Neil Diamond is returning with one last chapter from his long-running collaboration and commercially successful run with Rick Rubin.
The 85-year-old legendary singer/songwriter and Capitol/UMe will release Wild at Heart on May 8, a 10-track collection drawn from sessions surrounding 2008’s Home Before Dark and billed as the final installment in his trilogy of albums with Rubin, which began with 2005’s 12 Songs. The project blends archival material with newly completed recordings, including nine previously unreleased tracks and an alternate version of “Forgotten.”
Originally recorded during the same period that yielded (remarkably) Diamond’s first No. 1 album, Home Before Dark, the material has been revisited and expanded in recent years. “My work with Rick was a labor of love,” Diamond says, “and I’m so gratified that these songs will finally be set free into the world to complete our trilogy of work.”
Like its predecessors, Wild at Heart leans on the stripped-down aesthetic Rubin brought to Diamond’s late-career resurgence, foregrounding his voice and guitar against minimal arrangements. The sessions again feature a core group that includes Benmont Tench and Mike Campbell of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, alongside guitarists Smokey Hormel and Matt Sweeney.
Songs like “Shine On” and “You Can’t Have It All” are said to lean philosophical, while others, including “The Secret You” and “You Still Look Good to Me,” extend his signature focus on romantic storytelling.
Diamond retired from performing in 2018 due to Parkinson’s disease but continues to appear in public at award ceremonies and in conjunction with the hit Broadway musical A Beautiful Noise, which is based on his life and songs.
