CoronaVinyl Day 403 (D): Touching You, Touching Me by Neil Diamond

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I meant to post this yesterday, but ran out of time, so I got to listen to Neil Diamond two days in a row.  Today's CoronaVinyl category is "D," and I went with Diamond's fifth studio album, 1969's Touching You, Touching Me.

Though the album title comes from a line from his iconic Top 5 hit "Sweet Caroline" -- which was released earlier in the year on his prior album, Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show -- the song is not on this album (though it was included on the UK version of the album).  Touching You, Touching Me features five songs written by Diamond himself and four covers of other artists' songs:  "Everybody's Talkin'," which was originally by Fred Neil (no relation to Neil Diamond) and was a Top 10 hit in 1969 for Harry Nilsson; Jerry Jeff Walker's "Mr. Bojangles," which became a Top 10 hit for Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in 1971 and also became one of Sammy Davis, Jr.'s signature songs; Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now," which was a Top 10 hit for Judy Collins in 1968; and Canadian singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie's "Until It's Time For You to Go," which also later became a Top 40 hit for Elvis Presley in 1972.

All of the songs are solid, showing off both Diamond's songwriting prowess and his soulful voice.  "Holly Holy" became Diamond's second platinum-selling single in the U.S. and his fourth Top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, reaching #6 on that chart, as well as #5 on the Billboard Easy Listening chart (now the Adult Contemporary chart) and the Top 10 on the pop charts in four other countries.  Diamond's cover of "Until It's Time For You to Go" was a minor hit, reaching #53 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #11 on the Easy Listening chart.  The album itself went to #30 on the Billboard album chart, which was his highest-charting album up to that point.

Favorite Song on Side 1:  "Smokey Lady"
The beginning of this one reminds me a little of Diamond's hit from a few years later, "Crunch Granola Suite."  It's got that classic Neil Diamond sound -- a toe-tapper with pop sensibility, plenty of horns, and Diamond's smoky voice.

Favorite Song on Side 2:  "New York Boy"
I like this one because it's a nice time capsule from a time when a man having long hair was viewed with contempt in many parts of the country, as it was assumed you were some sort of pinko, draft-dodging, drug-addled hippie.  But as the chorus says, "Mississippi, don't get annoyed / I ain't no hippie / Just a New York boy."