Hot August Night

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Hot August Night

Live album by Neil Diamond

Released

1973, 2007 (reissue)

Recorded

1972

Label

MCA, Universal

Professional reviews

Rolling Stone (favorable) link
All Music Guide [1]

Neil Diamond chronology

Moods (1972)

Hot August Night
(1973)

Jonathan Livingston Seagull (1973)

Hot August Night is a 1972 double album by Neil Diamond. ("Hot August night" is also the opening lyric in Diamond's 1969 single, "Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show".) It is a recording of one of ten sold out concerts at The Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, on Thursday August 24, 1972. Critic Stephen Thomas Erlewin calls Hot August Night "the ultimate Neil Diamond record ... [which] shows Diamond the icon in full glory."

The album has become a monster hit for Diamond, and in Australia, it spent 29 weeks at number 1 on the album charts during 1973 & 1974, a feat only reachieved twelve years later by John Farnham's monster hit Whispering Jack in November 1985, and Delta Goodrem with her Sony BMG-based album Innocent Eyes in April 2003. This figure was surpassed in the 1980s by Dire Straits with their album Brothers in Arms spending 34 weeks at number one on the album charts.

It was the number one charting album in Australia for the 1970s, entering the Australian album charts in late 1972 and was still charting in the top 20 in 1976. It re-entered the Australian top 10 in 1982.