Neil Diamond likes to do ‘scary’ things. Like doing a one-man show on Broadway in 1972. Like opening the Aladdin Hotel’s 7,500 seat Theatre for The Performing Arts in Las Vegas. Like returning to the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles last year after setting a record in 1972. Like riding a motorcycle at excessive speed. Like bringing his concert performance to television rather than adhering to tv’s variety show formula for a one-hour special.

"Being scared," the 36year old financially insulated composer/performer explains in his Los Angeles office, is a tremendous motivation for me. It tends to make me do my best

"People said you mustn’t go back to the Greek. ( It meant topping his record setting performance) It was the scariest thing I could do"

Next up for noble Neil are some plans for Broadway and some motion pictures. "What else could scare me more?" he asks in reference to acting and participating in films.

For the moment, however, Neil is "scared" and " nervous" about his forthcoming tv special Monday (21) on NBC- TV at 9pm, titled "Neil Diamond…. I Never Cared For Being Alone"

The tv special is his first American home screen appearance in nine years, or since he sang "Holly Holy" on the "Ed Sullivan Show" He did do tv for the BBC in London 5years ago and had one of his concerts telecast in Australia last year.

But the upcoming NBC stanza has psychological as well as career significance for the writer who had taken a sabbatical which lasted four years and which came to a significant end last year.

The tv show marks the first time that Diamond will be totally coming out of the shadows of anonymity which he sought five years ago

As hard as that may seem in light of the hundreds and thousands of persons who have been buying his albums and the multitudes who have seen him perform in person, Neil feels that " people don’t really know what I look like."

The tv show signifies the ultimate step in what he calls his public emergence following "1976 being my coming out party"

When Neil and I met on a recent Monday afternoon he said matter of factly " I’ve been a nervous wreck…. I haven’t slept in three months" because of his concern over getting the tv show down perfect.

The show is a videotaping of the final night of his triumphant return to the Greek Theatre last September. The program shows Neil doing what he does best: performing within his own milieu, within the safety of his own set, working his own beautiful music and engulfed all round by his own musicians.

So why the fear, the nervousness? "I’ve been an anonymous superstar for a long time," he answers, " and I’ve like it that way. People don’t know what I look like. People go around imitating me and there are two guys in jail because of it.

"The show will make me recognizable and I’m not totally happy about that. I’ve been away four years, hiding and trying to be an anonymous person. As a writer you have to be an observer and the key to observing is being anonymous."

Since his return to performing last year, Neil finds it’s been "a little difficult remaining anonymous." And with the tv show looming ahead he muses he’s ‘ buying banana noses and fake moustaches " to mask his face which those Americans who haven’t peered at it in person, on an LP jacket Or in some form of advertisement heralding his music, will surely see on their tv screens.

"I told my son I was going to grow a beard and he started to cry."

Why the tv special if being an anonymous superstar was the way he likes it? "I felt it was time" he parries, adding he had backed away several times prior from doing a show for NBC with whom he had been committed for one special. "NBC has been trying to do a special with me for almost five years and we started several times but I cancelled. I didn’t want to be a celebrity that everyone knew"

But Neil realizes that once the tv audience views him onstage for one hour he will become more recognizable than he is now. But he’s geared up for that.

After finding success with records and personals upon his return, he’s decided to go all out.

The concert is an outgrowth of his own desire to tape his performance. He had failed to tape his critically acclaimed Greek engagement in 1972 which resulted in the smash hit LP "Hot August Night" So Neil was covering himself in hiring the tv crew to tape the show for his own use and possibly to be used as part of a special.

Neil says he rebelled against doing the typical variety show ("you do a song, introduce a guest, do a comedy sketch, sing a song with the guest and then into the finale") "But that’s not me. What’s me is onstage"

Neil has hired Gary Smith and Dwight Hemion to put together his tv special and they both liked the tape of the Greek show. Some one at NBC liked the performance also because the network gave the green light to build the show around the concert which ran for two hours.

Says Neil "I wasn’t sure NBC would go for a pure concert show. It’s formula things they want"

In the opening sequence, which Neil previews for me, he sits alone in the empty Greek Theatre discussing the magic that has happened to him in this outdoor, rustic natured venue. He talks about performing before an audience and what he says is like a peek into a very private section of his inner core"… you’re having a love affair with thousands of people and most of all…. Best of all… you’re not alone anymore." Fade to the crowd finding its seats.

Tying in with the tv show is a Columbia LP, "Love At The Greek" which contains 21 songs: the hour tv show has 14. The LP is out in the shops before the telecast.

During his four year hiatus, Diamond worked on the score for "Jonathon Livingston Seagull" a bomb at the box office but a success as a recording: plus the LPs "Serenade" and "Beautiful Noise"

"I knew I’d come back, but I wasn’t sure when, "Neil says, puffing on one of his addictive cigarettes. "I spent one year on each of those albums"

There are a myriad of reasons why Diamond got off the road and out of the studio. "I’d been away from family and friends, I’d been on the road six years, I had a son 21/2 and I felt he needed me more that the audience did. I felt I’d come back when the juices were flowing.

So for four years I devoted myself to my son Jesse, being home with him and doing normal things like waking up in the same city every day. There has got to be a balance. I could not just be a father without being a creative person and vice versa. It’s a compromise, I want my home, my friends: ideally I’d like to find a balance.

"I was working like a normal person, I’d have breakfast with Jesse, drive him to school each morning and then go back to writing. I had seen too many tears when I’d go off to do concerts. It hurts and it’s not worth it"

Having conquered music and recordings and concerts. Neil says he’d like to try film acting. He’s had roles he’s turned down. "I’ve desired to stay away from the star syndrome: I don’t want to become public property, but I’ll try it because it’s part of the learning process and it’ll make me a better writer and performer"

He’s also working on a concept for a Broadway play with a noted playwright in which he would do the words and music, but he is also hyped on developing his own Broadway vehicle. Both are two-three years away.

Closer to reality is his first European tour in five years at the end of May, working through England, France Germany and Spain.

Neil’s office complex ( the Diamond company employs 30 persons, many involved in touring) Is both his workshop and business lair. A small swimming pool sits in the courtyard surrounded by offices.

Neil’s office is almost a living room with couches, African art objects, a fireplace, saltwater fish tank, tape machines, a Sony U-Matic videocartridge unit, lots of records, one Grammy, photos and a piano. It is the same piano on which he wrote the "Jonathon Livingston Seagull" score out at his Malibu beach house.

"This is a perfect working environment for me because it’s relaxed. This studio is a private island. When I want to get into business, I bop over to the other side," he says, nodding his head in the direction of his associates across the courtyard. "Or swim over to the other side" he adds with a smile

Neil Diamond compositions are a reflection of influences around the man who is a curator of his thoughts, ideas, moods, deeply personal statements. He speaks of emotional experiences, of the people he comes in contact with, of the sounds of the Weavers, Fats Domino, Latin artists like Tito Rodriquez and Cal Tjader, of the pulse and excitement of New York, as all affecting him "Life really is the biggest influence on me" he admits.

Neil prefers to write between the hours of midnight and 5a.m. when it is the most tranquil and there are no disturbances. He finds songwriting the most difficult thing he does: performing before 40000 people ( as he did in Australia and New Zealand) is a breeze compared to finely honing a song.

There is not a formula for how long it takes to write a song. This is significant for Neil since for eight years he tried to write tunes to order in New York and was fired from five writing jobs

How does he know when he’s hit the pinnacle in composition? "You know when it’s ready when you really love it or the record company says ‘here’s the deadline’. But deadlines are good for me. They give me a closing point"

Neil writes the music first. "It’s the emotional texture; it sets the emotional mood. Then you verbalize the emotional content. Everything I write reflects some feeling, some fantasy"

His failure to make the grade as a Tin Pan Alley writer from 1958-66 instilled in him the desire to ‘ go write what I feel’ rather than what the publisher needs "I began to write songs like "Solitary Man" and other things I liked for myself. I was a pretty consistent failure writing to order"

An acknowledged distinct and unique song stylist today, does he look back and scorn at those who said his work was no good? No, he says "You wipe all that rejection and failure from your mind"

Neil’s credo as a writer is to compose music he feels and have a chance for an audience to " see what I can do" "As long as I have that, I think I will be satisfied. That’s all I want…. The chance. I never had that before because I didn’t fit in in Tin Pan Alley"

Chances and more chances are what face this former New Yorker, now comfortable ensconced In California eight years. His personal manager of less than one year, Jerry Weintraub, is insurance that he gets the opportunity to perform his art.

The more than $200,000 gig at the Aladdin Hotel in Vegas was Neil’s first major job with Weintraub. Admits Neil "We’re both very strong headed individuals, so we clash on that basis once in a while . But it’s worked out very well. Since I’m involved directly in things I do. I tend to lose objectivity with my own work. Our clashes occur over subjective and objective viewpoints. Who wins? Whoever is right. It works out pretty even"

Neil’s comment about being his being involved in everything he does is underscored by his meeting with Gary Smith and Dwight Hemion . They come to discuss the final editing and pre[aration of the tv special.

Neil plays them the opening section of the program Smith and Hemion (partners 10years And one of the first teams to specialize in musical variety shows for tv) sit quietly on the couch watching the screen. "I love it" Neil says " Neil is an involved guy" says smith " He doesn’t say, ‘just do it’ to us. It’s his show so he should be involved"

Neil is elated the program will be stereo simulcast on 200 FM stations. " We wanted this because the sound is so important. We wanted to make beautiful noise" Smith: "People should play the show loud. It’s not a show people should converse in"

The tv show is a collage of evergreens and some newer works. But there is one score which inexorably taught Neil a lesson: the much maligned seagull epic.

Neil explains it all thusly; " I used to put life and death values in every concept of a song and performance . If it was accepted you live it. If not, you die. But Jonathon’ changed that. I spent one year trying to get into the core of it. The film was a failure but I learned it wasn’t life or death"

Neil has found that if a song reaches the stage where it is completed, he generally records it. If it was no good. It would not have been completed. "Music requires a certain naturalness to it. I find songs you can’t get the handle on are not worth it. But I’ve spent months on a song. I spent four month on "I Am I Said" because I refused to be satisfied until every word said what I wanted it to say and every word felt like I wanted it to feel "

" I have a love – hate relationship with songwriting. I love it because it’s so satisfying…. When it works. I hate it because it forces you to dig inside yourself. It is without question the most difficult thing I do."

" Performing on the other hand, is the most joyful thing I do. It’s also the happiest thing I do. The bigger the audience the more anticipation, the more excitement" "When you’re writing it’s a solitary profession and you wonder about the people’s reaction"

"Neil likes the fact that music is in a constant state of flux. "It’s open for the new things: jazz, pop, folk, reggae. It wasn’t like that in the late 50’s when I started. It was all bland. There’s also a great deal more freedom today for the songwriter. Before Bob Dylan and the Beatles, a writer had to serve the needs of the publisher and record company as opposed to serving his own creative instincts. So it’s 100 times better. The Beatles and Dylan made me and 1,000 writers free and we’re all indebted to them for that"

Will he ever stop writing and concentrate on performing or perhaps start his own record label ( as he would like to some day)? "I’ll always be a writer" is his quick reply. "It’s part and parcel of what I am. I wrote for years with people thinking my writing was no good. It’s what I need psychologically. It’s too important to cut away from.

"Years ago I was a beginner in a situation I wasn’t suited for, writing on demand. I never thought I’d make it. Now he finds "exhilaration" in his niche in life.

Tunes are composed on the piano and on the acoustic guitar. Most rhythm tunes are created on guitar. Sometimes he writes music on a piece of paper or records it on tape. "Most times I remember it" Songs have been written in a motel room, in the back of a limo, on a plane, backstage, in a movie studio dressing room. "Writing a complete piece of music gives me inspiration. You know when something strikes you, gives you a zinger. Do you know if it’s great? The public will decide that"

He hears instruments in his head " That’s the vocabulary I work with When I Am I Said came to me ( after auditioning for the movie role of Lenny Bruce) I had heart palpitations. Once I understood the basic core of what ‘Jonathon Livingston Seagull’ was about, and the title of the song ‘Be’ came to me and I understood that was the heart and crux of the entire story. I also got heart palpitations"

" Be as a page that aches for a word

"These lines summed up the crux of the film for me: be the best you can. Be everything" Rhyming is part of writing, but " sometimes you want to avoid it because it can get in the way of the tune’s meaning and emotional flow.

"Rhyme is only one element of the mix. The others are melody, emotional content, the groove, feel, performance, context of the song, attitude of the song, instrumentation. They’re all important elements in making it work"

This fall Neil and producer Robbie Robertson plan on having Neil’s newest LP ready. Robertson, a former member of the band produced "Beautiful Noise" and the new "Love At The Greek" package.

Neil says he has been influenced by a core of producers: Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich ("they made songs I had written come alive in the studio") Chips Moman and Tommy Cogbill in Memphis ("they had a Southern frame of mind, more relaxed and laid back") Tom Catalano (" he got me into more mature types of material and his records gave much more emphasis to my voice") now Robbie ("he’s an extraordinary editor and being a songwriter he was able to empathize with the difficulties in my writing")

Neil’s gift for using the " hundreds of different colours and shades in the musical rainbow" as he calls them, adds an impacting element to his stage presentation.

"My vacation is when I go out on the road" he says "I’m in total control of my life. It’s just me: it’s fun and it’s a good part of the balance. But I wouldn’t want to do it all the time. When I first started I went alone and I had to rehearse a new band each time. I had to even book my own hotel. It was very hard"

Neil recalls arriving in San Francisco in 1966 and trying to rent a car. He didn’t have a credit card and the girl at the car rental had turned him down when one of his songs "Solitary Man" came on the radio.. " I convinced her it was me" he says , recalling that dark moment. " I even sang a few bars for her and she finally rented me a car"

Today, Neil travels in a charted jet with an entourage of 30 including his nine piece band and sound and lighting crew. There’s no way today anyone can say on the surface that Neil Diamond is a solitary man.

                                                                          Articles Index