This a a wonderful gift to Diamondheads everywhere. IN MY LIFETIME is a musical biography with little tidbits of information which the artist shares with his fans. It's fun listening to the original cuts to my old favorites as well as the early demos and reading in Neil's own words how the songs came about, etc. Until I bought this set I didn't realize that the demo of "Cherry, Cherry" was released instead of the "official" recording which used drums & horns. Both versions are included in this set as well as demos of other songs from 1958 when Neil was just 17 years old. There are 70 songs in all, a real treasure. There is so much here including the notes, pictures & discography that it took me two evenings to listen to and read everything - and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. If you're a Neil Diamond fan this is a must for your collection.

This is to date the definitive Neil Diamond collection for the simple fact that not only does it sound great, but for the first time ever, Sony cross-licensed the original masters of 14 of Neil's greatest hits from his former label, Uni (now Universal Music Group), and included most of the original studio recordings of his even earlier hits from the Bang! label. The Bang! catalogue was acquired by Sony in the early 1980's, and they issued an essential 12 track album (The Early Classics), and all those titles appear on In My Lifetime but not all of them are the original studio versions. I suppose that was done to continue to make Early Classics required for those of us who require the original versions.

There is a lot of previously rare or unreleased material on this mostly chronologically arranged collection. I have always felt that Diamond seemed to lose his edge around the late 70's even though he continued to have some nice easy listening hits, he went from being a sure thing to one you'd want to be cautious about before you spent the money on his latest works. Even worse, it seemed that by the late 1980's early 90's, he lost his vocal range. I saw him in concert around 1988 and was shocked by how bad his voice was as well as how he seemed bent on convincing the audience that UB 40's (then)recent #1 cover of "Red Red Wine" was his and that he was taking it back by doing it their way. Believe me, his original way was much better. I was embarrassed for him. After the concert, I had all but written Neil off as someone I would not be buying in the future.

I am happy to say that I was very pleasantly surprised in 1992 when he did Tennessee Moon. It was the first new Neil Diamond album in a great while that was fresh and written for the limitations of his older voice. When I bought In My Lifetime, I was also impressed with the new recordings. I had some of my lost faith in Neil Diamond restored. Since then he is still putting out a lot of kitsch, but also works that seem like he still can be serious when he sets his mind to it (Three Chord Opera). If Neil Diamond did not have co-ownership (with Sony) of most of his master recordings, I would say shame on Sony for anthologising him to death, but apparently, he gives his approval. The problem with all the other collections that purport to be career-spanning is that none of them use ALL of the original hit masters except this one. If you want the real Neil in one package -- look no further than In My Lifetime.

I can't say that I'm a huge Neil Diamond fan (I don't have a single album of his, in fact). But when I recently heard "Cracklin' Rose" and "Sweet Caroline" back-to-back on the radio, I realized the man has some truly great songs, which eventually lead me to this collection.

"In My Lifetime" (71 tracks, 227 min.) is thankfully organized chronolgically, so that one can follow and understand the musical evolution of Neil Diamond. Not surprisingly CD1 is the most interesting of the collection, with the early demos and songs, near-hits and finally, hits. Be aware, 20 of the 27 tracks on CD1 are in mono. If CD1 is the most interesting, then CD2 is the "greatest hits" of the greatest hits. Blockbuster song after blockbuster song rolls along. Fascinating is "Dry Your Eyes", Neil's contribution to "The Last Waltz" farewell concert of the Band. You didn't know that Neil was part of that show? Me neither. Included also is a 5 song suite from the "Jonathan Livingstone Seagul" concept album, wich I owned and loved in the good ol' vinyl days. CD3 starts with the hits from "The Jazz Singer" remake (America, Love on the Rocks, Hello Again), and coast along following the lines of "Heartlight", which is admittedly not my favorite Diamond stuff.

If there is one surprise in this collection, it's that there is nothing in here from either the original and very successful "Hot August Night" live album, which I believe is Neil's biggest selling album ever, or any other of his live albums such as Live at the Greek and HAN 2. That aside, this collection gives the proper due to a truly gifted singer-songwriter.

This is great for the early (Bang) period - original, untampered-with mono mixes all; but the great MCA/Uni years are over too quickly (it cost 'em to liscence the songs!) and we don't get to hear "Stones" which is one of my faves. There's a nice truncated suite of J. Livingstone Seagull tunes, but the third disc doesn't hold up so well - in fact, after The Jazz Singer, Mr Diamond's muse seems to have deserted him for good and most of this last disc is awful, or worse, plain embarrasing.

I never really knew a lot of Neil Diamond songs. I knew songs that have completely infiltrated American culture like GIRL YOU'LL BE A WOMAN YOU or SWEET CAROLINE but didn't know too many other songs. But I did know the song THE STORY OF MY LIFE which is one my favorites of all times, and I decided to buy a cd with this song. Well, there aren't too many options out there and I decided to get this whole set of Neil Diamond works. I didn't regret it.

The first disc is my favorite, not just because some of his most popular songs are on there, but a lot of his early work is so tinged with 50s pop. HEAR THEM BELLS is an example of that, and it's one of my favorite songs on the entire compilation. But all 3 cds are great, and it's wonderful for long-time Diamond fans as well as newer ones.