Up on the Roof: Songs from the Brill Building is
Neil Diamond's equivalent of, say, one of
Barbra Streisand's
Broadway albums. It's Broadway that
Diamond is returning to as well; specifically, the corner of 49th Street, where he and many others turned out songs for music publishers. Some of these songs were written there; most were only in the spirit of that modern Tin Pan Alley. Handling the work of his then-rivals, such as "Spanish Harlem," "A Groovy Kind of Love," and "River Deep, Mountain High,"
Diamond adopts his usual hammy style.
Peter Asher patented a neo-'60s production style in crafting oldies for
Linda Ronstadt in the '70s, and he does the same thing here. Actually, this record sounds exactly like you would expect: just call to mind a familiar song like "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" and imagine what it would sound like if
Neil Diamond sang it. Fans can decide for themselves whether it's valid and, perhaps more problematic, necessary. ~ William Ruhlmann