DIAMOND OUT OF THE ROUGH

When Neil Diamond mentions his “hell of a (bad) year,” you assume the man behind such hits as “Song Sung Blue” and “Love on the Rocks” is talking about the traumatic moment when he went to court to force his own record company to release his LP.

Put yourself in Diamond’s situation. You’re one of the biggest record sellers of the modern pop era and your record company tells you that your new album isn’t “commercial enough” to release.

Diamond was so angered that he took what would appear to be a humiliating step for someone of his stature. He went into Santa Monica Superior Court in 1984 to ask that Columbia Records live up to a contract provision requiring the label to release each new Diamond LP within 45 days of delivery.

But that issue--which was resolved by Diamond returning to the studio to record three new songs for the “Primitive” album--wasn’t the “hell” that Diamond had in mind as he sat in his West Hollywood office. He was referring to the death of his father in March of 1985 and the death later that year of his wife’s mother.

“Between my dad passing away and Marcia’s mom passing away, we had a hell of a year,” he said, fingering a package of cigarettes. “I had always been close to my dad and it came as a shock because he was such a vital guy . . . in great shape. His death helped change me a lot.

“I began to feel that I couldn’t hold back any more. I have to go out there and enjoy myself, enjoy my life, try to live it to the fullest. I never had that attitude before. I was always very tunnel-visioned. My life rose and fell on the basis of whether I was writing a good lyric or a bad one. I spent a lot of time thinking about things like that. Finally, I realized I had to take a deep breath and get back to work.”

Diamond’s hectic 1986 schedule includes a marathon international concert tour, a new album and his first TV special in nine years.

The just-released album, “Headed for the Future,” features songwriting/production collaborations with Stevie Wonder, Maurice White, David Foster and the team of Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager. (See review on Page 59.)

“Hello Again,” the TV special, airs tonight at 8 on CBS. Besides a concert sequence that was filmed at the Aquarius Theatre in Hollywood, the hour show features Diamond in comedy sketches with guests Carol Burnett and Stevie Wonder.

And, Diamond returns Aug. 14 to the Greek Theatre--the scene of his biggest concert triumphs: the 1972 engagement that resulted in the “Hot August Night” album and the 1976 return that was captured in the “Love at the Greek” LP and TV special. The demand for tickets for Diamond’s seven shows was so strong this week that the Greek extended the run to 10 nights. All 61,000 available tickets were sold in four hours. Tickets for four more shows, beginning Aug. 25, will go on sale Tuesday. Total box-office gross is expected to top $2.3 million.

Diamond’s success on record over the past 20 years is phenomenal enough: three dozen Top 40 hits, stretching from “Cherry, Cherry” in 1966 through “Cracklin’ Rosie” in 1970 to “Heartlight” in 1982. But Diamond’s live appeal is even more remarkable. The drawing power of most entertainers rises and falls dramatically, depending on whether they have had a recent hit record. But Diamond’s audience reflects a loyalty and intensity that is reminiscent of the Presley devotion.

Despite the outpouring of affection every time he steps on stage, Diamond repeatedly spoke in interviews over the years about self-doubts and other career insecurities.

Sitting in a straight-back chair, Diamond, 45, spoke about the positive aspects of that fear. “At first you commit to something, then you are scared to death until it happens. It is the thing that motivates you . . . fear of failure, fear of rejection, fear of making a fool of yourself . . . all of these things play a part.

“And, you never lose it. I still like to get scared. Before I go out in front of an audience, I like to find a place behind the curtain and just open it up a little bit and listen to the sound of the people talking for a little while. It makes me scared; gets my adrenaline going.”

But Diamond also acknowledged that fear has also kept him from doing some things.

“I was afraid to return to the Greek Theatre,” he admitted. “I was afraid to do a television special for nine years. I was afraid to do a serious tour . . . so I would do a little two-week tour here and there. But my dad’s death helped me get rid of some of that fear. I would not have had this kind of year or taken on these kind of responsibilities without coming to some kind of realization about something.”

Diamond was on tour last year when he got news of his father’s death.

“There was a show the day after he died and going through with it was one of the most difficult things I have ever done,” he recalled. “I was numb . . . in shock, really. In my mind, I told myself I was doing the show for him. My son (Jesse, 16) was playing conga drums on that tour, so we made a deal before the show.

“He said, ‘Are you going to be able to get through this?’ and I said, ‘I’ll be OK if I turn around and see you smiling.’ So, every time I turned around, he was there smiling. We did the show, then got on a plane the next day and went to the funeral.”

You’d expect Diamond to be eager to talk about the TV special--detailing how much fun it was working with Carol Burnett and how Stevie Wonder contributed to lighthearted sketches about how songwriters get ideas for songs.

“I wanted this show to be a stretch for me . . . to try new things, to have fun,” he said. “And, everything was fun. It was great working with Carol and Stevie. I had never done any comedy before and we came here (to the office) the first day to read the script and . . . Carol was hysterical. She is one of those talents who can make you laugh whenever she wants to. She was very easy to work with, the same with Stevie.”

Surprisingly, Diamond was equally at ease when the issue of the “rejected” album was raised. “Mainly, I liked the album and I was angry because I didn’t get a response when the album was delivered to Columbia,” he said. “I waited and waited. So I was pretty angry by the time they did call back.”

Diamond finally told his attorney to go to court. The issue was resolved by Diamond going back to he studio with a Columbia staff producer to record three new tracks. Columbia released one of the tracks, “Turn Around,” as a single, but it fizzled. The album, “Primitive,” turned out to be Diamond’s poorest seller in years. Estimated sales: 450,000.

Diamond believes that the publicity over the Columbia lawsuit soured the public and the industry over the record. “I still love the album, but I think all the talk in the industry hurt it . . . (it) made people skeptical about it from the beginning.”

The affair almost repeated itself last year when he turned in his latest album--a deeply personal work based in part on Diamond’s feelings about his father’s death. Again, Columbia executives felt it would be hard getting airplay for the songs and asked him to record three new tunes with an outside producer.

Diamond turned to Earth, Wind & Fire leader Maurice White, whom he had known socially for years. Things went so smoothly that Diamond, in consultation with new manager Sandy Gallin, decided to try more collaborations. This led to the pairings with in-demand record producer-composer David Foster and the team of Bacharach/Sager, who had worked with Diamond on both “Primitive” and 1982’s “Heartlight” LP.

But the collaboration with Stevie Wonder, on a song titled “Lost in Hollywood,” was accidental. The match-up resulted from Wonder’s guest appearance on the TV special. In the dressing room after the taping, Wonder played the demo of a song he felt would be ideal for Diamond. Diamond liked the tune and wrote the lyrics.

Columbia appeared delighted when Diamond turned in the album and has launched a major promotion campaign behind it. The first single, “Headed for the Future,” is an open letter to Diamond’s four children.

“I’m trying to give them some kind of positive message for the future and a little fatherly advice about learning to lean on people and letting them lean on you a little bit,” he said. “That’s something I had a hard time learning.”

Diamond expects to spend most of this year touring and he’s already thinking ahead to future projects, including a return to films. However, he is mainly concerned with the Greek engagement.

“I thought about coming back here a lot, but I always chickened out,” he said. “It’s scary because the audience has such great expectations. The Greek and the Troubadour were the two places where I established myself as a live performer . . . and deep down there is the fear of not being able to live up to people’s memories.

“But I feel like I am ready for it this year. I’ve been preparing for it . . . thinking about it every day: What can I do? What kind of sound system can we build? It’s a challenge to go back and make it work. It’s probably the biggest challenge of the year for me . . . more than the TV special, more even than the album.”