A new digital deluxe edition of Neil Diamond’s Home Before Dark is out now.
Originally issued on May 5, 2008, Home Before Dark became the legendary singer-songwriter’s second album for American Recordings.
On release, it went to No. 1 on North America’s Billboard 200 (earning a platinum certification) and also topped album charts in territories including the United Kingdom and New Zealand.
Home Before Dark consists of original songs composed by Neil Diamond, in addition to some remakes. It was produced by Rick Rubin and mixed by Dana Nielsen.
Its orchestral parts were arranged and conducted by David Campbell, also renowned for his contributions to albums by artists as diverse as The Rolling Stones, Post Malone and Elton John.
The original album was led by the single “Pretty Amazing Grace,” while the deluxe edition features two new bonus tracks, “Without Her” and “Make You Feel My Love.
The new edition of Home Before Dark follows on from the digital deluxe reissue of Diamond’s 2005 album 12 Songs. Arriving nearly two decades after the original album, the new version of that title delivered 15 new bonus tracks to streaming and download, some for the very first time.
The new offerings include demos, early take, alternate takes, and alternate mixes of beloved Diamond tracks like “Oh Mary,” “Delirious Love,” and “Save Me a Saturday Night.”
If football fans were made to pay royalties every time they sang the songs or a particular artist, the last few weeks would have been particularly profitable for Neil Diamond.
That’s on the basis of how many times Sweet Caroline has been belted out, loud and proud, by England supporters before, during and after their team’s matches at Euro 2024, despite performances on the pitch not always setting pulses racing.
Diamond’s 1969 hit has become almost ubiquitous when the England football team are playing a big match. And that doesn’t seem likely to change anytime soon.
“Sweet Caroline has become a great addition,” says Steve Riding, who has followed England all over the globe, including to World Cups in South Africa, Brazil, Russia and Qatar.
“I was at Wembley for every England game during the last Euros and it helped create a great atmosphere, which isn’t always the case at that stadium. We all want to see the ‘good times’ come round for England and this happy song fits that mood.”
As England prepare for a Euro 2o24 quarterfinal against Switzerland in Dusseldorf, it’s perhaps worth pondering just how a soft-rock anthem written a year before manager Gareth Southgate was born has become the fans’ go-to song.
Football, in fact, was very late to the Sweet Caroline party. Back in the 1990s, the NFL’s Carolina Panthers played the song at every home game, locals seeing the catchy chorus as a near-as-damn-it tribute to their home state of North Carolina.
The Boston Red Sox were next to adopt a song originally penned as a tribute to Diamond’s then-wife Marcia, only for her name to not quite scan, meaning it was replaced with the three-syllabled name of John F Kennedy’s daughter, who by chance Diamond had spotted on a magazine cover.
The song became so entwined with the Red Sox that Diamond appeared at the team’s Fenway Park to perform a live version in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings in 2013. Other baseball teams around the country also played it in solidarity following the attacks.
Neil Diamond at Fenway Park in 2013 (Jim Rogash/Getty Images)
Sports fans on the other side of the Atlantic took a little longer to reach out. But, in time, rugby league and darts got the Sweet Caroline bug, as did fans of the Northern Ireland football team.
Boxing, too, with Josh Warrington’s legions of fans turning the song into a staple part of big fight nights involving the two-time world featherweight champion.
“It’s a bit of an anthem that goes across generations,” says the 33-year-old, whose home city bouts in Leeds became renowned for a raucous atmosphere, including at Headingley rugby stadium and Elland Road.
“There’ll be a lad my age singing it, plus a teenager, a dad in his late forties or early fifties, and then a grandad in his seventies saying, ‘I remember when this came out’.
“Sweet Caroline was one of those songs played at weddings, Christenings, funerals and birthdays in working men’s clubs around Leeds. So, dads, grandads, mums, nanas, uncles, they all know the lyrics.
“Slowly it started getting used at other boxing shows. Before you knew it, they were using it down at Wembley when (former heavyweight champion) Anthony Joshua was fighting. It became a boxing anthem that then spilt over to the football.”
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