Tuesday, December 30, 2008

All Music Guide's Neil Diamond Profile


The All Music Guide's profile of Neil Diamond has this to say about Neil's 60s recording sessions at American:

Professionally, Diamond tried to stem the tide of his career decline by recording at American Sound Studio in Memphis, beginning on January 8, 1969. Working with producers Tommy Cogbill and Chips Moman, he took more of a gospel-tinged, country-rock approach, starting with the single "Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show," quickly released as a single, which peaked at number 22 in April, his best chart showing in 18 months. (The song didn't attract many cover versions, although Peggy Lee put it on her Is That All There Is? album later in the year. But it became very familiar to Diamond fans as his traditional concert closer.) He quickly returned to Memphis and cut an album also called Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show that was released in April and peaked at number 82. Among the album's songs was "And the Grass Won't Pay No Mind," which Elvis Presley cut for his From Memphis to Vegas/From Vegas to Memphis LP later in 1969, after which Mark Lindsay recorded it for a single that reached number 44 in 1970. But the song that sealed Diamond's commercial comeback was his next single, "Sweet Caroline (Good Times Never Seemed So Good)," a catchy tune that peaked at number four in August, the same month it earned a gold record certification for sales of one million singles. (Starting in February 1971, Uni added the track to issues of Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show, which eventually earned its own gold record certification for sales of 500,000 LPs.) It also became Diamond's first single to place on Billboard's Easy Listening (later Adult Contemporary or AC) chart, where it peaked at number three. Eventually, it earned a platinum record certification for sales of two million singles. (The song was widely covered by other artists. In 1970, Anthony Armstrong took it into the Top 40 of the country charts. In 1972, Bobby Womack took it into the Top 20 of the R&B charts. And it has appeared on chart albums by Andy Williams, Bobby Goldsboro, Elvis Presley, the Ventures, Ray Conniff, Boots Randolph, Frank Sinatra, and Waylon Jennings.)

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll

Goldmine profiles Elvis's Memphis Sessions


This is Gillian Garr's 4-part article on Elvis's 1969 Memphis sessions at American:

http://www.goldminemag.com/article/In_session_Elvis_1969_revival_part_I/

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Video of Reggie at the Country Music Hall of Fame

I posted several months back about Reggie's salute from the Country Music Hall of Fame Museum:

http://soulfulmusic.blogspot.com/2008/04/reggie-young-saluted-at-country-music.html

Now the video of the Nashville Cats program is available here:

http://www.countrymusichalloffame.com/site/experience-museum-programs-archive-detail.aspx?cid=2419

Friday, December 05, 2008

Reggie Riffs

Reggie demonstrates some of his distinctive guitar intros...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EEkHO6jxjc

Reggie's new CD with his wife Jenny can be found here:

http://cdbaby.com/cd/rjlyoung

A new web site from Reggie (still under construction):

http://www.reggieyoungmusic.com/