Neil Diamond, who performs Tuesday in Seattle, remains one of the more polarizing figures in pop music. More than a few critics dismiss his music as pabulum, even as he has received a lifetime achievement award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame and is pushed annually as a candidate for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner.
Rick Rubin has cast his vote, too. The mercurial producer (who, among other things, made Johnny Cash matter again) is producing Diamond’s new, as yet untitled, album due out in November.
But perhaps the singer-songwriter’s biggest fans remain the ladies – even if, at 64, he’s inching dangerously close to Sam Donaldson doppelganger territory.
Diamond’s enormous appeal is hardly a mystery: He writes songs with basic harmonies, memorable melodies and simple lyrics, and he sings them with absolute conviction.
It’s a formula he has perfected to the point that he has become one of the most successful singer-songwriters in American pop, with 50 million albums sold in the United States and so many hits that he can just about fill a top 40 by himself.
But Diamond hasn’t recorded a big song in more than two decades. And while that could change with the new album, it’s basically irrelevant when it comes to Diamond’s live shows.
Fans don’t fill arenas hoping Diamond will rewrite the script he’s been using with great success all these years. They go because his concerts are wholesome, good-timey cultural flashbacks.
Neil Diamond
8 p.m. Tuesday, KeyArena, Seattle Center. $42.50-$75 at Ticketmaster, 206-628-0888, www.ticket master.com.
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