Let's face it, the "greatest hits" compilations of recent years (Namingly "Essential Neil Diamond" and "Greatest Hits 2CD") failed completely because they featured too many live recordings from later years. NEIL DIAMOND GOLD was released in mid 2005 and is a very impressive collection of his songs during the MCA/Uni period. The digital remastering is simply stunning!

The positives of this CD are:

1. The live recordings only amount to 6 tracks (out of 41 songs). Even better news is that 4 of these live songs are from the brilliant "Hot August Night" 1972 concert, while the other two are from the 1970 concert called "Gold". As most people are aware, the "Hot August Night" concert is one of those rare recordings where many of the songs came across better than their studio versions. And Neil's voice was in its prime, compared to later concerts.

2. There are some interesting tracks on here which aren't found on many of his other compilations such as "Porcupine Pie, "Suzanne" and "Both Sides Now".

3. The price of this CD is excellent when compared to his other brilliant compilation "Play Me: The Complete Uni Recordings".

The negatives of this CD are:

1. While they have picked 4 tracks from the glorious "Hot August Night" CD, they have chosen not to include the live version from that concert of "Crunchy Granola Suite" - which is the better version. This CD contains the original studio recording (which isn't as good IMO). Others will disagree and prefer to have the studio version.

2. A very noticeable omission is "I Am A Believer". If this had been included, I would have been thrilled to call this the definitive collection of the MCA years.

3. Tracks from the later part of the 1970's are not included (eg. "September Morn" "Beautiful Noise", "Forever in Blue Jeans" or "If you know what I mean") but this is because they were recorded under CBS. Still, it would have been great to have them on here.

OVERALL SUMMARY:

Neil Diamond GOLD is a welcome relief after a few inferior compilations (as named in first sentence). The digital remastering is brilliant and crystal clear.The amazing array of songs covering the MCA period has been well compiled except for the omission of "I'm A Believer". The live recordings have been kept to a minimum, and the majority of these are from the excellent "Hot August Night" 1972 concert, and NOT the 1990's concerts. All Diamond fans will want this in their collection, it is a risk free purchase.

Neil Diamond was with MCA Records from 1968 to 1972. This set gathers his best from this period including the number ones "Cracklin' Rosie" and "Song Sung Blue" along with the Top Ten hits "Holly Holy", "I Am I Said" and "Sweet Caroline". All of his other hits are here along with some select album cuts. Other noteworthy tracks include "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" (before The Hollies recorded it), a re-recording of "Shilo", the biographical "Brooklyn Roads" and "Play Me"-where he incorrectly says "brang" instead of "brought". He also covers tunes by Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell among others. The set is rounded out by live versions of songs from his pre-MCA years. The audiences were more captive than in later years. The tracks are from the albums "Gold" (what a coincidence) and "Hot August Night".

This is by far the most comprehensive collection from a very successful period. If you want the best of Neil Diamond and then some from his MCA years then look no further.

Excellent digital re-masters make "Gold" a good choice for either audiophile or nostalgia groupie.

For anyone assembling a digital Neil Diamond collection, there are two obvious choices on the market: "Classics" [Period #1] offers clean original versions of the mid/late-60's hits ("Cherry, Cherry", "Solitary Man", "You Got to Me", ..., from mono pop 45s), and "Greatest Hits Vol 2" [Period #3] covers ~ early 80s with excellent stereo re-masters ("Love on the Rocks", "America", "Longfellow Serenade",...).

In between was another block [Period #2, ~'69 - '72] of big hits ("Sweet Caroline", "Stones", "He Ain't Heavy", ...), and then there are his later works [Period #4] (which tend to more sophisticated, less "pop hits"), to complete your collection. Hits from the "stereo pop" [#2] interval are available on 3 collections: "Collection", "Gold", and "Play Me". "Collection" says "original hits", but it collected later live (and sometimes very poor) remakes: a waste of money. The same block of songs in the original hit versions are available on both "Gold" and "Play Me", plus another block of later hits ("Cold Water Morning", "Canta Libre", ...). "Play Me" adds more songs yet than "Gold", but interleaves hits with duds, so I prefer the distilled repertoire of "Gold" to complete my collection. There are a few live remakes from the other periods at the end of disc 2 which are only a minor annoyance. And I would sell you "Collection" cheap!

Unless you're a fanatic, GOLD is the only collection of Neil Diamond's peak era (1968-72) material you'll ever need. All the classics are here, from "Holly Holy" and "Sweet Caroline" through "Cracklin' Rosie," "I Am...I Said" and "Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show," along with a plethora of album tracks including several surprising covers. (Check out Neil's soaring rendition of Leonard Cohen's "Suzanne" - a revelation in both directions!) Earlier, pre-MCA hits like "Solitary Man" and "Kentucky Woman" are included in live versions which are at least as good as the studio originals, offering a truly comprehensive picture of this great singer-songwriter's first and best six years in the business. Diamond isn't generally thought of as an album artist, so almost anyone should be more than satisfied with this excellently remastered anthology. He is...I say!

Lots of "oldies" on Gold. Neil has his way with any song. Worth owning for the money paid. It will be worth having in your collection.