Album: Just For You
Artist: Neil Diamond
Year: 1967
1. Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Soon
2. The Long Way Home
3. Red Red Wine
4. You’ll Forget
5. The Boat That I Row
6. Cherry, Cherry
7. I’m a Believer
8. Shilo
9. You Got to Me
10. Solitary Man
11. Thank the Lord for the Night Time
I am an unabashed lover of Neil Diamond despite the fact that nearly all of his songs are complete fluff, with the rest being as cloying as possible. The passion he’ll imbue banal lyrics is admirable, and the guy can write a solid melody.
Just For You is his second album and it looks more like a greatest hits collection. Red Red Wine and I’m a Believer became famous because of UB40 and The Monkees, respectively, but he’s got six other pretty big hits here. And the non-singles aren’t too shabby either.
You Got to Me and Thank the Lord for the Night Time have significant harmony sections that my friend and I used to sing together late night at Perkins. Yes, we were those people. At least we tried to keep the volume down.
I can’t stomach Neil Diamond’s songwriting, but I love “Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Soon.”
I do a good impression of Diamond and have sung that song at karaoke before. My friend Greg’s sister filmed it once and I’ve been meaning to get a hold of it ever since (because a two-year-old Mariana was holding the microphone for me) but so far I’ve been unsuccessful.
Also…this album cover. That “featuring Shilo” patch is a huge eyesore on an otherwise appealing cover. Funny.
Yeah, that must have been the hit that month this cover was put out. I’d put it near the bottom on this album.