Track Listing

1. Cracklin' Rosie - Neil Diamond, Tom Catalano, Don Randi
2. I Am...I Said - Marty Paich, Neil Diamond, Larry Mahoberac, Tom Catalano
3. Song Sung Blue - Neil Diamond, Tom Catalano, Lee Holdridge
4. Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show - Neil Diamond, Tommy Cogbill, Chips Moman
5. Holly Holy - Neil Diamond, Tom Catalano, Tommy Cogbill, Lee Holdridge
6. Soolaimon - Neil Diamond, Tom Catalano
7. He Ain't Heavy ... He's My Brother - Neil Diamond, Tom Catalano
8. Stones - Lee Holdridge, Neil Diamond, Tom Catalano
9. Play Me - Neil Diamond, Tom Catalano, Lee Holdridge
10. Walk On Water - Neil Diamond, Tom Catalano, Lee Holdridge
11. And The Singer Sings His Song - Lee Holdridge, Neil Diamond, Tom Catalano, Tommy Cogbill
12. Mr. Bojangles - Lee Holdridge, Neil Diamond, Tom Catalano
13. Solitary Man - Neil Diamond, Tom Catalano, Lee Holdridge
14. Kentucky Woman - Neil Diamond, Tom Catalano
15. And The Grass Won't Pay No Mind - Neil Diamond, Tom Catalano
16. Last Thing On My Mind - Lee Holdridge, Neil Diamond, Tom Catalano
17. Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon - Neil Diamond, Tom Catalano, Lee Holdridge
18. If You Go Away - Lee Holdridge, Neil Diamond, Tom Catalano
19. Brooklyn Roads - Artie Schroeck, Chip Taylor, Neil Diamond
20. Sweet Caroline - Neil Diamond, Tom Catalano

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1938 in Music
• Released on: 2000-10-23
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .21 pounds
• Running time: 82 minutes

Customer Reviews

Cheesy but tasty
I'll be honest, I've always regarded Neil Diamond as pure schmaltz. Sparkly blue shirts undone to the navel. Cheese with cheese on top. Austin Powers sings..... I said as much to a friend some years ago and he treated me to a lengthy and impassioned monologue about the finer points of Mr Diamond's music and my lack of taste not to appreciate them. Just before Christmas, I needed a "makeweight" to qualify for free Amazon postage and decided that since £3.33 was cheaper than paying £5.00 I'd buy this album so I could show my mate, from an informed position, just who was the tasteless one. I expected a quick spool through the songs before putting Sweet Caroline and Cracklin' Rosie onto my iPod, filing it under C for car boot and ringing him up to say "Ha! You tasteless scrote!". One month later I still can't stop listening to it.

These songs may well be the cream of the crop, I don't know enough about Mr Diamond's oeuvre to tell but they all have something in common. No matter how simple they are, the arrangements are tip top quality, the musicians playing are of the highest calibre - especially drums, acoustic guitar and notably bass in Brother Love's Salvation Show - and as a band they are razor sharp and as together as it gets. Mr Diamond also has an excellent and expressive voice, which he uses to great effect. There is not a note out of place from him or the band anywhere on this album.

I think the greatest test of an album is how long you play it before you're happy to listen to something else. I played this and nothing else for a week. The second part of the test is your reaction after you've let it rest for month or so and listened again. If the songs are like old friends, familiar and worn but just as damn good you know you're onto a winner. I have. They are. Be warned, these songs are of their time - '66 - '72, I'd be lying if I didn't admit that a couple of them lean towards the cheesy side but don't let that put you off. They are catchy and pretty and you'll be humming them for weeks. A class offering, thoroughly recommended.

His GREATEST Hits - Credible Music!!
Forgot your current image of Neil Diamond as a sparkly-shirted, Vegas cabaret superstar, these tracks from his greatest period. A cheap cd, packed full of classics (and all the right versions!), these date from a time when Diamond was a songwriter on top of his game producing fantastic, credible, contempory tracks. None of the over-produced schmaltz of the later CBS years, my only gripe is the absence of "Done Too Soon"

Beware Live tracks !
As per most of the other reviews of this CD it's a good compilation, for a ridiculously cheap price, however i really only bought this CD for "Solitary Man" and "Girl, you'll be a woman soon". Sadly both tracks are taken from the Live album "Hot August Night", though this is not indicated by the usual "(Live)" on the track listing. So be warned, if you want studio versions of these or "Kentucky woman" which is taken from the album "Gold-Live" look elsewhere.