I have been a fan of Neil Diamond's music since the mid-Sixties when he first released a string of pop hits beginning with "Cherry, Cherry" on the Bang label in 1966. [I strongly recommend his "Classics: The Early Years" which generously covers the Bang years.] However, I've never been a HUGE fan of Diamond's music (ie., I enjoy his singles, but have never felt compelled to buy his albums). So when "His 12 Greatest Hits" came out in 1974, I bought it. When "His 12 Greatest Hits, vol. 2" came out in 1982, I bought it. When "Classics: The Eary Years" came out in 1983, I bought it. When "Glory Road" came out in 1992, I bought it. "Glory Road" made "His 12 Greatest Hits" unnecessary; so now with three CDs I owned all of Neil's hits.

Now, along comes "The Neil Diamond Collection" (less than a year after the now pointless 20th Century Masters collection). Despite the fact that Diamond seems to be competing with The Who as the most anthologized artist on the planet, this latest collection of Diamond's Uni/MCA material is the definitive disc for neophyte Diamond fans. Sure, "Glory Road" covers all these songs, but if you're only looking for the hits this (cheaper) single-disc collection has them all. It not only has classics like "Sweet Caroline," "Holly Holy," "Cracklin' Rose" and "Song Sung Blue," it also includes minor hits like "Walk on Water," "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" and "Done Too Soon" (which are not included on the 20th Century Masters release).

Diamond was one of the best singer-songwriters of the Sixties and Seventies and any serious music collection should include at least some of his music. Columbia now has the rights to his Bang material and as such "The Greatest Hits 1966-1992" does a stellar job of covering his recordings for those two labels, but it covers his middle period with re-recordings. Now you have "The Neil Diamond Collection" to make it complete. So it's now possible to own every Neil Diamond hit with only two purchases. RECOMMENDED

While Neil has written and recorded a wealth of outstanding material throughout his career, his albums have tended to be a bit uneven. Perhaps that's why there are so many Neil Diamond compilation albums on the shelf these days. This collection culls the best selections from his late 60s and early 70s UNI/MCA albums. In fact, this set is essentially an expanded version of the now out-of-print His 12 Greatest Hits. And while that album supplanted the studio versions of Sweet Caroline and Holly Holy with strong live versions from Hot August Night, this collection restores the original studio recordings. Hot August Night, Neil's last MCA album before leaving for Columbia, is represented with the stellar live version of Cherry, Cherry. But as good as that version is, I would have dropped it (along with the cover of He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother) for Cold Water Morning, Glory Road and Two-Bit Manchild. That's a minor quibble though, as this set does contain all of the essential recordings from the period in breathtakingly pristine sound quality.

Several reviewers have complained about the lack of certain songs (Heartlight, Kentucky Woman, Thank the Lord for the Night Time, etc.). For the record, this is a compilation of Neil's best work from his UNI/MCA recording era (1968-1972). The early singles (Thank the Lord for the Night Time, Kentucky Woman, Solitary Man and the original studio version of Cherry, Cherry) were recorded for Bang Records in 1966 and 1967. The best collection of the early Bang Records material is Classics: The Early Years. America and Love on the Rocks were recorded for Capitol while most later era songs like September Morn, If You Know What I Mean and Heartlight were recorded for Columbia (beginning with the Jonathan Livingston Seagull album in 1973). The best single-disc collection of Neil's Columbia material is probably 12 Greatest Hits, Volume II. Fans interested in purchasing a career spanning retrsopective may be tempted to buy Greatest Hits 1966-1992 or The Essential Neil Diamond but both of those compilations suffer from the inclusion of inferior live versions of in place of the original studio recordings. The career spanning box set, In My Lifetime, largely avoids the live version replacement issue that plagues other compilations but it suffers from its own share of problems, namely an abundance of mildly interesting (but ultimately unnecessary) rarities.

The most efficient method of compiling your own triple disc, career spanning box set is to purchase these three titles: Classics - The Early Years [Neil's Bang Records recordings from 1966-1967], The Neil Diamond Collection [the UNI/MCA sampler reviewed above], and 12 Greatest Hits Volume II [the best of the Capitol and Columbia years].

THIS ALBUM IS NEIL DIAMOND AT HIS BEST. I RECENTLY WENT TO A NEIL DIAMOND CONCERT WHERE HE SUNG MANY OF HIS OLDER SONGS, AND THAT IS WHAT HE HAS GIVEN US IN THIS ALBUM. IT IS AN ALBUM THAT I CAN ENJOY LISTENING TO OVER AND OVER. IF YOU ARE A NEIL DIAMOND FAN, THIS CD IS A MUST.

This just might be the best collection of his, depending on what you want. This is 18 tracks of original excellent "Neil Diamond". It's much better than his "12 Greatest Hits", and way better than "The Millennium Collection". However, only so much fits on one cd, and this is missing alot. There's also the 2-disc "Greatest Hits 1966-1992", and the 2-disc "Essential Neil Diamond", but both of those have numerous live versions of songs, some not so good, and obviously they cost more. Both are great if you don't mind 1/3 live songs. Overall, I would go with this. It's one cd, with only one live song, and the rest are the original classics. Too bad it doesn't have "Heartlight" though.

Along with James Taylor, Billy Joel, and others, Neil Diamond helped shape the music of the 70's and therefore is still a powerful influence today. The 1970's was a unique period to grow up in, and these performers voiced the fun, the sorrow, the confusion, the doubts, the questions of the time.

A collection like this can not do justice to Neil Diamond, though. There is much more to him than a hit collection can express. But this one does very well indeed. "Brooklyn Roads" is one of the most personal songs anyone has written about his own childhood. Then there's "Shilo", "And The Grass Won't Pay No Mind", the latter being recorded also by Elvis Presley.

So much of his music has a heavy gospel sound. "Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show", "Holly Holy", "Walk On Water" all convey strong gospel sounds. There are the social comment songs such as "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother". Closing this album is the very touching "Morningside", telling the story of an old man's forgotten legacy.

If you're not familiar with Neil Diamond, this is one of the albums you will want, along with "Greatest Hits" Volume 2, and "Hot August Night".