Greenwich Barry

Los Angeles – June 22, 2018 – On August 17, Capitol/UMe will celebrate one of the century’s most electrifying live albums, with the release of Neil Diamond’s Hot August Night Ill, a live concert DVD/CD Blu-Ray multi-disc set. Hot August Night Ill chronicles Diamond’s triumphant return to the legendary Greek Theatre in Los Angeles in August 2012.The magical evening was Diamond’s 40th anniversary celebration of the original multiplatinum-selling Hot August Night collection that was recorded at the very same venue in 1972.

This 27-track CD of rather mysterious origin is the most comprehensive Billie Davis anthology, but not without its imperfections. In its favor, it does include nine tracks from her 1963-1964 girl group-influenced singles, whereas the most commonly available Davis anthology (Tell Him: The Decca Years has just four of those. In all, it has ten songs not on Tell Him: The Decca Years, but is also missing three songs that are not that release, whose sound quality is better (though not seriously flawed). And the liner notes on Her Best: 1963-1970 are perfunctory, though it does contain a complete 1962-1970 Davis discography. So what most people would pick this up for are the ten songs not on Tell Him, which are useful for Davis fans, but not (with one exception) among her most outstanding recordings. That one exception is the moody, sassy 1964 single "Whatcha' Gonna Do," perhaps her best girl group-styled effort; the Mersey-influenced chirpy warble of its B-side "Everybody Knows" is pretty enjoyable too.