The Analog Kid blog has been featuring out-of-print ’80s albums on “The Lost Boys” series for quite a while, and now it’s time for the ’70s to join the party! “Lost In The Flood: Hard-To-Find ’70s Albums” will give you the chance to listen to some great music from the ’70s that can no longer be easily acquired on-line or at your local record store (especially since many of you probably no longer even HAVE a local record store!).

 

Neil Diamond began his recording career with Bang Records in the mid-’60s, and all of his famous early singles (“Solitary Man,” “Kentucky Woman,” and “Cherry Cherry” among them) were released by the label. By 1968, Neil had moved on to greener pastures with Uni/MCA (and, eventually, Columbia), but that didn’t stop Bang from capitalizing on Diamond’s new-found stardom. The label released multiple compilations without Neil’s involvement in the early ’70s, and one of those albums was 1973’s Double Gold.

Double Gold was released at the height of Diamond’s post-Hot August Night fame, and it’s actually a really nice collection of the majority of his Bang recordings. It even contains two songs that never appeared on a Diamond album for Bang: “Crooked Street” and “Shot Down.” Both are likely demo recordings that were never intended to be released, and Diamond certainly wasn’t happy about their inclusion. These two songs were excluded from the 2011 compilation Neil Diamond: The Bang Years 1966-1968, and neither track has ever been officially released on CD.

The rest of Double Gold features the best stereo versions of songs from Neil’s two Bang albums (1966’s The Feel Of Neil Diamond and 1967’s Just For You). The Bang Years compilation from 2011 sounds fantastic, but it features the original mono mixes rather than the stereo tracks. Many of these mixes are quite different from their mono counterparts, and in some cases even the vocal track is different. Double Gold will certainly never see the light of day on CD, so I have done my best to properly transfer these classic recordings to digital for you. If you’re a Neil fan like I am, I’ve got the feeling that you’re going to die when you hear them…

 

Double Gold

Neil Diamond: Double Gold

Bang Records, 1973

Vinyl rip courtesy of the Analog Kid

 

1. “I’m A Believer” (Diamond)

I’m A Believer

2. “Monday, Monday” (Phillips)

Monday Monday

3. “The Long Way Home” (Diamond)

The Long Way Home

4. “I’ll Come Running” (Diamond)

I’ll Come Running

5. “Red Red Wine” (Diamond)

Red Red Wine

6. “Solitary Man” (Diamond)

Solitary Man

7. “New Orleans” (Royster/Guide)

New Orleans

8. “Cherry Cherry” (Diamond)

Cherry, Cherry

9. “Some Day Baby” (Diamond)

Some Day Baby

10. “Girl You’ll Be A woman Soon” (Diamond)

Girl You’ll Be A Woman Soon

11. “Shilo” (Diamond)

Shilo

12. “Do It” (Diamond)

Do It

13. “Oh No No (I Got The Feeling)” (Diamond)

Oh No No (I Got The Feeling)

14. “Love To Love – Trio Music” (Diamond)

Love To Love- Trio Music

15. “Thank The Lord For The Night Time” (Diamond)

Thank The Lord For The Night Time

16. “Kentucky Woman” (Diamond)

Kentucky Woman

17. “The Boat That I Row” (Diamond)

The Boat That I Row

18. “You Got To Me” (Diamond)

You Got To Me

19. “You’ll Forget” (Diamond)

You’ll Forget

20. “Crooked Street” (Diamond)

Crooked Street

21. “Shot Down” (Diamond)

Shot Down

_______________________________________________________

Bonus Tracks!

The first rule of The Analog Kid blog is that if you write about a song on the Analog Kid blog, you share the song on the Analog Kid blog.

The Bang Years_ 1966-1968

Neil Diamond: “Hanky Panky” (Barry/Greenwich)

Hanky Panky

Neil Diamond: “Red Rubber Ball” (Simon/Woodley)

Red Rubber Ball

Neil Diamond: “La Bamba” (Traditional)

La Bamba

Neil Diamond: “The Time Is Now” (Diamond)

The Time Is Now

From the album The Bang Years: 1966-1968

Columbia Records, 2011

 

Note: the four bonus tracks are the only four songs that Neil Diamond recorded for Bang that do not appear on Double Gold. So yeah, this post contains every single solitary song that Neil released on Bang Records. Neat, eh?

About The Analog Kid

"I'm 5-foot-8, 123 pounds. I have, uh, brown hair, blue eyes. I enjoy surfing, backgammon and men who aren't afraid to cry."

11 responses »

  1. margotbean says:

    I have been looking for this on CD for over a decade! And now… here it is, all digitized and ready to download.
    I don’t know if you have any idea how much this means to me… Maybe you do.
    Either way, THANK YOU so very much!!!

  2. Kathy says:

    I have about 12 of Neil Diamond albums from the seventies in storage, including the Double Gold, but I don’t think I gave the Bang Years. Are any of his albums from the seventies selling to collectors?

    • The Bang records are worth a little something if they’re in really good shape (especially the first 2 studio albums). There are millions of copies of those ’70s LPs on Uni/MCA and Columbia, so they don’t really fetch much on the open market.

  3. IvƔn Hidalgo says:

    any download of this gem?

  4. You are my new hero, Analog Kid. I had this double album as a child, and have always wanted to hear it again. Every song on it is, yes, a “gem”.

  5. Glen saueracker says:

    I have the double album 70s studio analog records

  6. Michael Scott says:

    MP3 rather than lossless i.e. FLAC? Finally have a chance to capture this collection’s quality of the material (the whole point of the exercise?) and its dumbed down with compromised audio quality. It would have been soooo easy to leave lossless in FLAC and nearly nothing in size difference, then allow those who don’t care if its lossy convert it themselves…amazing fail here, but its your place. Just bought it on eBay in mint- condition for $8, shipped. Will rip to FLAC and in 4-5 days be where this should have been in the first place. Sigh…but the solution is near šŸ˜‰

  7. JudeMac says:

    I’d like to put this one on my BLOG but will get a higher bit rate version from my sources.

  8. JudeMac says:

    Going up on my BLOG very soon, much better quality then this post here.

    Site: https://judemacforever.com/

    Complete BANG recordings in Mono / Stereo by Neil Diamond
    *Coming to my BLOG soon!*
    Tracks
    ORIGINAL MONO MIXES:
    101 Solitary Man
    102 Red Rubber Ball
    103 La Bamba
    104 Do It
    105 Hanky Panky
    106 Monday Monday
    107 New Orleans
    108 Someday Baby
    109 I Got The Feelin’ (Oh No No)
    110 I’ll Come Running
    111 Love To Love
    112 Cherry Cherry
    113 Girl You’ll Be A Woman Soon
    114 The Long Way Home
    115 Red Red Wine
    116 You’ll Forget
    117 The Boat That I Row
    118 I’m A Believer (Version 1)
    119 Shilo (Version 1)
    120 You Got To Me
    121 Thank The Lord For The Night Time
    122 Kentucky Woman
    123 The Time Is Now
    124 Shot Down
    125 Crooked Street
    126 Shilo (Version 2)
    ORIGINAL STEREO MIXES:
    201 Solitary Man
    202 Red Rubber Ball
    203 La Bamba
    204 Do It
    205 Hanky Panky
    206 Monday Monday
    207 New Orleans
    208 Someday Baby
    209 I Got The Feelin’ (Oh No No)
    210 Love To Love
    211 Cherry Cherry
    212 Girl You’ll Be A Woman Soon
    213 Red Red Wine
    214 The Boat That I Row
    215 I’m A Believer (Version 1)
    216 Shilo (Version 1)
    217 You Got To Me
    218 Thank The Lord For The Night Time
    219 I’m A Believer (Version 2)
    220 Shilo (Version 2)
    1978 “FROG KING” REMIXES:
    301 Cherry Cherry 302 I Got The Feelin’ (Oh No No)
    303 Shilo (Version 2)
    304 Girl You’ll Be A Woman Soon
    305 Do It
    306 You Got To Me
    307 Solitary Man
    308 Kentucky Woman
    309 Red Red Wine
    310 I’m A Believer (Version 2)
    EXTRA MONO MIXES:
    311 Do It (Revised 45 Mix)
    312 You Got To Me (45 Mix)
    313 Red Red Wine (45 Mix)
    314 Cherry Cherry (Alternate Version)

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