Neil Diamond: Serenade : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

"I've seen the light," the first song begins, and Neil Diamond reads his line with the slovenly confidence of an illuminated saloon singer, a cosmic Sinatra hinting at some grand message to come. But all that Diamond has to offer are bland musings adrift on an empty sea of strings, a handful of spiritual clichés ("Plainly it is all a circle") pegged to a gallery of culture heroes — from Picasso to Longfellow to Christ—and sung in a variety of dialects either embarrassing or aggravating, depending on whether sympathy is placed with the singer or the listener. "Reggae Strut," the most ludicrous track, provides a kind of grim humor as Diamond delivers a grotesque Jamaican/Puerto Rican "limbo stick" rap over lumbering violins, stiff-lipped flutes and incongruous steel drums. Mercifully the album's length is a breezy 32 minutes, and during its pompous farewell—"Let me make your dreams as sweet as mine" — the sun abruptly sets on the Kahlil Gibran of the Brill Building.