Guilty pleasures

I'm sure every music fan who is conscious of their music taste and feels they have a good grip on the quality dial of the music scene has at least one guilty pleasure.  


For me, it's Neil Diamond.  Although his earlier work and interestingly, his latest work is well respected, most middle agers / Xgeners likely heard Diamond during his sappy middle period (maybe his You don't Bring me Flowers duet with Barbara Streisand).  But I first heard Neil Diamond during a once in a lifetime trip to Singapore, Christmas 1975.  I had never been anywhere outside the UK when my family made this trip to visit my Australian uncle and family who were living in Singapore at the time. Therefore my memories of Singapore remain very vivid, the topical humid air, the exotic smells, 4pm rainstorms, new tastes and funnily enough, the sounds of Neil Diamond.  My uncle was a big fan of Neil Diamond and I recall sitting in his living room with all the windows open late in the evening, with family all around and hearing Diamond's classic live album Hot August Night.  


So today, an unusually warm (hot even) April day here in Toronto while the kids are elsewhere and my wife (not the biggest Diamond fan) is out - the windows are open, I'm taking a little breather and I put on my favourite tracks from Hot August night and I'm back in Singapore.


Also posted on my general interest personal blog.