Show, Sweet Caroline, Holly Holy, Cracklin Rosie. and on and on.
So what made Diamond decide to do an album of mostly covers in 1971. maybe it was the work it took to get the hit single on the LP, “I Am, I Said” finished…it reportedly took four months just to write it. So the LP “Stones” has only a couple of Diamond originals…and it suffers.
While “I Am, I Said” is very good and was a Top 5 hit…none of the covers bettered the originals…not even close. Although he certainly chose strong material. Songs from Joni Mitchell (Chelsea Morning), Leonard Cohen (Suzanne), Randy Newman (I Think It’s Gonna Rain Today), Tom Paxton (The Last Thing On My Mind), Rod McKuen & Jacques Brel (If You Go Away) and even Roger Miller (Husbands and Wives) fill the Lp and show very clearly that Diamond is more comfortable with his own songs than other peoples.
What’s also ironic is that Diamond has said he didn’t really like songwriting because it was so difficult and “forces you to dig inside yourself”. He called it ‘the most difficult thing I do”.
Maybe that’s why he needed a break from the “difficult” and turned to other great songwriters for this album.
Too bad it was an idea that didn’t work.
