Hot August Night

Hot August Night
Live album by Neil Diamond
Released	December 9, 1972 August 22, 2000 (reissue)
Recorded	August 24, 1972
Genre	Rock
Length	93:05 101:59 (reissue)
Label	MCA, Universal
Producer	Tom Catalano
Neil Diamond chronology
Moods (1972) Hot August Night (1973) Jonathan Livingston Seagull (1973)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Rolling Stone	(favorable)
Allmusic

Hot August Night is a 1972 live double album by Neil Diamond. ("Hot August night" is also the opening lyric to Diamond's 1969 single, "Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show".) The album is a recording of a Diamond concert on August 24, 1972, one of ten sold out concerts that Diamond performed that month at The Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. Critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine calls Hot August Night "the ultimate Neil Diamond record ... [which] shows Diamond the icon in full glory."

The album has become a great success for Diamond, and in Australia, it spent 29 weeks at number 1 on the album charts during 1973 & 1974, a feat only reachieved by Delta Goodrem with her Sony BMG-based album Innocent Eyes in 2003. This figure was surpassed in the 1980s by Dire Straits with their album Brothers in Arms spending 34 weeks at number one on the album charts.

It was the number one charting album in Australia for the 1970s, entering the Australian album charts in late 1972 and was still charting in the top 20 in 1976. It re-entered the Australian top 10 in 1982.

This album, and its predecessor album Moods, are generally acknowledged to be the two most important recording projects of Diamond's career in terms of defining his signature sound, and in the case of Hot August Night his live performance style, for the future.

Diamond later released two live "sequel" albums, Hot August Night II (1987) and Hot August Night/NYC (2009).

Track listing

1972 Vinyl Edition Side 1:

1. "Prologue"
2. "Crunchy Granola Suite"
3. "Done Too Soon"
4. "Dialogue"
5. "Solitary Man"
6. "Cherry, Cherry"
7. "Sweet Caroline"

Side 2:

1. "Porcupine Pie"
2. "You're So Sweet"
3. "Red, Red Wine"
4. "Soggy Pretzels"
5. "And The Grass Won't Pay No Mind"
6. "Shilo"
7. "Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon"

Side 3:

1. "Play Me"
2. "Canta Libre"
3. "Morningside"
4. "Song Sung Blue"
5. "Cracklin' Rosie"

Side 4:

1. "Holly Holy"
2. "I Am... I Said"
3. "Soolaimon" / "Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show"

2000 Compact Disc Release Disc 1:

1. "Prologue"
2. "Crunchy Granola Suite"
3. "Done Too Soon"
4. "Dialogue"
5. "Solitary Man"
6. "Cherry, Cherry"
7. "Sweet Caroline"
8. "Porcupine Pie"
9. "You're So Sweet"
10. "Red, Red Wine"
11. "Soggy Pretzels"
12. "And The Grass Won't Pay No Mind"
13. "Shilo"
14. "Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon"

Bonus tracks (previously unreleased, included on 2000 CD reissue):

• "Walk On Water"
• "Kentucky Woman"
• "Stones"

Disc 2:

1. "Play Me"
2. "Canta Libre"
3. "Morningside"
4. "Song Sung Blue"
5. "Cracklin' Rosie"
6. "Holly Holy"
7. "I Am... I Said"
8. "Soolaimon" / "Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show"

Personnel

• Neil Diamond - vocals and guitar
• Richard Bennett - guitar
• Danny Nicholson - guitar
• Emory Gordy, Jr. - guitar and vibraphone
• Alan Lindgren - keyboards
• Reinie Press - bass
• Dennis St. John - drums
• Jefferson Kewley - percussion
• String section - Sidney Sharp, Philip Candreva, Paulo Alencar, Baldassare Ferlazzo, Robert Lipsett, Haim Shtrum, Ron Folsom, Henry Ferber, Hyman Goodman, William Henderson, John DeVoogdt, Wilbert Nuttycombe, Jay Rosen, Walter Wiemeyer, Shari Zippert, Ralph Schaeffer, Tibor Zelig, Walter Rower, Salvatore Crimi, Richard Kaufman, David Turner (violins), Linn Subotnick, Philip Goldberg, Sven Reher, Myron Sandler, Marilyn Baker, Samuel Boghossian (violas), Jesse Ehrlich, Jerome Kessler, Raymond Kelley, Nathan Gershman, Alice Ober, Giacinto Nardulli (violoncelli), Timothy Barr, Jess Bourgeois, Don Bagley (bass violins)

Orchestra conducted by Lee Holdridge

Chart positions

Year	Chart	Position
1973	Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart	1
1974

References

Preceded by Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player by Elton John

Australian Kent Music Report number-one album May 21 - June 3, 1973 June 25 - July 8, 1973 July 30 - November 25, 1973 December 24, 1973 - January 27, 1974 February 25 - March 17, 1974

Succeeded by Houses of the Holy by Led Zeppelin