I'm a huge Neil Diamond fan and I enjoy his music. When I saw he released a new Christmas album I was hoping for an album with new material, only to find previously released material with only a few new tracks. I would consider this a "Best Of" or "Greatest Hits" Neil Diamond Christmas album. You will be much more satisfied purchasing his two individual Christmas Albums:

and

. It's nice to see a new album by Neil Diamond, however almost all of the material has already been done. Let's hear something new!

I can't get my head around this seasonal offering from Neil Diamond. Love him, or loathe him, he is one of the most talented songwriters that the modern era has produced and has, some terrible over-production in the 80s and 90s notwithstanding, always written some incredible material.

The last 4 years have seen him deliver some of the best music of his career, in conjunction with producer Rick Rubin, with the hugely important and impressive albums 12 Songs and Home Before Dark. These, together with the release of Hot August Night NYC showcasing his most recent and wonderfully powerful tour, have put Diamond back in the forefront of the music industry, bookending a career spanning well over 40 years.

Now, riding the wave of these incredible achievements, he releases a Christmas album which is primarily a re-hash of of two earlier seasonal efforts from over 16 years ago. There are a couple of new songs, it is true, and one of them, Christmas Dream, is quite good. He also does a passable interpretation of Amazing Grace and a weird and wonderful version of Adam Sandler's Channukah Song. That's it! Three songs worth a listen and the rest re-cycled filler! For a man that had clearly re-discovered his muse in recent years and seemed to be ending his career on a high, this is a mystifying backward step.

Let's hope that the rumoured third Album with Rubin will materialise next year and Neil can get back on track.

I saw the new CD on my vacation and bought it. MISTAKE! I should have waited and listened to some of the cuts before buying it. Can't believe he put out this CD...I agree with "Neil what were you thinking?"...Don't waste your good money on this one!

This was a great playing album...The mix of his tunes within the first song was absolutely wonderful. I can picture him in front of a fire singing and the rest of us drinking it all in...What a wonderful addition to the many sounds of Christmas!

In these financially strapped times, I'm EXTRAORDINARILY DISAPPOINTED that Neil Diamond would insult his fans by releasing what appears to be a new Christmas album, only to discover that it's just a re-hash of his other two Christmas albums, with the exception of two wonderful new original songs, "Cherry, Cherry Christmas" and "Christmas Dream." (And two odd covers, Adam Sandler's jokey "Chanukah Song" and the depressing and dreary "Amazing Grace." I'm a Christian, but really don't want to think of Jesus hanging on a cross when celebrating the joy of His birth. An odd choice for a Christmas album.)

With all the great Christmas songs out there, I'm STUNNED that Diamond wouldn't spend a few days in the studio covering some additional material to release a "Christmas Album Vol. III."

I was THRILLED, however, to hear the FANTASTIC arrangements on his new original songs, as I've found the Rick Rubin produced arrangements on his last two albums completely ill-suited to Diamond's powerful voice. (Kind of like watching Kobe Bryant ride a tricycle.)