I first heard of Neil through his inclusion on one of Irwin
Chusid’s Songs In the Key of Z collections: a home cassette demo of The
Future Is Now, which appears on the third volume of the series. More
recently I was reminded of his brilliance by fellow incorrect music enthusiast
and Sheena’s Jungle Room DJ Miss Mei, who posted his entire 2006 album, also
called the Future Is Now, on YouTube after CDBaby decided to cease
production of physical discs and make it almost impossible to find Neil’s
album.
Which is a huge shame, as it really is a wonderful thing. As
Neil himself said at the time of release, ‘I take great pride in presenting my
debut album… Having been a music lover nearly all of my life, I consider this
album as a coming to fruition of really “finding myself” musically.’
Neil was, he tells us, ‘An avid listener of popular songs on
the radio as early as the age of five.’ A few years later, at his mother’s
insistence, he ‘Took piano lessons for a couple of years… which came in handy
in the future. In high school, I discovered I had a good singing voice. I would
sing many of the popular songs of that era to myself, but was too shy to pursue
this skill before audiences. Decades later, having overcome my shyness, I
started performing in karaoke events in clubs.’ These karaoke spots emboldened
him and encouraged him to pursue his dream of releasing his own music.
Neil purchased his own synthesizer, and found himself a studio,
Olive Juice, to record his debut full-length album. Eleven of the 12 tracks on The
Future Is Now were written by Neil himself: the twelfth, Broken Heart,
was composed by his friend Andrew Singer, aka rap artist soce the elemental wizard
(all lower case, just like k.d. lang). Many of the tracks on the album
originally appeared on a demo cassette, released in 1998 under the name Neil
Darins. That cassette also includes several Neil Dick originals that would not be
re-recorded for The Future Is Now, including the rather sweet I Really
Flipped Over You, and The Edmonton Song.
In the 1950s, Neil was at school with Chuck Negron, a
founding member of the band Three Dog Night. The pair reconnected backstage in
2004, and one of the tracks on the album, It’s a Small World tells the
story of their friendship.
An active member of New York’s LGBTQ community (he gets a
credit on the soundtrack to the 1995 film Wigstock: the Movie), having
recently turned 78 (he celebrated his birthday
on 21 December), Neil is no longer making music but is still working, currently
as part of the staff of the New York Language Center.
Enjoy a couple of tracks from the extraordinary The
Future Is Now, Neil’s ode to Chinese cookery I Love That Red Sauce,
and the magnificent, uplifting title track The Future Is Now. For more,
check out mei Clover's YouTube channel, where you can find the entire album, as well as a couple of tracks from Neil's 1998 demo cassette.
Enjoy!
Download Sauce HERE
Download Future HERE
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