Jonathan Livingston Seagull | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | ||||
Soundtrack album by | ||||
Released | October 19, 1973 | |||
Recorded | 1973 | |||
Genre | Film soundtrack | |||
Length | 43:29 | |||
Label | Columbia | |||
Producer | Tom Catalano | |||
Neil Diamond chronology | ||||
|
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Rolling Stone | (mixed)[1] |
Jonathan Livingston Seagull is the soundtrack album to the 1973 American film Jonathan Livingston Seagull, recorded by singer-songwriter Neil Diamond and produced by Tom Catalano. The album marked Diamond's return to Columbia Records, and grossed more than the film itself. It is Diamond's ninth studio album, and his first album after his successful 1972 live album Hot August Night. It won the 1974 Grammy as Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or a Television Special.[3]
Irvine Herald reviewer Willie Freckleton said that "Be" is "classical Diamond singing a very powerful ballad."[4]
No. | Title | Line notes | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Prologue" | And here begins our story – the sky, the sea, the flock. | 3:19 |
2. | "Be" | Introduction of Jonathan – his flight and fall. | 6:28 |
3. | "Flight of the Gull" | Jonathan is carried to the heights of ambition, and to near catastrophe. | 2:23 |
4. | "Dear Father" | Battered, and near death, Jonathan asks for reasons. | 5:12 |
5. | "Skybird" | Returning home to show what he has learned, his acrobatics only serve to anger the flock elders. He is put on trial, and forever…outcast. | 1:12 |
6. | "Lonely Looking Sky" | Alone and adrift. | 3:12 |
No. | Title | Line notes | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "The Odyssey (Be – Lonely Looking Sky – Dear Father)" | And so begins a journey, an odyssey, a test of the spirit. | 9:28 |
2. | "Anthem" | "Transcend, purify, glorious." | 3:03 |
3. | "Be" | Jonathan returns to teach the flock. | 1:06 |
4. | "Skybird" | The lesson | 2:18 |
5. | "Dear Father" | Rebuked again by the elders, Jonathan attempts to rally the flock. | 1:14 |
6. | "Be" | Recapitulation and farewell to Fletcher | 3:26 |
Neil Diamond's subsequent album "Serenade" and "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" have earned combined 27 gold discs in Australia.[5] As of September 1976, the soundtrack was bigger success than the movie and it grossed 12 million dollars (movie grossed 2 million dollars)[6]
Weekly charts[edit]
|
Year-end charts[edit]
|
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Australia (ARIA)[22] | Gold | 20,000^ |
Belgium | — | 200,000[23] |
Canada (Music Canada)[24] | 2× Platinum | 200,000^ |
France (SNEP)[25] | Platinum | 300,000* |
Germany (BVMI)[26] | Gold | 250,000^ |
Hong Kong (IFPI Hong Kong)[27] | Gold | 10,000* |
Netherlands (NVPI)[28] | Gold | 50,000^ |
United Kingdom (BPI)[29] | Gold | 100,000^ |
United States (RIAA)[30] | 2× Platinum | 2,000,000^ |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. |