By the mid-1970s, Neil Diamond was already firmly established as a major music star when he connected with influential musician and Bob Dylan collaborator Robbie Robertson. Their collaboration would ultimately result in one of Diamond’s most inventive and celebrated albums.
Diamond, a New York-born singer-songwriter, had been dominating the charts since the late 1960s, scoring numerous U.S. top 10 hits such as Cherry, Cherry, Sweet Caroline, Holly Holy, Cracklin’ Rosie, I Am… I Said, Longfellow Serenade, and the chart-topping Song Sung Blue.
Meanwhile, Robbie Robertson, hailing from Toronto, had already made his mark as lead guitarist in Dylan’s backing band and as a key member of The Band. Their albums Music From Big Pink and The Band became seminal works that shaped roots-rock and Americana music.
In a 2008 interview with Q magazine, Diamond reflected on his experience making the album Beautiful Noise, with Robertson as producer. He recounted how their partnership began.
“We’d only crossed paths occasionally,” Diamond explained. “We lived in the same Malibu neighborhood. We had a lot in common—our kids were similar ages, and our wives were friends. So we’d chat from time to time. I didn’t even realize he was a producer at first, but then I learned he’d produced an album for an artist named Hirth Martinez. That really impressed me, and I thought, maybe he’d want to work with me. We started talking, and I said, ‘Let’s explore this further!’”
Even with his fame, Diamond wanted to earn Robertson’s confidence, which led him to approach the collaboration almost like an audition.
“I really wanted Robbie to produce this album,” he said. “I decided to write a song that could convince him to take it on. So I wrote the first track, played it for him, and he liked it.” That track, the album’s title song, came to Diamond during a trip with his young daughters back to his hometown of New York City.
He recalled the moment vividly: “We were staying on the fourth floor of a hotel, the girls were playing with coloring books in the room, and the windows were wide open. Right below us on Fifth Avenue, a Puerto Rican Day parade was passing by. There’s always something happening in New York. The music, the energy, the rhythm—it was incredible. And my daughter Marjorie just stopped, looked around, and said, ‘What a beautiful noise, Daddy!’”