I am a Neil Diamond freak. I've bought his records and gone to his concerts ever since 1972.

This CD compilation promised much. Great songs, Great conductor, Great singer.

Regrettably the sum of the parts is less than it should be.

The orchestra and arrangements are utterly sumptuous. Rich doesn't describe the sensual nature of the music that Bernstein coaxes from this ad-hoc orchestra.

It took me some time to work out what was wrong (at least for me). What should be a tour-de-force simply failed to excite me. And the principal reason was the extremely ponderous, leaden and slow pace of Diamond's interpretations. His performance on this CD does not display the vocal skills and excitement that have kept him at the top for 35 years.

The pace of the delivery is simply too slow. It gives time for all the flaws in Diamond's voice to come to the fore. I felt that I wanted to wind him up a bit. It is as though the batteries that power him have run flat. In fact the very best part of this album, for me, is the orchestral link between Unchained Melody and Can You Feel The Love Tonight. For some reason it brings me out in goosebumps!

Ironically, the slow delivery gives the orchestra all the time in the world to display its skills.

So, I was disappointed, but like any Diamond freak, I just had to add this CD set to my collection.

Thirty four years ago Neil brings us "Solitarie man","Shilo" and an interminable list of great tunes.Now he takes a great risk recording an album with a collection of movie's favourites that perhaps makes some people shake their heads in disaproval.But he's still a powerfull singer and his voice preserves all its bright and tenderness,specially in themes like "Ebb tide","The windmills...","Moon river" and "Can't help fallin' in love".Diamond is a great showman and he takes his audience (specialy the femenine ones)to a very particular "nirvana".The Bernstein arranges are,in most of the cases,very pleasent ones.

As you can tell by my reviewer name, I am of the baby boomer generation. The Who, The Stones, The Beatles, and the Zep. I'll always have a place in my heart for them. And then there's Neil Diamond. His music was always familiar and comforting. His voice always happily recognizable, and his style unique.
On "The Movie Album", he gives us six decades of films most memorable songs. His still same comforting familiar voice combined with an 80 piece Orchestra, led by Elmer Bernstein, who knows a thing or two about movie music(Remeber "The Magnificent Seven")puts Diamond in a new class.In a switch from his regular upbeat soft rock, he dares to do new renditions of songs done magnifcently by The Beatles,Elton John,Doris Day,Elvis Presley, and even Sinatra.Just to mention a few,theres "As Time Goes By","My Heart Will Go On",and"The Way You Look Tonight".(For a Complete list of songs, see the buying info).He and the orchestra are wonderful together. He pays homage to all these greats.

I am a big film fan(most of my reviews are DVDs), and these songs bring back some great memories.If you need something to put you, (or someone you know), "in the mood", or just want to hear Neil's great voice to some familiar tunes,to help get you through the humdrum of the day...This is it!
It is a two disc album, 20 songs in all, and comes with a booklet,with all the credits, pictures of the recording sessions,and a short letter from Neil Diamond.Sounds Great!
Years ago I had a crush on this legend, now that I'm older and wiser I KNOW it's Love!....Enjoy....Laurie

I'm not going to critique the music, that's totally subjective. I happen to like about 8 of the songs a lot and the others are so-so. Just my opinion, others will differ. In general, I like Neil Diamond's music a lot. Prospective buyers should know, however, that the price of this 33 minutes-per-CD set is a rip-off. That's right, there's only a total of 66 minutes of music, and therefore, no excuse to put the music on 2 CDs and charge a double-CD price. Columbia Records was obviously out to fool the brick-and-mortar buyer who hadn't read online reviews.

Apart from the abominations from "Titanic" and "The Lion King," these are great songs, and thank goodness Neil _doesn't_ sing them as if they were "Sweet Caroline" or "America." His style here is warm, mellow, and romantic, and he carries it off well. This is an album to hear late at night as you are snuggling on the couch, not when you're looking for a pick me up. The largely orchestral arrangements (conducted by Elmer Bernstein!) add a lot too. The only problem is the length of this 2-CD set: both discs are under 35 minutes long, so why were 2 CDs needed? Answer: they weren't. It is for that reason that you should _not_ under any circumstances pay full price for this set! That is the only reason I have docked this release a star.