Maps of Music

Serenade (1974)

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

Neil Diamond wrote every song on Serenade alone, and it was the last album he did that way until 2001.

Place unknown

Do you know where this album was recorded, or where its cover was shot? Tell us and we will add it to the map.

Serenade: ninth studio album by Neil Diamond, released in 1974
Diamond's second album for Columbia Records
Three singles: 'Longfellow Serenade' (#5), 'I've Been This Way Before' (#34), 'The Last Picasso'
Diamond's third consecutive platinum album
Also issued as a quadraphonic LP, with some songs as alternate takes

Released 27 September 1974 by Columbia Records
Issued during a stretch in which Diamond's albums were regularly selling platinum

'I've Been This Way Before' was first meant to be the closing number on Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Diamond could not finish that song in time, so it ended up on this album
Personnel: Richard Bennett (guitar), Emory Gordy Jr. (bass), Alan Lindgren and David Paich (keyboards), Dennis St. John (drums), Jimmie Haskell (arranger, conductor)
All tracks written by Neil Diamond
Serenade was the last album for which Diamond solely wrote all the songs until 2001's Three Chord Opera

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.

The Morning Call: songs seemed overblown, self-important and banal, pale imitations of songs Diamond had already recorded; it praised Beautiful Noise as a righting of the ship
Record World: on the single release of 'The Last Picasso', the new mix brought colorful AM hit strokes to the album cut while keeping its subtler appeal

Billboard 200: number 3
'Longfellow Serenade' reached number 5 and 'I've Been This Way Before' reached number 34 as singles
Third consecutive platinum album for Diamond

'I've Been This Way Before' was first meant to be the closing number on Jonathan Livingston Seagull, but Diamond could not finish it in time.
The album was also released as a quadraphonic LP, with some songs as alternate takes.
Serenade was the last album on which Diamond wrote all the songs himself until 2001's Three Chord Opera.
Record World singled out the new mix of 'The Last Picasso' for bringing colorful AM hit strokes to the album cut.
The Morning Call judged the songs to be pale imitations of material Diamond had already recorded.