Sunday 24 March 2024

The 500 - #220 - Look-Ka Py Py - The Meters

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 



Album: #220
Album Title: Look-Ka Py Py 
Artist: The Meters
Genre: Funk
Recorded: Le Fevre Studios, Atlanta, Georgia
Released:  December, 1969 
My age at release: 4
How familiar was I with it before this week: Not at all
Is it on the 2020 list? Yes, moving down 195 places to position 415
Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist:
 Look-Ka Py Py
Initially, I thought  The Meters’ second studio record, Look-Ka Py Py, would be a new discovery. In many ways, it was. It turns out, I have heard songs by The Meters before – their distinct instrumental brand of New Orleans Funk making it an immediate reminder. Some rudimentary research showed their music has been featured in several commercials and on television programs and movies which I was aware of.
An example was The Meters’ biggest hit, Cissy Strut, which was featured humorously in the 2020 Danish black comedy Druk (labelled Another Round for English releases) that my wife and I watched during the height of the pandemic. The film stars Mads Mikkelsen, who had already secured success in Hollywood as the Bond villain Le Chiffre in Casino Royale (2006) and as Dr. Hannibal Lecter in the television series Hannibal (2013-15).
Danish movie poster for Druk (2020)
Druk/Another Round tells the story of four high-school teachers who commiserate about their careers and mid-life malaise. They struggle to motivate their students and feel their lives have become routine and boring. At a dinner celebrating a 40th birthday, the foursome discuss a ‘theory’ from Norwegian psychiatrist Finn Skårderud.  Skårderud (sort of) postulated that humans are born with a deficiency in their blood alcohol content (BAC) of 0.05%. It didn’t take long for the characters to conjecture that elevating one's BAC to a positive 0.05% would improve relaxation and creativity. By way of comparison, 0.05% is achieved by most adults knocking back two standard drinks.
Mikkelsen on the poster for the 
English release of Another Round.
The group decides to embark on an experiment, punctuating each day with enough alcohol to maintain this slightly positive BAC. At first, things go swimmingly and this emboldens the quartet to up the ante, often drinking to excess in the evening and on weekends. During one scene featuring a robust session of imbibing, the song Cissy Strut from The Meters is played on a turntable. The montage that follows captures the delightful bacchanalian excess that an evening of intoxicated celebration with friends can bring. Predictably, the darkly funny film also addresses the short and long term effects of boozy celebration. I won't spoil it as the Academy Award winning flick is worth your time watching.
Slightly intoxicated is a good way to describe how listening to The Meters makes me feel. The music features light, infectiously melodic grooves, punctuated by punchy, fun bass riffs and a danceable drum beat. Much like the characters in Druk/Another Round, it triggers an impulse to dance on the furniture. Formed in 1965 in New Orleans, The Meters comprise Zigaboo Modeliste (drums), George Porter Jones Jr. (bass), Leo Nocentelli (guitar) and Art Neville (keyboards). Look-Ka Py Py is the group's second release and the title track, along with Cissy Strut from their debut albums, are considered funk classics.
The Meters - clockwise from left: Zigaboo Modeliste,
Art Neville, George Porter Jr. and Leo Nocentelli
The group did not experience much mainstream success but are highly-regarded by critics. Along with James Brown, they are recognized as the originators of the funk genre. They also served as back-up band for multiple artists, including Leo Dorsey, Robert Palmer, Allen Toussaint and Dr. John. Coming across this bit of trivia reminded me I had also seen the band perform on Saturday Night Live when I was twelve-years-old. It was in 1977, when SNL was  routine viewing for me. That performance can be seen here.
Dr. John's sixth album, In The Right Place, which features
The Meters as his backing band.
We will revisit The Meters in 81 weeks when we reach album #139,  Rejuvenation, on The 500 list. However, I suspect I will listen to it well before the November, 2025 date. The Meters is a band  I was thrilled to re-discover after unknowingly being locked up in my head for more than 40 years.

Sunday 17 March 2024

The 500 - #221 - Loveless - My Bloody Valentine

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 



Album: #221
Album Title: Loveless 
Artist: My Bloody Valentine
Genre: Shoegaze, Dream Pop, Noise Rock
Recorded: February, 1989 - September, 1991
Released:  November, 1991 
My age at release: 26
How familiar was I with it before this week: Not at all
Is it on the 2020 list? Yes, moving up 148 places to position 73
Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist:
 Only Shallow
"Wow! That haircut makes you look so much younger."
"Geez, you're stronger than you look."
"You write a blog? I wish I had so much free time to do something fun like that."
"You went to The University of Windsor? I was going to go there, before I got accepted at Western."

The backhanded compliment -- casual remarks that seem to say something pleasant about a person, but have a twist easily inferred as an insult. We've all heard them and, likely, we've delivered a few of our own -- either accidentally or intentionally.
From 15 Compliments That Hurt More Than Insults - And
How To Deal With Them
There are also positive-sounding words that can be considered pejorative. Referring to someone as "assertive", "sensitive" and "idealistic" might convey they are “bossy”, “thin-skinned”, and “out of touch with reality”. Or imply more admirable qualities, such as "confidence", "thoughtfulness" and "an aspirational spirit".
The blessings and curses of being
highly sensitive.
When looking up the etymology of  "shoegaze" -- a subgenre of alternative rock characterized by a mixture of  loud, distorted guitars and obscure, ethereal vocals -- I discovered it, too, has alternative meanings. Shoegazing can be used as an insult, suggesting a band is uninspired, lacking enthusiasm and energy -- literally the performers staring at their shoes as they play. However, the word also defines an important musical movement that has its roots in ‘70s psychedelic rock, pioneered by Irish-English band My Bloody Valentine (often stylized in all lowercase letters or known by the initials MBV).
MBV are (clockwise from top left) Kevin Shields, Bilinda
Butcher, Colm Ó Cíosóig and Debbie Googe
MBV's second album, Loveless, took more than a year to record, utilizing 19 studios with multiple engineers at the soundboard helm. Much of the record was developed by vocalist and guitarist Kevin Shields who led the sessions as he experimented with sound. Shields used non-standard guitar tunings, digital samples and multiple production effects to create the unique sound that, for many, defines the shoegaze genre. The distinctive sound of Shields’ guitar was achieved by a modification on the instrument to allow him to manipulate his tremolo bar while also strumming. A tremolo bar (sometimes called a whammy bar, vibrato, vibrolo or wigglestick) is a metal rod that extends from the bridge of an electric guitar (where the strings connect on the guitar body). It can be manipulated to bend and distort sound and create effects such as  the scream of a dive bomber, a motorcycle roar, a squeal of delight, or animal sounds.
The first guitar I bought had a tremolo bar. As a 16-year-old hopeful musician, this was important because I wanted to recreate the sounds I'd heard from my guitar idols. Unfortunately, I wasn't smart enough to invest in lessons and the beginner guitar book I borrowed from the library was an inadequate substitute. The guitar I purchased was a Kay, an inexpensive student-grade, entry-level instrument. I got it from Woolco, a discount department located in a nearby mall and paid about $65 for it (about $260 in 2024 currency). It was money painstakingly saved from babysitting gigs and a part-time job where I worked 10 hours a week for $5.52 an hour (significantly more than minimum wage).
The headstock on a Kay guitar.
On the day I purchased it, I rode my 10-speed bicycle to the mall. I am sure I turned a few heads as I pedaled the five kilometres home, holding the guitar by its neck while steering one-handed. Ahh, the passionate impulsiveness of youth. That romantic, idealistic teenager seems like a stranger in a distant memory to me now. However, recalling moments like that guitar-laden bike ride home suddenly pulls him into sharp focus…and I miss him.

My bike ride home from Oakridge  Centre in London,Ont.

 Byron, Ontario

My guitar aspirations were put on pause about a year later when I sold my six-stringed “axe” to a high-school acquaintance. I was nearly thirty, when I returned to learning the instrument, encouraged by the arrival of the internet and a guitar-playing roommate.
My favourite, current guitar - a Jay Turser
acoustic - with no whammy bar.
Loveless went on to become a critical darling and is considered one of the greatest albums of all time on multiple lists (moving up to #73 on the updated 2020 list of The 500). It is also cited as a landmark work in the shoegaze genre. Clash magazine called the record "the magnus opus of shoegaze". Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins told Spin magazine that the record was exciting because "it is rare in guitar-driven music for someone to do something new."
So, what does "shoegaze" connote? It turns out that it carries many meanings. It can be used pejoratively to define a genre negatively. Or it can be understood as an evolutionary step in music technology and sound. However, my researched revealed a more practical etymology. When performing live, a shoegaze guitarist needs many “effect” pedals that can be manipulated with the feet. Consequently, to replicate the "studio sound", shoegazing is a necessity that became the nomenclature for the genre it created.

An array of foot effect pedals by which a guitarist manipulates

the instrument's sound.

MBV only released three studio records but, following a 10-year hiatus, they regrouped in 2013 with the classic line-up from Loveless. They are currently working on new material and Shields has hinted of another "experimental album" and "something more melodic and song oriented." As a new fan, I'll be sure to check both out.

Sunday 10 March 2024

The 500 - #222 - New Orleans Piano - Professor Longhair

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 



Album: #222
Album Title: New Orleans Piano
Artist: Professor Longhair
Genre: Blues, New Orleans R&B
Recorded: New Orleans, November, 1949, and  November, 1953
Released: 1972
My age at release: 6
How familiar was I with it before this week: Not at all
Is it on the 2020 list? No
Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist:
 Tipitina
A signature dish in Louisiana is a stew called gumbo. It is a meat or shellfish broth mixed with celery, bell peppers and onions -- often dubbed the "holy trinity of Cajun cuisine". Gumbo is complemented by a thickener. Most recipes call for okra, aka "lady's fingers", an edible green seed pod plant originally from East Africa but now cultivated in warm temperate or tropical regions. Other Gumbo dishes feature filé powder, a spicy herb seasoning from the North American Sassafras tree. The dish can be made more hearty with the addition of rice, shellfish, Andouille sausage, ham or chicken. Some versions contain duck, rabbit or even alligator and squirrel.
Gumbo is, in many ways, the perfect metaphor for Louisiana -- a beautiful, saucy, spicy mix of cultures and flavours. There are influences from West Africa, France (by way of the Nova Scotia Acadians), Portugal, Spain, Sicily and the Indigenous populations of the surrounding area (the Chitimacha. Coushatta, Choctaw and Tunica-Biloxi peoples). Louisiana, and New Orleans, in particular, is a melting pot of zesty influences from all these cultures. It can be found in their food, language, architecture and, of course, their music. New Orleans is often considered to be the birthplace of many uniquely American musical genres, including ragtime (Jelly Roll Morton), jazz (Louis Armstrong), Dixieland (King Oliver) and rhythm and blues (Fats Domino).
New Orleans native, the legendary Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong.
Professor Longhair, aka: "Fess" (birthname Henry Roeland "Roy" Byrd) was born in Bogalusa, Louisiana, in 1918, a small town near the Alabama border. His distinctive style of piano playing came from his childhood when he learned to play on an instrument with missing keys. His style, a type of New Orleans Blues, was influenced by the jazz music he was hearing alongside a variety of Caribbean sounds, such as rumba, mambo and calypso.
Professor Longhair (c: 1950s).
In his book, The Blues: From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray, music journalist Tony Russell wrote "the vivacious, rumba-rhythmed piano blues and choked singing typical of Fess were too weird to sell millions of records." However, he served as an inspiration and father figure to the legendary Louisiana artists who followed him, including Fats Domino, Huey "Piano" Smith, Allen Toussaint and Dr. John -- who has two records on The 500 list (#404 and #143).
Malcom John Rebennack Jr. -- aka: Dr. John.
In March, 2010, my wife surprised me with a trip to New Orleans. We enjoyed a five-day adventure walking the lively streets of The Big Easy, enjoying the music, culture, history and cuisine of the legendary Crescent City. We ate po-boy sandwiches and jambalaya. One morning it was freshly baked beignets at the famous Cafe du Monde and in the afternoon, a traditional New Orleans Muffaletta Sandwich from the Central Grocery and Deli.
My wife, Angela, about to tuck into a Muffaletta Sandwich.
Without a doubt, the best night of music happened when we left the touristy French Quarter and Bourbon Street region (overrun by NCAA basketball fans who were there for the March Madness tournament). We took a long cab ride to the Vaughan Lounge in the Bywater neighbourhood on the east side of town. Every Thursday, since the 1990s, well-known jazz trumpeter Kermit Ruffins hosts his BBQ there. The New Orleans native spends the day at an outdoor grill, preparing the food. Then, as the sun goes down, he and his band, The Barbecue Swingers, take the stage. The show is an open jam with many talented locals joining the small stage for an improvisational session of riotously fun jazz and blues.
Exterior of The Vaughan Lounge.
During the intermission, everything comes to a stop and the BBQ is served. A long table is set-up at the back of the restaurant and everyone -- musicians, serving staff, cooks, bartenders and patrons -- fill their plates with white bread and scoops from giant metal pots containing rice, red beans and that day's barbecued meat. It is a wonderful, communal and culinary experience. After about a half hour, a piano is heard and, within minutes, Kermit and the band are jamming again.
Kermit Ruffins outside the Vaughan.
New Orleans is a city worth revisiting. It is a touchstone of many satisfying attractions –  music, food, history, art and culture. Next time, I will add the music venue Tipitina to our itinerary. It is at the corner of Napoleon Avenue and Tchoupitoulas Street in the Uptown district. The name was inspired by a song of the same name from Professor Longhair, his biggest hit and the second track on this week's album, New Orleans Piano. Constructed in 1912, it has been a gambling house, gymnasium, brothel, juice bar and restaurant. It is also a location where numerous live records have been recorded by many musicians of whom I am a fan, including The Neville Brothers, Dr. John, Jane's Addiction, The Blind Boys of Alabama, The Radiators, Phish and, of course, Professor Longhair. He recorded Ball The Wall: Live at Tipitina's, fewer than two years before his death in 1980. It was a seemingly fond farewell to a mecca rich in southern heritage. Hopefully, we will return to New Orleans in the coming years. It will give us another chance to enjoy their traditional gumbo -- real and metaphoric.

Sunday 3 March 2024

The 500 - #223 - War - U2

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 



Album: #223
Album Title: War
Artist: U2
Genre: Post Punk, Rock
Recorded: Windmill Lane Studios, Dublin, Ireland
Released: February, 1983
My age at release: 17
How familiar was I with it before this week: Very
Is it on the 2020 list? No
Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist:
 Sunday Bloody Sunday
Album cover for War, featuring Peter Rowan, the brother
of U2 singer Bono's friend Guggi.
Last week, I booked two plane tickets to England. My wife and I will arrive in Manchester and, after visiting my family, travel by train through Scotland. It will be my wife’s debut venture to her ancestral homeland, her mother being a Scot. Decades have passed since I was there, and we are looking forward to the trip with excited anticipation.
When I visited at age 12, I stayed for more than a month, touring plenty of locations throughout Britain. The adults in my world were generous with their time, energy and resources to make sure I saw the now-refurbished industrial centre of Manchester, the ancient city of York, the pastoral county of Kent, the seaside mecca of Blackpool in the northwest of England and, of course, London. The moorlands of the northern counties of Lancashire and Yorkshire offer locals and visitors alike with dramatic, ever-changing vistas as clouds billow above, casting shadows across the hills and dales below.
While visiting Manchester, I had my first encounter with "The Troubles" -- what has been described as an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland – that started in the 1960s. Tension was high in large English cities because of the unpredictable threat of guerrilla terrorism by the Irish Republican Army (IRA), a paramilitary group that sought the end of British control over Ulster (Northern Ireland) and unification with the independent Irish Republic to the south.
My mom and I were in a department store in downtown Manchester when shoppers were ordered to evacuate the building after a telephone bomb threat. It was all new to me and I didn't understand the urgency and alarm in my mother's tone as she hurried me out to the streets. My regret was having been hauled from the record department where I had been flipping through album covers.
Manchester in 1977.
Over the next few years, I became more politically aware. By the time I was 13, I had started watching the nightly news. My parents played CBC Radio religiously, including the evening news program As It Happens. Crucially, it was a time when I realized that music – classic and contemporary – held valuable lessons in history through protest songs. I didn't always understand the message behind some of those songs, but the passion and emotion were undeniable.
Journalists Barbara Frum and Alan Maitland, hosts of
As It Happens in the late 70s.
War, the third record from Irish post-punk rock band U2, was released in February, 1983. The lead single, New Year's Day, was issued a month earlier and was getting some airplay on London, Ontario, radio stations, mainly CHRW broadcasting from what is now known as Western University. I was a late convert to the band even though U2 concert shirts were popular at my high school and albums clearly displayed at local music shops. Frankly, I wasn’t convinced the Irish band was worth spending my hard-earned dollars on.
Album cover for the single release of New Year's Day.
That summer, in 1983, U2 released their first live album, the soundtrack to a  film taken of their 1983 American concert tour. Shot at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado, Under A Blood Red Sky elevated the band significantly in North America. Furthermore, the video of the protest song, Sunday Bloody Sunday, was clipped from the concert film. When it aired on television, I recorded it on the family VCR along with other rock videos. Ostensibly, I was crafting a mixed video cassette of songs, Saturday Night Live episodes and comedy bits. That summer, I probably watched that cassette 50 times.
The song, Sunday Bloody Sunday, relates to two events of sectarian violence between Catholics and Protestants that occurred in Ireland. The first was on Sunday, November 21, 1920, in Dublin during The Irish War of Independence. The tragedy began with an IRA assassination operation led by Michael Collins that killed 15 members and associates of the "Cairo Gang",  a group of undercover British Intelligence officers. In response, British forces raided a Gaelic football match, opening fire on spectators and players, killing or critically injuring an additional 15.
News Article about Bloody Sunday and Michael Collins.
The second event occurred on Sunday, January 30, 1972. Sometimes called The Bogside Massacre, British military forces shot 26 unarmed citizens during a protest march in the Bogside area of Derry, Ireland. The march, organized by the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association,  protested the imprisonment without trial for Irish dissidents. Later, two British tribunals cleared the soldiers of any wrongdoing, a contentious decision that is still considered a whitewashing of these tragic events.
Irish Times article following the events of Bloody Sunday, 1972.
In the early 1980s, before information on the internet was at my fingertips, it was the music of protest artists who helped me better understand history and my place in the world. In addition to U2, others were The Clash, Bruce Springsteen, Pink Floyd, Peter Gabriel, John Lennon and Elvis Costello. They sparked important conversations with my friends. We didn't get everything right. It was tough to fact check opinion in 1983. However, it is not surprising that so many of those artists occupy spots on The 500 list. War is one of five U2 records on the 2012 list and, even though "The Troubles" came to a shaky peace agreement in 1998, the themes on that record still resonate today -- particularly in light of the horrific events currently unfolding in Gaza and the still-fragile Irish pact. I thought about The Troubles a lot as I reflected on the impactful lyrics from Sunday Bloody Sunday.

"The trenches dug within our hearts,
And mothers, children, brothers sisters torn apart.

How long, how long must we sing this song?
How long?
How long?"



Sunday 25 February 2024

The 500 - #224 - The Neil Diamond Collection - Neil Diamond

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 



Album: #224
Album Title: The Neil Diamond Collection
Artist: Neil Diamond
Genre: Rock, Soft Rock, Pop, Folk, Ballad
Recorded: 1968 - 1972
Released: November, 1999
My age at release: 34
How familiar was I with it before this week: Very
Is it on the 2020 list? Sadly, no Diamond albums made the 2020 list
Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist:
 I Am, I Said
Album cover for The Neil Diamond Collection.
Every University town has at least one legendary bar. In London, Ontario, (home of Western University) that gathering place is the Ceeps. The restaurant/tavern has been a popular watering hole for students, professors, alumni and locals for more than 100 years. It gets its name from the Canadian Pacific (C.P.) railway tracks just north of its doors on Mill Street. During homecoming week in October the taps rarely stop flowing. The tavern is so staggeringly popular on that weekend a staffer has the sole job of replenishing kegs in the vast, walk-in fridge compartments behind the bar. Rumour has it a keg empties every 15 minutes.
The infamous Ceeps line. Circa 1988.
On my 23rd birthday in 1988, I found myself at the Ceeps with a group of friends. While there, I ran into Shawn Burk, whom I knew casually through a mutual friend, James Fast. As it turns out, it was Shawn's birthday, too. We downed a celebratory drink as we chatted about sports, theatre and music. When I inquired  about his favourite bands, he quickly replied: "Judas Priest and Neil Diamond."
Judas Priest in their 80s heyday.
Back then, being a fan of leather-clad, British heavy metal groups was not unusual. Most of my friends, myself included, owned copies of Priest's seminal records, British Steel, Screaming For Vengeance and Sad Wings Of Destiny. However, admitting that you liked the music of uber-cheesy, soft-rock crooner Neil Diamond was bewildering to me.
Neil Diamond, performing in the 70s.
Fast-forward a few days and I found myself in Shawn's car as he blasted tracks from Hot August Night -- Diamond's 1972 live recording from The Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. By the time we got to the closing song, Soolaiman/Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show, I was a fan. Sadly, there are no Diamond records on the 2020 edition of The 500. Hot August Night should be.
Album cover for Hot August Night, Neil Diamond (1972).
Shawn and I became terrific friends that summer. We both had a mischievous, theatrical streak. We got our hands on a video camera and started making silly, guerilla-style productions for our friends’ amusement. One afternoon, we set up shop in the hallway of a local mall, posing as representatives from the Kraft Food Company conducting a taste test. Curious mall patrons sampled marshmallows A and B -- and we dutifully noted their preferences on a clipboard. In truth, both "types" of the fluffy, white confectionary treats were the same. Regardless of the a volunteer's choice Shawn would proudly announce: "That's the Kraft Marshmallow!" It was harmless fun that lasted until mall security became suspicious and we scrammed.
Kraft Marshmallows - certainly London's favourite on that 1988 afternoon.
The Neil Diamond Collection is a compilation record released in 1999, containing Diamond's hits from 1968 - 1972. It contains most of the songs I heard on Shawn's car stereo. Diamond, born in 1941, lived a fascinating life even before deciding he wanted to become a songwriter and performer. Born
and raised, for the most part, in Brooklyn, New York, he attended high school with singer Barbara Streisand and chess grandmaster Bobby Fischer.
32 years after being classmates, Streisand and Diamond scored a hit with the duet You Don't Bring Me Flowers in 1988.
Diamond was a member of the school's fencing team with his best friend, future Olympic fencer Herb Cohen. Diamond was good enough to secure a fencing scholarship to New York University where he enrolled in a pre-med program with the goal of becoming a doctor. However, in his senior year and just 10 credits shy of graduation, he made the bold decision to quit medical studies for a job writing songs at Sunbeam Music Publishing. It paid $50 a week, the equivalent to $450 today.
Diamond in a recording studio in 1963.
I was fortunate to see Diamond at Maple Leaf Gardens in 1993 during his Love In The Round tour. Shawn was with me. The 30-song set was performed, without a break, by the then 52-year old entertainer on a circular stage in the centre of the legendary hockey rink. The performance and the Collection album were reminders of the impressive  number of hits the former medical student, known as “The Jewish Elvis”, has penned.
Thirty-eight of his songs have reached the top 10 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary Charts. He has been inducted into the Songwriters Hall Of Fame and The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, as well as receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award from The Grammys. As Josh Adam Meyers postulated on the accompanying episode of The 500 Podcast, "Diamond wrote a significant chapter in The Great American Songbook". I agree. Why is he not represented on the 2020 list?

Diamond entering the Songwriter's Hall Of Fame in 1984.
In January 2018, Diamond announced his retirement from touring due to a diagnosis of Parkinson's Disease. He lives in Basalt, Colorado, with his former manager, now wife Katie McNeil.

Diamond and McNeil in 2011 when he received the 
Kennedy Center Honors. 
I visit the Ceeps occasionally – typically in the summer when its expansive patio opens -- connected to its second bar, Barneys. Shawn moved to Toronto, but we remain friends. I am tremendously grateful to him for letting me couch surf at his apartment in 1991 when I first took an ill-fated restaurant job in Toronto. He was also a sympathetic ear in 1996 when my girlfriend, now wife, and I temporarily broke up. His decision to show me the film Swingers in order to help me shake my funk was an inspired decision.
When Shawn and I reconnect, it is easy to pick up where we left off – talking sports and music and laughing about our many videotaped hijinks. We still contact each other on our shared birthday to offer good wishes for another year. I am still a Neil Diamond fan because of him.