I remember my first Neil Diamond album the way some people remember their first kiss. Buying the album was a clandestine activity and I wasn?t sure what playing it would be like. As a seventies kid with a passion for Dylan and Neil Young, Diamond was considered the SQUAREST of the Squares. The only way my transgression could be any worse was if I picked up a Tom Jones album or perhaps a boxed set of Lawrence Welk. I bravely picked up Diamond?s Double Gold and headed to the counter at Better Days records. ?You can put that in a plain brown wrapper,? I quipped. When I got home I turned it on and found myself singing along to Sweet Caroline. But the song that really got me ? the one I consider a real classic -- is Solitary Man. It has a great beat, even if I can?t dance to it. It is a classic tale of romantic woe. I was a closet Neil Diamond fan from that point on. With Neil in the spo...
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