Track Listing

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
15. Walk on Water [*]
16. Kentucky Woman [*]
17. 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 Travelling Salvation Show

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1817 in Music
• Brand: MCA
• Released on: 2000-08-22
• Number of discs: 2
• Formats: Original recording remastered, Extra tracks, Live
• Dimensions: .24 pounds

Customer Reviews

One of the Greatest Live Albums of All Time
The very first time I played "Hot August Night" was in the dark ages of 1973. I had heard that it was perhaps the best live album of all time. I have never been a live album fan, and still am not. However, "Hot August Night" could not have been done as anything other than a live album. The ambiance of the Greek Theater in Los Angeles was the perfect setting for a singer/songwriter who performs better as a travelling troubadour than a studio musician. As a more recent example of this assertion, watch the ending of "Born in East L.A." when Neil Diamond sings "Coming to America". The song coupled with the movie and the action is a perfect fit, but I find it difficult to enjoy the song as much as a cycled FM song without the movie.

Having said that this album is good, the next question is: just how good is it? Other reviewers have compared this album to the all time live-album king, Peter Frampton's "Frampton Comes Alive", which everyone seemed to own in the 1970s. This album is not as hard a rocker, but as noted elsewhere, "Frampton Comes Alive" feels dated when you listen to it today; "Hot August Night" sounds as good, if not better, than when it was first released.

The sound quality is beyond excellent, it is outstanding. When listening to live albums it's often tempting to adjust the equalizer to reduce annoying hisses or crowd noise or some error in the recording process. No need with this album. Leave the adjustments where they normally are for any pop-rock album.

The songs on this album are a best of the best of early Neil Diamond music. You could see every one of these songs as a potential hit in the 60s and 70s. In fact, many of them were. Those that weren't perhaps should have been.

Some highlights of this CD:

"Prologue" is one of the best intros to any album, ever. That is all the comment you need about the prologue.

The first CD is one excellent Neil diamond song after another. They are all good, many mellow. There are a few rockers too. "Crunchy Granola Suite", "Cherry Cherry", and "Porcupine Pie", which is silly, all have a fast pace. The other songs are bluesy and some have a country flavor.

The second CD is a combination of blues/soft rock and an excellent rock song, "Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show", where Neil puts himself totally into his music. There is a lot of emotion on this second CD, and it is best listened to when you want to immerse yourself into a musical experience.

"Canta Libre", the second song on this CD, is reminiscent of Neil's songs on the "Jonathan Livingstone Seagull" soundtrack. Very mellow, very beautiful.

The remaining songs are music as art. "Morningside", "Holly Holy", and "I Am...I said" are just a few of the emotional songs that make you long for the days when this music was young. Listening now to "Morningside", the emotions it generates are just awesome. Neil is in this song, living it...

Enough said. This CD is perhaps the best live album of all time. At the very least it is in the top 3. If you've ever found yourself singing along with any of Neil's early songs, buy this. You'll want to play it over and over.

Well Worth The Price of Admission!!!!!!
28 years ago today, Neil walked onstage at the Greek Theater, Los Angeles, CA. He took everyone for a walk down memory lane one last time and in the process recorded what would become the last look at Neil Diamond - Singer,Songwriter,Troubador,etc. He would take a sabbatical and emerge with the Jonathan Livinston Seagull Soundtrack. Truly a monumental peak in a mountain of accomplishments, Hot August Night is a rare recording that still holds up well today. The remastering is top notch and the inclusion of three bonus tracks-Walk on Water, Kentucky Woman and Stones are icing on a wonderfully multi-layered cake. The first time I heard these, I found myself applauding as a first time audience member. I have acquired this on almost every configuration released(I didn't own a 8 track). I would buy every show from these recordings if they released it. That is how entertaining this set is. The packaging is faithful to the original gatefold album including 2 pictures that have not seen daylight since 1973 or 1974 when they stopped pressing the gatefold in favor of the cheaper sleeve. It would've been complete with the album labels reproduced on the cds themselves but that is the only detail missing that I've noticed. Overall, I give this CD 100 stars out of five. If anyone attended these shows please contact me at my email. I would like to get more info about these shows!!!

One of the all-time best live albums
Neil Diamond's greatest strength has always been his live performances, and "Hot August Night" is by far the best of the recorded shows. Production-wise, the sound is phenomenal--you would never guess that this was recorded twenty-eight years ago. The same goes for the stellar arrangements, which in many instances often surpass the original recorded versions of the songs (the most notable instance of this is "Holly Holy," which in its original version was rather soulless but on here flat out ROCKS). The orchestration adds rather than detracts--"Prologue" will give you a good idea of what to expect. There are too many highlights to list. If you're like a lot of people who think that Neil Diamond is just some middle-aged guy who bellows out sappy ballads and overly grandiose anthems while wearing really sparkly shirts, you've never heard this set, and you're about to have all your illusions shattered. It's that good. Period.