''Beautiful Noise'' is the tenth album by

Neil Diamond Neil Leslie Diamond (born January 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. He has sold more than 130 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling musicians of all time. He has had ten No. 1 singles on the Hot 100 and Adul ...

and his third with

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

, released in 1976. "Dry Your Eyes" was performed with The Band at their farewell show and is featured in Martin Scorsese's '' The Last Waltz''.

Overview

''Beautiful Noise'' marked a radical departure in production, style, arrangements and compositional diversity for Diamond. It was billed at the time of its release as something of a "comeback" album for the artist, and did mark a new and highly productive phase of his recording and touring career. The album produced three singles: "

If You Know What I Mean "If You Know What I Mean" is a song written and recorded by Neil Diamond. It is a track from Diamond's 1976 album, ''Beautiful Noise'', and was his third number 1 on the Adult Contemporary (chart), Easy Listening chart, where it spent two weeks. ...

", " Don't Think... Feel", and the title track, "Beautiful Noise". "If You Know What I Mean" was a No. 1 hit on Billboard's Easy Listening chart and reached No. 11 on the

US Hit Parade The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

. "Don't Think... Feel" reached No. 43 in the U.S. charts, while "Beautiful Noise" reached No. 13 on the UK Singles Chart, No. 7 in South Africa and No. 6 in the then West Germany. It also made it to No. 6 in Switzerland, No. 8 in Austria, No. 3 in the Netherlands and No. 6 in Flemish Belgium. ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' said of the title song "orchestration begins the tune as Diamond steps in with his well-known vocal style includes a revolving crousel organ." ''

Record World ''Record World'' magazine was one of the three main music industry trade magazines in the United States, along with '' Billboard'' and '' Cashbox''. It was founded in 1946 under the name ''Music Vendor'', but in 1964 it was changed to ''Record Wo ...

'' said that "an accordian lends a distinct, atmospheric sound" to the track. The album was produced by

Robbie Robertson Jaime Royal "Robbie" Robertson, OC (born July 5, 1943), is a Canadian musician. He is best known for his work as lead guitarist and songwriter for the Band, and for his career as a solo recording artist. With the deaths of Richard Manuel in ...

, known for his work with The Band. Garth Hudson of The Band also contributed organ to several songs.

Track listing

All tracks composed by

, except "Dry Your Eyes" by Diamond and

Personnel

– vocals,

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass guitar ...

dobro Dobro is an American brand of resonator guitars, currently owned by Gibson and manufactured by its subsidiary Epiphone. The term "dobro" is also used as a generic term for any wood-bodied, single-cone resonator guitar. The Dobro was originally ...

* Richard Bennett,

, Jesse Ed Davis – guitar *Bob Boucher - bass guitar, ARP * Larry Knechtel – piano,

Fender Rhodes The Rhodes piano (also known as the Fender Rhodes piano) is an electric piano invented by Harold Rhodes, which became popular in the 1970s. Like a conventional piano, the Rhodes generates sound with keys and hammers, but instead of strings, th ...

*Alan Lindgren - piano, synthesizer *Dennis St. John –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

, percussion *

David Paich David Frank Paich (born June 25, 1954) is an American musician, best known as the co-founder, principal songwriter, keyboardist and singer of the rock band Toto since 1977. He wrote or co-wrote much of Toto's original material, including the ba ...

–

, piano * Garth Hudson –

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...

, Lowrey organ * Jim Keltner, Russ Kunkel – drums * Jim Gordon – drums, congas, harmony vocals *

James Newton Howard James Newton Howard (born June 9, 1951) is an American film composer, music producer and keyboardist. He has scored over 100 films and is the recipient of a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, and nine nominations for Academy Awards. His film scores ...

– ARP, synthesizer * Joe Lala – percussion, tambourine,

congas The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), and tumba or salidor (lowest) ...

Dr. John Malcolm John Rebennack Jr. (November 20, 1941 – June 6, 2019), better known by his stage name Dr. John, was an American singer and songwriter. His music encompassed New Orleans blues, jazz, funk, and R&B. Active as a session musician from t ...

–

* Bob James – piano,

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

, Fender Rhodes *

Tommy Morgan Thomas Morgan Edwards (December 4, 1932 – June 23, 2022) was an American harmonicist and session musician, who had been active since the 1950s. He was considered one of the most heard harmonica players in the world, playing in over 500 fea ...

–

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica inclu ...

*Bob Findley – trumpet * Jerome Richardson –

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

*Linda Press – backing vocals *Nick DeCaro – arrangements, accordion

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

1976 albums Albums produced by Robbie Robertson Columbia Records albums Neil Diamond albums Albums recorded at Shangri-La (recording studio) Albums with cover art by Reid Miles {{1970s-rock-album-stub