Neil Sedaka "A Medley to Brighten Up Your Day"

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He certainly sounds and looks better today - although recent YT footage of concerts suggests that he sounds better on stage - hardly surprising given he probably warms up properly for a concert and he's singing in the evening and not early on in the day. When I saw him in 2017, he had been on TV a few days earlier on the same day he arrived in the country and sounded awful, and I really wondered what I was going to see. But he was great. I think there's been some deterioration since then, but all things considered he is probably still very good in concert. The problem for Neil as his range narrows, though, is that so many of his songs have huge ranges, and he's got to find ways to work around that.

[Mister Mike]

Do we know from where the first videos originated? Can't call myself a big fan of his but I've always enjoyed his music and he has certainly succeeded in brightening up my days this past week or so. So thank you, Neil!

[YDKM]

Yes i saw him in concert many years ago in sydney in the 90's he is still "Great" and prob safer with a better piano in the west!

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Do we know from where the first videos originated? Can't call myself a big fan of his but I've always enjoyed his music and he has certainly succeeded in brightening up my days this past week or so. So thank you, Neil!

He was in New York until Saturday. The move explains why the videos at the end of last week were a bit rushed.

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Today's effort has just gone up. If any three songs are likely to remind us of how good a songwriter he is, it's probably these three - the ballad version of Breaking Up is Hard to Do, the bossa nova Alone at Last, and the wonderful Standing on the Inside.

[YDKM]

Ah he came to life on standing on the inside - very good indeed! I like the piano too. As far as moving away from New York - that is the current trend and what anyone who can afford to has been doing . Aged 81 Neil is safer moving away- we all love him and glad he has done a 'safe' move west.

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Neil seems to be thriving in Los Angeles. Today he brings us Should've Never Let You Go, Alice in Wonderland (not a song I was familiar with), and the stunning Going Nowhere - an ironic title for a lockdown if ever there was one. Twice I've heard him sing that song at the Albert Hall, and twice I sat there crying like a baby. One of those rarities where a lyrics is just vague enough to let it speak to so many different people in so many different situations.

[mike edwards66]

Neil seems to be thriving in Los Angeles. Today he brings us Should've Never Let You Go, Alice in Wonderland (not a song I was familiar with), and the stunning Going Nowhere - an ironic title for a lockdown if ever there was one. Twice I've heard him sing that song at the Albert Hall, and twice I sat there crying like a baby. One of those rarities where a lyrics is just vague enough to let it speak to so many different people in so many different situations.

Excellent! Best yet. Going Nowhere is of those songs that, for me, is much better performed 'live' than on record. Even here sat at his piano, he could indeed almost move one to tears. Thanks.

[YDKM]

Yes he is going great in LA!

[pmp]

Neil seems to be thriving in Los Angeles. Today he brings us Should've Never Let You Go, Alice in Wonderland (not a song I was familiar with), and the stunning Going Nowhere - an ironic title for a lockdown if ever there was one. Twice I've heard him sing that song at the Albert Hall, and twice I sat there crying like a baby. One of those rarities where a lyrics is just vague enough to let it speak to so many different people in so many different situations.

Excellent! Best yet. Going Nowhere is of those songs that, for me, is much better performed 'live' than on record. Even here sat at his piano, he could indeed almost move one to tears. Thanks.

I tend to agree with you - certainly most of the live recordings of it have more impact than the version on the Laughter in the Rain album (the song never had an album release at the time in the States!). He sang it at both concerts I've been to - the 2012 one was better. He tends to play his ballads at a slightly quicker tempo these days (certainly that was the case in 2017), no doubt to try and skirt around having less breath control etc as he gets older, and that takes away some of the impact. I would say the same, actually, about Solitaire. It works better for me when it's just him and piano rather than the relatively big production from the 1972 album.

The best versions of much of his 70s work is on the Neil Sedaka and Songs double album from around 1977, which is really very special - but has had no official CD release, alas.

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Sedaka seems to be getting better each day he's in LA. Today we have concert staple Betty Grable, the wonderful My World Keeps Getting Smaller Everyday, and the relatively obscure Hollywood Lady. My World Keeps Getting Smaller Everyday was written for Eydie Gorme (who totally smashed it), and Neil's only version is on a rather odd live album recorded in Australia around 1969 or 1970 where he sings relatively few of his old songs, and instead gives us Proud Mary, Everything is Beautiful and a lengthy medley of rock n roll songs.



Eydie Gorme's original of My World Gets Smaller Everyday.

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Neil is going to take the weekend off, and so this is the last "mini-concert" of the week. He's now starting to introduce each song, which is rather nice. What's also rather nice is that he gets lost in the middle of one of the songs, and then forgets he hasn't done the third song, and it all gets included. No re-takes here! Quite a hoot, really.

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Neil is going to take the weekend off, and so this is the last "mini-concert" of the week. He's now starting to introduce each song, which is rather nice. What's also rather nice is that he gets lost in the middle of one of the songs, and then forgets he hasn't done the third song, and it all gets included. No re-takes here! Quite a hoot, really.

Great fun. It’s a real pity Neil hasn’t been included in one of the at home concert or variety specials, which is understandable in many respects, but he’s such a joy to see and hear. And he’s clearly loving doing this. Hopefully this is noticed and maybe he’ll been contacted to contribute to something more prolific. Who is recording him, incidentally?

Sadly he is recording himself. The last two albums (2012 and 2017) have just been him and piano, mostly distributed at concerts. It's quite a shame really - although he's not alone in that respect. He certainly deserves a last hurrah in his recording career, with a decent budget, decent advertising and some decent arrangements.

Or do you mean in the video? (Penny drops eventually!) I'm assuming that's Leba, his wife.

[pmp]

Neil is going to take the weekend off, and so this is the last "mini-concert" of the week. He's now starting to introduce each song, which is rather nice. What's also rather nice is that he gets lost in the middle of one of the songs, and then forgets he hasn't done the third song, and it all gets included. No re-takes here! Quite a hoot, really.

Great fun. It’s a real pity Neil hasn’t been included in one of the at home concert or variety specials, which is understandable in many respects, but he’s such a joy to see and hear. And he’s clearly loving doing this. Hopefully this is noticed and maybe he’ll been contacted to contribute to something more prolific. Who is recording him, incidentally?

Sadly he is recording himself. The last two albums (2012 and 2017) have just been him and piano, mostly distributed at concerts. It's quite a shame really - although he's not alone in that respect. He certainly deserves a last hurrah in his recording career, with a decent budget, decent advertising and some decent arrangements.

Or do you mean in the video? (Penny drops eventually!) I'm assuming that's Leba, his wife.

Yeah, the video. I thought it might be his wife, I could hear a voice but couldn’t really tell. And it would be nice and deserved if he was able to do something more prolific overall again at some point. He looks very well, though. And sounds good.

Yes, he's still performing from time to time in the States and Canada, but has said his oversea dates are behind him - I think the time I saw him in 2017 was actually his last. That's a shame, but perhaps he's just reacting to how much the travelling takes out of him, and he said he wanted to stop touring on a high - which is something Sinatra didn't manage to do, alas, when he did one too many for the road with the Japan shows in 1994. He really does deserve to have the opportunity to record again for a major label, but for some reason he has never quite managed to get the kind of following required for that in the last twenty years. That's been a bonus in some ways - it allowed him to do his rather quirky Christmas album, and his stunning album of Yiddish songs, but it also means that The Real Neil and I Do It For Applause didn't reach the audience the same songs would have done in a bigger budget release with a full band. As it is, they really sound like albums of demos.

[pmp]

Neil is going to take the weekend off, and so this is the last "mini-concert" of the week. He's now starting to introduce each song, which is rather nice. What's also rather nice is that he gets lost in the middle of one of the songs, and then forgets he hasn't done the third song, and it all gets included. No re-takes here! Quite a hoot, really.

Great fun. It’s a real pity Neil hasn’t been included in one of the at home concert or variety specials, which is understandable in many respects, but he’s such a joy to see and hear. And he’s clearly loving doing this. Hopefully this is noticed and maybe he’ll been contacted to contribute to something more prolific. Who is recording him, incidentally?

Sadly he is recording himself. The last two albums (2012 and 2017) have just been him and piano, mostly distributed at concerts. It's quite a shame really - although he's not alone in that respect. He certainly deserves a last hurrah in his recording career, with a decent budget, decent advertising and some decent arrangements.

Or do you mean in the video? (Penny drops eventually!) I'm assuming that's Leba, his wife.

Yeah, the video. I thought it might be his wife, I could hear a voice but couldn’t really tell. And it would be nice and deserved if he was able to do something more prolific overall again at some point. He looks very well, though. And sounds good.

Yes, he's still performing from time to time in the States and Canada, but has said his oversea dates are behind him - I think the time I saw him in 2017 was actually his last. That's a shame, but perhaps he's just reacting to how much the travelling takes out of him, and he said he wanted to stop touring on a high - which is something Sinatra didn't manage to do, alas, when he did one too many for the road with the Japan shows in 1994. He really does deserve to have the opportunity to record again for a major label, but for some reason he has never quite managed to get the kind of following required for that in the last twenty years. That's been a bonus in some ways - it allowed him to do his rather quirky Christmas album, and his stunning album of Yiddish songs, but it also means that The Real Neil and I Do It For Applause didn't reach the audience the same songs would have done in a bigger budget release with a full band. As it is, they really sound like albums of demos.

I feel as though Tony Bennett should perhaps stop now, too. Don’t get me wrong, he still sings well, and he was still playing live earlier this year, but I think he’s really lost a few steps over the past couple of years. And whilst, again, he was good on the Jersey for Jersey broadcast, I feel as though he’s on the cusp of struggling. But he’s truly had one of the most enduring and durable careers of any singer, and what a talent he is. And he’s surely got another album or two in the can. One with Gaga, I believe.

There has to be a time when you fade away with dignity, I think. I guess Sedaka and Bennett benefit from having lived relatively good lives without any drink, drugs and parties that I know of. Seeing Elton John, on other hand, last week made for pretty grim viewing/hearing.

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Tony had serious drug problems in the seventies, but he came through that and he’s looked after himself since, and you can really see the joy in him as a performer. Elton wasn’t great, but I think he sings with that choppy style now, clipping and biting at his words, and going full bore. I could see the age on McCartney now, though. And technical issues aside, Jagger still sounds just great. Youthful, even. It was a great night of music.

I didn't realise that about Bennett. I didn't see a whole lot of the event, to be honest, and what I did see was quite variable in quality. I did see Lady Gaga's Smile, Paul McCartney's rather disappointing effort, and Elton John. And someone posted Niall Horan's clip on Twitter at some point, so I saw that later. I'm becoming quietly impressed by him.

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Neil has had the weekend off, and he's gone widescreen for this week. Today's songs are Queen of 1964, Our Last Song Together, and the rather catchy Just Call Me, which is from his last album "I Do It For Applause."

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The third concert of the week, and still he continues! Today we have a rather fun song called "The Big Parade," which rather came out of nowhere. It was on a late 70s album called "Now" - a familiar title, can't think where I've heard it before. Been There, Done That is from "The Show Goes On," an Australia-only album from the 2000s, most songs from which got worked into a greatest hits compilation of the same name in the UK (and probably America). Neverending Serenade is from Classically Sedaka, where he added words to classical melodies. I can't say I'm very fond of the album, but we do get a better look at his piano playing in this - and those poor hands, which clearly are riddled with arthritis. It's a wonder he can still play given the various directions the fingers point in. He has my sympathy.

[YDKM]

Indeed he is wonderful!

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Sedaka has produced probably the best of these videos today. In fine voice, he features a fine version of King of Clowns, as well Won't You Share This Dream of Mine and How Can I Change Your Mind - both of which are from an album about ten years ago called "The Music of My Life." Won't You Share This Dream of Mine is a wonderful song, which you feel could be reworked into a great pop record by a modern artist. Sedaka gets choked up on the final song, but it's a fine ending to a great ten minutes.

[mike edwards66]

Sedaka has produced probably the best of these videos today. In fine voice, he features a fine version of King of Clowns, as well Won't You Share This Dream of Mine and How Can I Change Your Mind - both of which are from an album about ten years ago called "The Music of My Life." Won't You Share This Dream of Mine is a wonderful song, which you feel could be reworked into a great pop record by a modern artist. Sedaka gets choked up on the final song, but it's a fine ending to a great ten minutes.

I could watch him all night. King of Clowns is Sedaka in Orbison territory, albeit Orbison-lite.

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I have just noticed that Neil is getting over fifteen thousand views on his Facebook page for some of these "concerts," and that's without the extra views generated by the 2500 shares on Facebook, Youtube views, Twitter views, and views on forums such as this. That's pretty good for an 81 year old who no longer has a recording contract, singing in his living room. No wonder why he says he's getting a thrill out of doing them - it must be nice for him to revive some songs he's proud of that never quite caught on. He's also got an occasional series on Sirius (which I haven't heard), and was recently guest DJ for an hour on Siriusly Sinatra. These videos are probably reaching a wider audience than anything he's done in years - good luck to him for embracing the technology. I notice that the Amazon chart placings for some of his CDs are slowly rising too - a number of them are in the top 40 of the Amazon charts for traditional pop, easy listening etc. That wasn't the case a few weeks back.

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It's that time again. Today we have Pictures from the Past from the "Now" album, but presumably written long before. Gone With the Morning from "Emergence," and Sleazy Love from "A Song."

[Hobbes]

I love his big smile as he finishes “Pictures from the Past.” It seems like he really enjoys doing these.

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Today, it's back the very early, pre-hit days of Sedaka's career