The Diamond Life

This man has made 28 studio albums. Here comes number 29.

Writer: Bart Blasengame, photo by Randee St. Nicholas
Features, Issue 42, Published online on 28 Apr 2008

At 67 years old, Neil Diamond says he still hasn’t run out of ideas. But the crooning bard did return to a certain bearded producer for his new album Home Before Dark, the follow-up to Diamond’s credibility-enhancing 12 Songs.

Paste: You brought back Rick Rubin to produce this record.
Neil Diamond: Well, he’s a wonderful producer, and as a record-maker I always try to get the best producers possible. Over the history of my career I’ve worked with some of the greatest. I think he did a wonderful job on 12 Songs.

Paste: He basically forced you to pick up the guitar again, didn’t he?
ND: For some reason, over the years I kind of devolved as a guitar player. I would demonstrate the song to the musicians or arranger and then just sort of step back and put my vocalist hat on. But Rick was really pretty adamant that I play the songs. And after a while the musicians were adamant that I do it. I began to really enjoy it again, too.

Paste: You sing a duet with Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks on “Another Day.” How did you two get hooked up?
ND: I heard a girl singing on the song when I first began to write it. I didn’t know who exactly, so I told Rick about it and he suggested Natalie. We sent her a copy and she liked it so much that she called her manager before she even got through the entire song. It was very exciting, just two singers—two people who love to sing, working out our parts, what feels right, what sings right. It turned into a beautiful, beautiful record.

Paste: Let’s go back to the beginning for a little bit, back to the Brill Building days and your first hit, “I’m A Believer.” You were trying to make it as a singer at the time, so did it tick you off at all that The Monkees are the ones who made it famous?
ND: No, I loved it. I needed the money to pay the rent, so having a worldwide #1 record was definitely a positive.

Paste: What were the initial tours like, being in the middle of nowhere and playing for people who probably didn’t know who you were?
ND: Well it wasn’t really a tour, just a series of dates for whoever would book me: bowling alleys, ski lodges, folk clubs, movie theaters. I do remember playing with The Who very early on, though. We were booked somewhere in the Midwest, playing some municipal auditorium. There were three acts: Herman’s Hermits, The Who and myself. The Who closed the show and I was egotistical to think that they couldn’t follow me. Of course, they went out there and broke up the place in more ways than one.

Paste: You’ve been eligible for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame since 1989 but have yet to be voted in. Does that bug you?
ND: It makes me wonder. It just makes me think that maybe I just have to keep doing it. Do my best and hopefully I’ll get in some day. I’d like to be in there with my peers. I’ve paid my dues, I think, and I think I’ve done good work.

Paste: Do you ever think about retiring?
ND: The thought crosses my mind occasionally when I’m particularly overburdened or exhausted. But it turns out that this is what I am. I’ve been writing since I was 16. I’d be hard-pressed to think of something more exciting than what I do.

Click here to read Bart Blasengame's entire Q&A with Neil Diamond.

The Diamond Life

This man has made 28 studio albums. Here comes number 29.

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