Track Listing

1. American Popular Song
2. Forever In Blue Jeans
3. Remember Me
4. You've Got Your Troubles
5. You Don't Bring Me Flowers - Diamond, Neil & Barbra Streisand
6. Dancing Bumble Bee/Bumble Boogie
7. Mothers And Daughters Fathers And Sons
8. Memphis Flyer
9. Say Maybe
10. Diamond Girls

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #43969 in Music
• Released on: 2008-06-02
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

CD Description
Containing one hit single in the nostalgic "Forever in BlueJeans", one characteristic opus in the panoramic "American Popular Song", and one bona fide classic in its title track,a duet with Barbra Streisand, YOU DON'T BRING ME FLOWERS isa classic collection of solid mid-1970s Neil Diamond songwriting, notwithstanding that on many of the cuts Diamond appears to have been hit with the disco stick. There's even a real oddity in the "Dancing Bumble Bee/Bumble Boogie", a bizarre disco take on Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight of the Bumble Bee", and a similar version of the Fortunes' '60s hit "You've Got Your Troubles, I've Got Mine". But it's the singer's duetwith Streisand that steals the show here, a timeless piece of '70s pop balladry that's still capable of jerking a tear decades later.

Customer Reviews

Not his best blooms
This is one of those albums that you rarely hear Neil Diamond fans eulogise over, despite the fact that the title track proved to be one of his last big chart successes. Listening to it you can tell why. It has a mix of interesting, brilliant, bad and embarrassing within a total of no more than 10 songs!

That was, until recently, the dilemma of Diamond fans during the late 70s through to the early 2000s. Do you keep shelling out for each album having continually been disappointed by the previous album, knowing that if you don't, you wouldn't get the odd gem that continued to surface?

This album is very much a reflection of Diamond's lack of creative motivation at the time. He was still an outstanding live performer, but no longer writing the material that the true fan had found such a fondness for at the peak of his career.

Out of the ten tracks, Four would probably be worthy of being called classic Diamond, one of those being superb, whilst one is good and the others rubbish.

American Popular Song, Forever in Blue Jeans & You Don't Bring Me Flowers are very good and up to the mark. Remember Me is good and at least shows a bit of sincerity in his delivery. However, You've Got Your Troubles (A great 60s song) is wasted. Diamond shows no emotion in this song, almost turning it into a "talking blues" rendition, whilst the backing is a mix of disco meets the Philadelphia sound, Bizarre and bewildering! The Dancing Bumble Bee, Memphis Flyer and Diamond Girls are utter rubbish, simply a case of going through the "filler track" motions. Say Maybe is the type of song that Diamond can turn out in his sleep. Sweet and Sugary and tired. Maybe he did write it in his sleep.

Now for those who can do their maths, you will work out that I have only mentioned 9 songs and that of the four songs credited as being classic Diamond, one is still missing. That song is Mothers & Daughters, Fathers & Sons. This is one of the best things he did in his career let alone this album. Great sentiment, superb delivery and wonderful arrangements. This is why fans still buy his albums, because of the hidden gem I alluded to earlier.

What is interesting to note though, is the fact that Diamond didn't write this song, nor did he write American Popular & only co-wrote "Blue Jeans". His writing was becoming weaker and his choice of material and quality, at the very least, questionable.

If you can pick this up cheap, it's worth it for a handful of tracks, but don't pay full price.