Neil Diamond

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.

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. 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. 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.

1972 Vinyl Edition

Side one

1. “Prologue”   3:07
2. “Crunchy Granola Suite”   4:26
3. “Done Too Soon”   3:22
4. “Dialogue”   1:22
5. “Solitary Man”   3:14
6. “Cherry, Cherry”   4:43
7. “Sweet Caroline”   4:06
Side two

1. “Porcupine Pie”   1:51
2. “You’re So Sweet”   2:17
3. “Red Red Wine”   3:56
4. “Soggy Pretzels”   3:24
5. “And The Grass Won’t Pay No Mind”   4:39
6. “Shilo”   3:35
7. “Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon”   2:48
Side three

1. “Play Me”   4:43
2. “Canta Libre”   5:28
3. “Morningside”   5:35
4. “Song Sung Blue”   4:53
5. “Cracklin’ Rosie”   2:45
Side four

1. “Holly Holy”   6:18
2. “I Am… I Said”   6:09
3. “Soolaimon” / “Brother Love’s Travelling Salvation Show”   9:36