The Styrous® Viewfinder: Love at the Greek

November 28, 2013

101 Reel-To-Reel Tapes 27: Neil Diamond ~ Love at the Greek

Neil Diamond ~ Love at the Greek Theatre

reel-to-reel tape box cover photo by Ed Caraeff

detail photo by Styrous®

In addition to my vinyl collection I'm selling, I have hundreds of reel-to-reel, pre-recorded tapes I'm selling (see link below). This is an entry about my Interested? Contact me by email, please, not by a comment.

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Neil Diamond ~ Love at the Greek Theatre, reel-to-reel tape, is a recording of a concert at The Greek Theater in Los Angeles, California. This album was released in conjunction with a television special broadcast of the concert footage that aired in the United States on February 21, 1977. The television special, broadcast on NBC (and simulcast on FM stations nationwide) was also titled, Love At The Greek. The special was nominated for four Emmy Awards.

Included in the concert was the music from the film, Jonathan Livingston Seagull. Jonathan Livingston Seagull is a 1973 American film directed by Hall Bartlett, adapted from the novella of the same name by Richard Bach. The film tells the story of a young seabird who, after being outcast by his stern flock, goes on an odyssey to discover how to break the limits of his own flying speed. The film was produced by filming actual seagulls, then superimposing human dialogue over it. The film's voice actors included James Franciscus in the title role, and Philip Ahn as his mentor, Chang. The film was not very successful but the soundtrack album was a critical and commercial success, winning a Golden Globe Award and a Grammy Award. Of course, I have that album on vinyl.

I had listened to the album and loved the music but I didn't see the film until sometime in 1975 or '76. I remember the occasion so well; it was showing in a dinky, run-down theater on Powell Street in downtown San Francisco. The theater had seen better days; there were popcorn boxes, candy bar wrappers, spilled soda cups and who knows what else (you don't even want to think about it) on the floor making it a sticky mess that made my shoes stick to the floor when I walked in. But I was transported to another world by the film. It was schmaltzy but I loved it for the music, if nothing else. I had taken a friend with me who hated it and he has never let me live it down even after almost 40 years. Oh, well!

links to music on YouTube below