Tuesday 1 November 2022

Diamond Girl - SEALS & CROFTS***

Diamond Girl/Ruby Jean & Billie Lee/Intone My Servant/We May Never Pass This Way (Again)/Nine Houses/ Standin' On A Mountain Top/Its Gonna Come Down (On You)/Jessica/Dust On My Saddle/Wisdom

Diamond Girl was the most commercially successful album from the soft rock duo Seals & Crofts. Although very prominent in the USA during the early seventies they made minimal impact upon the British rock scene. The title track was a US No. 6 hit. (US:4)

“This is soft rock that seems just a pale imitation of Steely Dan and The Eagles, with vocals that sound vaguely like James Taylor and lots of lyrics about rivers, trees and rolling hills. The hippie attitude seems more phoney than an honest sentiment, and to boot there really isn't much good music here at all. The title track and Intone My Servant are the only cuts here worth hearing, and even they aren't really anything special. As for the rest, there's a lot of just plain, white-bread songs that aren't memorable and don't have any staying power.”

“Soft rock at it's best and beautiful in many ways, from the lyrics, through the music, to the now seemingly naive world view of peace and love. Sweet harmonies and great tunes complete the package.”

“Seals and Crofts were a unique soft rock duo whose songs reflected the flavour of the US West Coast heartland. Diamond Girl was one of their best albums. Beautiful harmonies and arrangements can be found in almost every song. Both singers were of the Baha’i faith, and their religious beliefs of peace and world harmony underpin many of the songs.”

Diamond Girl was a combination of AM radio pop, folk and country. Where Summer Breeze had more acoustic folk songs, this album appealed to just about everyone. Superb harmonizing, songwriting and acoustic and mandolin guitars all added to the appeal of this duo.”

“This album represents a near perfect synthesis of folk, country, rock and pop. Lyrically infused with the very best of New Age sensibility and showering the ear with crystalline harmonies, utterly fabulous string playing and remarkable contributions from the sidemen, this work reminds us of how successfully far-reaching the pop music of this era actually was and conversely, how far the modern genre has generally fallen.”

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