Thanks to the sedentary demands of blogging and the 200-person capacity of New York’s Bitter End, I didn’t make it to last night’s MySpace-sponsored Neil Diamond show. But through current videotape and Flash video technology, I can feel like I was there while half-blindfolded and surrounded by people yelling “WOOOOOO”! Check out the clip of “Cherry Cherry” above–and if you have better vision than I do, you, like the Daily Swarm, may notice that Neil’s guitarist is none other than Matt Sweeney of Chavez and Zwan. Yes, really. He’s “all over” the new Neil Diamond record, too. Hey, this seems like a fine excuse to post the video for “Unreal Is Here,” doesn’t it?
I also like that this is one of the first YouTube search results for “chavez -cesar -hugo”:
Neil Diamond rocks out with Chavez (sort of) [The Daily Swarm]
Chavez - Unreal Is Here [YouTube]
Neil Diamond On Bleecker Street, Take Three [YouTube]
Whatever anyone thinks of Rubin, the backing bands on the records he’s produced over the past ten years have been pretty spectacular, and this one is no different. It doesn’t hurt that he’s been using a lot of Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench, either (esp. on the Natalie Maines duet that Benmont’s piano fills turn into a trio).
@Thierry: oops. I meant “the past twelve years”, counting Johnny Cash’s Unchained (IMHO, the best of the American Recordings series).
@Thierry: Agreed on Unchained. Kneeling Drunkard’s Plea and Rowboat, FTW.
Dude, you should have saved this for tomorrow, then it could qualify for ALL CHAVEZ FRIDAY, which is my favorite kind of Friday.