I own just about every Neil Diamond album prior to 1995 (mostly LP's). I have been a serious fan since high school (late 60's).

If you are thinking that this would be a good "Greatest Hits" album to have, think again.

About half of these tracks are recorded from live concert performances, and many of those are of low musical quality. "Remastering" does no good when you are starting with junk to begin with.

If you like "live" recordings (and we are NOT talking about "Hot August Night" quality here), then you may like this CD.

If what you want is what your heard on the radio way back when, then half of this collection is going to seriously disappoint you.

Neil's catalog is split across two labels (Columbia & UNI). The last Columbia 2-CD Anthology presented his original Bang material and his post MCA material, but since it couldn't license the rest, Sweet Caroline, I Am...I Said, Holly Holy and others were presented as live versions. No notation was given on the outside of the jewel case.

This latest offering improves on that release somewhat (5 of his UNI material are studio versions), but it still presents live material from that ill fated predecessor.

Which begs another question: Why is Shilo, live? Columbia owns the Bang studio version.

The import Ultimate Collection remains the best bet. It contains most of the Bang material (save for Shilo), most of the UNI material (except for Crunchy Granola Suite), and all the essential post UNI material (Longfellow Serenade, Love on The Rocks, etc).

Columbia, here is a suggestion: There is a comprehensive UNI collection remastered by MCA, why not give us a remastered Bang collection instead of this rip-off?

Since most of the tracks on this collection have been released previously (numerous times for many of them), I will focus my review of this collection on the new live cuts, more specifically Captain Sunshine, He Ain't Heavy, and the medley of Yes I Will/Lady Magdalene.

Before I focus on them however, let me say that the studio recordings of Neil's greatest songs are all on this collection. Listening to all of these tracks, one can gain an appreciation why Neil Diamond is not only revered as a songwriter but as a vocalist. These are timeless pieces of Americana and popular music.

The three live cuts that are noteworthy in this collection are songs hitherto, unreleased as live recordings. In fact, they are songs that Neil has rarely performed live until this current 2001-2002 tour. For me, they represent two things, one the strong writing skills Neil Diamond has even in songs that never became 'greatest hits' and two, the enduring voice Neil Diamond has even after 60+ years.

1. Captain Sunshine is a song from Neil Diamond's 1972 album called Moods. The song was put into the current tour as a tribute to a longtime band member, Vince Charles. The song is a beautiful tribute to the man. Neil Diamond's voice on this song sounds as youthful as it has since the early 1980's (listen to Play Me on this collection as a early 1990's comparison to see how his voice improved from the 90's to today).

2. He Ain' Heavy, He's My Brother is in Neil's current show as a tribute to the heros and victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks and the troops that are currently fighting for the U.S. What is particularly interesting about this song is that Neil sang it before it ever became a hit. In essence, he discovered the song. Although sung differently than the way the hit goes (I believe by the Hollies), the song emulates a feeling of sincerity and love. Again, Neil's voice is solid in this song, although he does tend to talk/sing a bit in places.

3. Yes I Will/Lady Magdalene was put on this album, in my opinion, in response to the diehard fans that continually have requested that Neil sing this live in concert. Many Neil Diamond fans consider these two songs as Neil's finest compositions, and I concur. These two songs represent a more mystical side of Neil with lyrics that aren't as straight-forward as most of his songs. Not only are the words incredible, but the music is awesome. Neil sings these songs almost as well as he did in the studio back in 1973/1974. Truly this and the other three tracks are totally worth buying another greatest hits collection of America's greatest singer/songwriter.

A living legend? Neil Diamond is, and this collection proves it!

When will record companies realize that people that are buying a "best of" album do not want live recordings to replace the original studio recordings? The track listing on this album is great, but many of the songs are live versions, not the version you hear on the radio and love so much. The album should have looked something like this (all studio versions) (I tried to put this in chronological order, but I may have missed on a few):

Disc 1:

Solitary Man

Do It

Cherry, Cherry

I Got the Feelin'

Kentucky Woman

The Boat That I Row

You Got to Me

Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon

Thank the Lord for the Night Time

Red, Red Wine

I'm a Believer

Shilo (the original version)

Brooklyn Roads

Sweet Caroline

Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show

And the Grass Won't Pay No Mind

Holly Holy

Soolaimon

Cracklin' Rosie

He Ain't Heavy...He's My Brother

I Am...I Said

Done Too Soon

Stones

Crunchy Granola Suite

Disc 2:

Song Sung Blue

Play Me

Walk on Water

Morningside

Be

Longfellow Seranade

I've Been This Way Before

If You Know What I Mean

Beautiful Noise

Desiree

You Don't Bring Me Flowers

Forever in Blue Jeans

September Morn

America

Love on the Rocks

Hello Again

Yesterday's Songs

Heartlight

"Headed for the Future" is awful and should be ignored as much as possible. And "You Are the Best Part of Me" is good, but doesn't fit in here.

Your best bet is to buy "Classics: The Early Years," "The Neil Diamond Collection," and "12 Greatest Hits Volume 2." That 3-disc collection covers most of the Essential Neil Diamond. You'd be missing a couple, but it would be better than live versions.

The studio stuff on here is great. Early stuff is in mono, later stuff is in stereo. Yes, as others have pointed out, 9 of the 38 tracks are live, and we all agree, the originals of the 9 are by far superior. Sony doesn't own the masters to those songs, but Universal does. There are a few Universal Collections, Like "Neil Diamond - The Collection" and "20th Century Masters, The Millennium Collection" that will complete the set. Unfortunately, those compilations don't have all the stuff this one does. Want it all, you'll have to buy both this one and one of the two I listed above, but it will certainly be worth it! If you do like the live stuff, I recommend the remaster of Hot August Night!