Neil Diamond: Hot August Night (MCA)

YEAH, IT IS pretty dismal. Yeah, there's a dearth of R&R and a wealth of vacuous pap for the most part. Yep, old ND has gone almost completely to the dogs, and he even has the nerve to appear for his first live double-LP performance in Elvis pose and clothes, wearing the soft-sewn soul of Rod McKuen on his sleeve. Yes, just like Rolling Stone said, his whole schtick nowadays is a pretense-laden over-inflated self-aggrandizing bore.