First Album Reviews: ‘The Feel of Neil Diamond’ | by Buddy Gott | The Riff | Medium

First Album Reviews: ‘The Feel of Neil Diamond’

A look at Neil Diamond’s debut album from 1966

Buddy Gott
The Riff
Published in
4 min readAug 12, 2022

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Image source: Bang Records via discogs.com

Neil Diamond’s debut album, The Feel of Neil Diamond, was released on August 12, 1966 — which was the day I turned six months old. I can’t remember if my parents played Neil’s record as we celebrated my little milestone, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they were because Neil Diamond was my dad’s favorite singer.

My father passed away many years ago, but hearing Neil Diamond’s music reminds me of him and brings back many great memories of our times together. Each year on my dad’s birthday, which is August 6th, I listen to at least one of Neil Diamond’s albums — as sort of a little tribute to my father.

When the 6th rolled around last week, I decided to listen to an album from Neil that I’d never heard before — which led me to the album I’m writing about here today.

It was a very common practice by record labels in the 1960s to have the debut albums of their artists contain cover versions of songs that had already been recorded and made popular by others. It happened with Bob Dylan, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and many others. Neil Diamond’s debut album was no exception. Five of the songs on it are cover songs.

I think most of them are pretty good, but some (like “La Bamba” and “Hanky Panky”) don’t quite do it for me. They’re fine, I suppose…but I would have been okay with them not being on the album — which is a very, very good album.

Here are some of my favorite songs from The Feel of Neil Diamond, including two exceptional cover songs:

Solitary Man

Written by Neil Diamond

This ballad is about a man who has had very bad luck in his past romantic relationships and is determined to stay alone until the right girl comes along. It was one of Neil’s earliest hits.

Red Rubber Ball

Written by Bruce Woodley and Paul Simon

This song was first released by The Cyrkle in April of 1966. Their original version was a big hit and was still ranked high on music charts worldwide when Neil Diamond’s version was released in August. Neil’s take on it is very good. If his recording had been released before The Cyrkle’s version, I bet it would have been a hit too.

Monday, Monday

Written by John Phillips

The original, legendary version of this song was recorded by The Mama’s and The Papa’s. Theirs will always be my favorite, but I love this great version by Neil Diamond too.

Love to Love

Written by Neil Diamond

Even though I never heard this until this last week, I’d already known “Love to Love” for many years — but I knew it by The Monkees. They had recorded it in 1967 — although their version was never released until it appeared on a compilation album in the 1980s.

Since I already loved The Monkees’ “Love to Love” for over 30 years, their version will always be my favorite. However, I love Neil’s original a lot too.

Cherry, Cherry

Written by Neil Diamond

This very catchy song was Neil Diamond’s first hit single. I don’t remember it when it was brand new, of course, but I remember it was one of the first songs I ever heard by him. I loved it then, and I still love it now.

The Feel of Neil Diamond was never released on compact disc, and the album itself has been out of print for several years. However, all of its songs can be found on the Neil Diamond compilation album The Bang Years 1966–1968.

However, if you’d like to hear the songs in the order that they originally appeared on Neil’s debut album, I’ve created this list on Spotify:

I think The Feel of Neil Diamond is a fantastic debut album. I would have preferred one or two fewer cover songs on it, but I still love it. Out of 5 possible stars, I give it…drumroll, please…4 stars!

Image created by Lisa Gott in canva.com

I dedicate this review to the memory of my father. Thank you for turning me on to the music of Neil Diamond, Dad. Thank you for about a million other things, too.

My father, sometime in the 1950s. Image source: me
Photo by Kari Shea on Unsplash

The Feel of Neil Diamond is #37 on my list of 100 New-To-Me Albums in 2022. Click here to see the complete list (so far.)

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Buddy Gott
The Riff

Lover of music, tv, books, and movies. Host of the GOTTA POP podcast.