Customer Reviews

Gold

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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 recorded six studio albums and two live albums for UNI/MCA during the period of 1968-1972. The original greatest hits album from that period, entitled His 12 Greatest Hits, is no longer in print. But in 1999, MCA did release an upgraded single-disc replacement for that album called The Neil Diamond Collection. The Neil Diamond Collection contained all 12 of the songs originally included on His 12 Greatest Hits plus half a dozen album cuts and live tracks. If you're looking for a single-disc sampler of the MCA period, The Neil Diamond Collection is the CD to get.

In 2002, MCA released Play Me: The Complete Uni Studio Recordings...Plus! It's a three-disc set and it includes all six of Diamond's MCA studio albums plus a handful of bonus tracks from Gold (live at the Troubadour) and Hot August Night (live at the Greek). Every track from 2005's Gold is included on 2002's Play Me, including the previously hard to find single edit of Cherry, Cherry (featuring an electric guitar overdub). Amazon's list price for Play Me is identical to the list price for this new 2005 collection so it's hard to understand why someone would purchase this set when the complete collection is available for the same price.

Prior to the release of Play Me, the most comprehensive collection of Neil's MCA material was 1992's excellent Glory Road. That title is now out of print but, given the similarity in song selection, this new compilation is a reasonable substitute.

The sound quality on this set is outstanding but it does have one minor flaw. The first second or two from the track "Stones" has been needlessly excised. This mastering error is a repeat of the same error made by MCA when they released Play Me in 2002. Earlier MCA compilations featuring the song (such as His 12 Greatest Hits and Glory Road) contained the unedited version.

While this set contains almost all of Neil's essential MCA recordings, I'm not sure I understand the market for this album. Casual fans will opt for the single-disc, The Neil Diamond Collection. Fans wanting to dig deeper can purchase Play Me: The Complete Uni Recordings...Plus! for the same price as this set and, of course, this entire set is contained in Play Me.

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.

This double disc includes most of Neil Diamond hits before he moved over to Columbia Records. Great remastering job. You'll love hearing these super clean versions of 'Sweet Caroline' 'Mr Bojangles' 'Song Sung Blue' etc etc etc. The last 6 cuts on disc 2 are live recordings. I would have preferred the studio versions but may have been some copyright issues. Some of these tunes I hadn't heard before but they are classic Diamond style. Buy this and you'll be playing it over and over.

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!

OK, I should have looked more carefully, but I actually thought I was buying Neil's Live at the Troubadour record of the exact same title, which is fantastic (can still recall listening to my parents' vinyl version over and over). So benefit from my late-night inattention; this is a good greatest-hits collection but it isn't the great live album...

Love the CD and many of it's songs. Have a few songs w/audience clapping in the background, which is my only dislike (like just the pure music). Good quality sound otherwise..

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!

Excellent. Has most of Neil's older best songs ever --- more than 40.
I keep this in my car and play it over and over. Most of my favorites
are on this pair of CD's. Neil Diamond is the best singer/songwriter
ever. This CD set is a great value for the money.

Neil Diamond remains one of the music industry's most important singers/songwriters/legends to ever walk into a recording studio, huge radio play or not...when all the flavors of the month have disappeared, Neil will still be here. This retrospective is a great starting point for any new fan of his, and a nice reminder of why he is still played by his fans thirty, even more years after they first discovered him. I have been a great, great fan of Mr. Diamond's since I was a ten year old kid and my older sister was blasting "Solitary Man" over and over from her bedroom, and it would roll down the heating vents of our prefab little tri-level in Champaign, Illinois. In the years since, I have followed this man's career without fail, and - personal story: his music has been instrumental in the occupational therapy of my autistic son. Listen to "I Think It's Going to Rain Today" "Suzanne" or. in fact, "Solitary Man" - especially the opening chords -, and you'll understand why there is something soothing about Neil's deep voice, the rich chords - Gannon told me once that Neil Diamond "has a voice like autumn." I love that, and think it's so correct - even when the song playing is a 'louder' one, like "Brother Love's..." or "I Am...", you can always hear the baritone of this man not just singing the words, but living them. I am (I hope) a writer, and I have always said that I thought Neil Diamond was one of the finest poets I've ever heard. I know that the song list is on the product page, and so I won't go into detail on that, but I will say that I had absolutely no complaints about this collection other than Neil's version of his own "I'm A Believer" (I always liked it better than the Monkees version) is not included. But what is here, from the studio recordings to the live half dozen songs that close out "Gold"...wow. The sound is crisp, including the live recordings - always a hit and miss thing with each specific artist, I know. I also know that I could have made a play on his name and titled the review "Gold From A Diamond", etc., but guess what, no gimmicks needed here. Brilliant music, important music, and one more thing that my big sister was right about - who knew????