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Melody Road (2014)

Where the lyrics of Melody Road take you, and where it was really made.

Neil Diamond's 30th studio album came out on Capitol Records, the label that had released his 1980 soundtrack for The Jazz Singer, after four decades at Columbia.

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Album story

Overview

• Melody Road is the 30th studio album by American singer-songwriter Neil Diamond
• Released in 2014
• First album of original music recorded since Home Before Dark (2008), which debuted at number one on the US album charts
• Produced by Don Was and Jacknife Lee

Background

• After 40 years recording solo for Columbia, Diamond signed with Capitol Records in early 2014
• Capitol had released Diamond's 1980 soundtrack album for The Jazz Singer
• At the same time, his back catalogue was moved to Universal Music Group, Capitol's parent company

Recording

• Recorded by Tom McFall with recording assistants Matt Bishop, Pablo Hernandez and Kyle Stevens
• Mixed by Bob Clearmountain at Mix This! in Los Angeles, California
• Mastered by Bernie Becker at Bernie Becker Mastering in Pasadena, California

Cover

• Cover portrait photo by Micah Diamond
• Cover, background and package photos by Al Michaelson
• Art direction by Todd Gallopo

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Career

• American singer-songwriter born January 24, 1941, in Brooklyn, New York City, to a Jewish family.
• Began as a staff songwriter at Sunbeam Music Publishing and worked in the Brill Building in the 1960s.
• Wrote hits for others, including "I'm a Believer" and "A Little Bit Me, a Little Bit You" recorded by the Monkees.
• Solo breakthrough with "Sweet Caroline" (1969), followed by "Cracklin' Rosie" and "Song Sung Blue", both No. 1 on the Hot 100.
• Live album Hot August Night (1972) recorded at the Greek Theater, Los Angeles.
• Starred in the 1980 remake The Jazz Singer and won a Razzie for Worst Actor.
• Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011 and received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018.
• Diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and stopped touring in 2018.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• The album received generally favorable reviews
• Billboard wrote the album is rich in orchestration that retains the dark rustic qualities of 12 Songs and Home Before Dark
• Billboard singled out Something Blue for its classic Diamond mid-tempo lilt and called Seongah and Jimmy an eyewitness account of a romance between a woman from Korea and a man from Long Island
• Ann Powers of NPR praised the album's sunny disposition and its resilient faith in romance and balladry
• The Wall Street Journal called The Art of Love a tender offering from Diamond, who at age 73 could still convey a wide range of emotions in four minutes

Records

• Debuted at number three on the Billboard charts in October 2014, selling 78,000 copies in the first week
• Sold 235,000 copies in the United States as of September 2016

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Six of the album's tracks were premiered on September 8, 2014 at a listening party for a small group of music industry executives and journalists at Capitol Records in Hollywood
• In September 2014, a lyric video for The Art of Love debuted on Diamond's YouTube/VEVO channel, and the video for the first single Something Blue premiered on Yahoo! Music
• Rolling Stone debuted the video for Nothing But a Heartache
• Billboard described Seongah and Jimmy as an eyewitness account of a romance between a woman from Korea and a man from Long Island
• The album was Diamond's first original music recorded since Home Before Dark, and his first on Capitol after decades with Columbia

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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