Customer Reviews

Play Me: The Complete Uni Studio Recordings...Plus!

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

 

 

As one reviewer already noted, there have been numerous variations of box sets containing the work of Neil Diamond's Uni/MCA years. But finally, with "Play Me...", they finally compiled it in the ideal way: complete, chronologically, and digitally remastered. The end result is an enjoyable, if slightly uneven, collection that really demonstrates Mr. Diamond's maturation into one of the seminal American singer-songwriters.

Mr. Diamond had already enjoyed success on the pop charts in the late 1960's with "Solitary Man", "Cherry Cherry" and other hits. But his move to the Uni label was not so much a move to "reinvent" himself as it was to expand and refine his musical horizons. Disc One of this set - containing the albums "Velvet Gloves and Spit", "Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show", and part of "Touching You, Touching Me" - shows the first awkward steps. There are probably more misses here than hits, so you may find yourself skipping tracks. It does include a humorous look into the studio with "Broad Old Woman (6 AM Insanity)", but in listening to this disc, you can begin to hear the maturation and transition of Neil Diamond in the tunes and lyrics. By the time the CD hits "Sweet Caroline", most of the "Cherry Cherry" sound is gone and a different kind of pop sound - the unique "Neil Diamond sound" that doesn't fit in any particular musical genre - is starting to form.

Disc Two finishes off "Touching You Touching Me", then rolls into "Tap Root Manuscript" (an underrated album in the Diamond discography), and the beginning of "Stones". This disc shows the maturation nearly complete, as you listen to the awesome "Holly Holy", the hit and concert staple "Cracklin' Rosie", the African experimentation of the remainder of "Tap Root Manuscript", and the dynamic introspection of "I Am, I Said".

By the time the listener reaches Disc Three, the maturation is very much complete, and the new "Neil Diamond sound" is in full effect. The lyrics are as deep, powerful, and emotionally touching, as are the tunes, which are now including elegant acoustic guitars, pianos, and strings. As this disc rolls through the last part of "Stones" and the tracks from "Moods", the listener gets to hear the foundation for "Jonathan Livingston Seagull", which - while not included on this set - became one of the seminal albums in Mr. Diamond's career. The add-on live tracks at the end of this disc are largely unnecessary, and don't add anything particularly to the larger collection.

Throughout all three discs, the digital remastering of these songs is remarkable. It is a audio treasure to hear even more of the range of the rich music contained in this collection. This alone might draw the die-hard Neil Diamond fan to buying this set.

One reviewer notes this demonstrates Mr. Diamond as more of a singles artist than an album's artist. That is debatable; while you could make a case to that effect simply from this box set, the breadth of Mr. Diamond's career has shown many examples of his ability to create powerful albums (e.g., "Jonathan Livingston Seagull", "Beautiful Noise", and "The Jazz Singer"). What listeners should take from this collection is what I have described here: the maturation of Neil Diamond as a singer-songwriter. Additionally, there is the simpler fact that with this one inexpensive purchase, you'll get six albums in one package.

I wholeheartedly recommend this collection to Neil Diamond fans or those just discovering and/or becoming a fan of his music. The average listener may not appreciate it as much, despite the fact that there is some very good music to be found here.

Following his early success as a songwriter ("I'm a Believer") and recording artist for Bang Records ("Solitary Man" "Cherry Cherry" "Girl You'll Be a Woman Now" "Thank the Lord for the Nighttime" "Kentucky Woman") Diamond spent five fruitful years on the Uni label. MCA's triple-disc set collects all six studio albums from this 1968-72 period, plus non-LP singles and a handful of cuts from two contemporaneous live albums. It's an exhaustive (and, at times, exhausting) treatment that shows Diamond a superb singles artist and inconsistent album auteur.

His Uni debut, "Velvet Gloves and Spit" placed three singles onto the lower rungs of the chart (including the fine "Two-Bit Manchild" and autobiographical "Brooklyn Roads"), but was otherwise commercially stillborn. The title cut of the follow-up LP, "Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show" cracked the top-40, and subsequent chart-toppers, "Cracklin' Rosie" and "Song Sung Blue," led a successful run at the top-20.

Diamond's albums mix lower-charting singles, oddball experiments and, ironically for such a gifted songwriter, covers of contemporary composers. His originals are canny, hook-filled combinations of folk, rock, country, gospel and soul. In between the hits and misses are numerous little-known gems, including the blues of "Dig In," the shuffling soul of "Free Life," and a a surprisingly effective cover of Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now."

The six albums draw an arc of growing sophistication, trading the free-spirited pop found on the earlier releases for increasingly consistent balladry. It's a compelling collection, augmented by live recordings of his Bang hits, handsome photos, a detailed discography and Robyn Flans' over-the-top liner notes ("His vocals stir the listeners' dormant emotions with his passionate delivery of a style that belongs only to him"). Perhaps not for beginners, but it's a bargain for anyone interested in getting beyond the well-worn hits.

4-1/2 stars, if Amazon allowed fractional ratings.

I love each of Neil's six Uni studio albums tremendously and this set could have been great but alas it was not meant to be.

The sound quality is harsh and super compressed. There is no space at all to let the music breathe. These albums were very dynamic and warm to begin with and much of that is lost on the Play Me set.

Sequencing - the ideal sequencing would have been to place two complete albums on each disc, with the leftover space to be used for the single mixes that have not yet been released on CD (the mono mix of Brother Love's for example). Instead, they filled up each disc to the max, forcing one to change discs in the middle of an album side which totally breaks up the flow. I know one can burn these to CD-R to get whatever sequencing they like, but there was absolutely no reason for the compliers to do this.

No gaps between songs - one song starts almost immediately after the other. This is completely pointless. Like most albums, the original Uni albums had a few seconds of silence between the songs.

Disc 3 indexing - most of the songs on disc 3 chop off the first split-second of the song if you scan from track to track. If you play the disc straight through, it's not a problem.

Stones - the first few seconds of "Stones" (the song) are completely missing. Unacceptable.

Extra material - instead of filling up the remaining space on disc 3 with live songs from Gold and Hot August Night, it would have been much more preferable to give us the mono single mixes that have not yet seen the light of day on CD.

Recently, there have been various Neil Diamond collections released from his UNI/MCA years, that it's gotten to the point of confusion for many fans - which one should one buy? That question has now been answered - with this 3 CD set. All six of Neil Diamond's studio albums from MCA - every song. And the price is a bargain. If you were to buy all 6 separately, you'd probably spend twice as much, and not get every song that is here. Plus, the sound quality is much better here.

If you've followed Neil at all during this period, then you know the hits. I won't go into them, except rest assured you are getting the actual studio hits as you remember them, not some inferior live version that somehow seems to find its way onto these greatest hits compilations. You may also find some Diamond gems (no pun intended) here that's you'll call your favorites. Some of my favorites include "Sunday Sun", "Walk On Water", "New York Boy", "Memphis Streets" and "Free Life". Also, hear the many styles that Neil had performed at that time. Hear the rock & pop songs, the gospel side, the jazzy & bluesy side, the African rhythms, a few humorous songs, and even a hint of country. It's amazing when you think of how many different types of songs he recorded - and they're all here in this one package. You also get seven live "bonus" tracks, taken from either the Gold or Hot August Night album. One track, "Lordy", had never appeared on any studio album.

If you enjoy Neil Diamond's music, especially from the earlier time periods, then I strongly recommend this 3 CD set - even if you already own some of the original albums that make up this set. Neil Diamond - in my book, he's the greatest!

Neil Diamond signed with Uni for more artistic freedom and stronger promotional support after his short stint at Bang Records. Diamond already had a couple of hits to show forhis efforts but in a disagreement over the song "Shilo" (which Diamond wanted as his next single), Diamond left the label after the death of founder Bert Berns. "Play Me: The Uni Studio Recordings...Plus" takes all of Diamond's albums and puts them in chronological order on a three CD set that also features bonus live tracks from his two live albums. The sound isn't as good as I had hoped--Eric Labson has remastered these using compression and making the songs louder than necessary squeezing the life out of the recordings in the process but I have heard worse. The sound will be passable to most folks and really won't bother you unless you're an audiophile.

The next six studio albums that Diamond recorded were wide ranging and varied. Most of the albums hold up remarkably well although there are flaws such as the horrendous "The Pot Smoker's Song" (what WAS Neil thinking?), "Knackelflerg" (which would have sounded out-of-place on everything that Diamond did) and "You're So Sweet Horseflies Keep Hangin' 'Round Your Face" but on the whole the originals mixed with the covers work quite well.

Diamond's first two albums for Uni "Velvet Gloves and Spit" and "Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show" had a number of strong songs including "Brooklyn Roads", "Shilo" (which if I recall correctly wasn't on the original album but on a reissued version a couple of years later)and the title track (along with "Sweet Caroline" which was added to the album a year later becoming a hit). The latter album allowed Diamond to incorporate his love of gosepl music into a diverse collection of strong songs. We also get the rare b-side "Broad Old Woman(6 A.M. Insanity)" here.

Diamond followed these two up with "Touching You, "Touching Me" and "Tap Root Manuscript" two of his strongest albums for the label. The former had a fair amount of covers but also had one of Diamond's best songs "Holly Holy" where Diamond turned a traditional love song on its head by melding with a melody/arrangement that made it sound almost like a religious gospel song. "Tap Root" had Diamond's song cycle that featured the influence of African music and imagery (over two decades before Paul Simon tapped similar influences)and the brilliant hit singles "Cracklin' Rosie" and "Free Life".

Diamond's last two albums for the label were also quite enjoyable with "Stones" mixing Diamond originals like the confessional songwriting of "I Am...I Said" (which some fans love and some folks thing is a pretentious mess written when Diamond felt he blew an audition to play Lenny Bruce in a movie)along with covers of Leonard Cohen ("Suzanne") and Randy Newman ("I Think It's Gonna' Rain Today")that fit in easily with the original songs. "Moods" may have been a tad less consisten but it had treasures in the form of "PLlay me", "Walk on Water", the charming rocking "High Rolling Man" and "Morningside" as well as the hit single "Song Sung Blue".

This three CD set closes out with seven tracks representing earlier hits he had on Bang and/or popular songs from Diamond's impressive songwriting catalog. The live tracks are pulled from "Gold" and "Hot August Night" the latter the two album set that Diamond recorded before going to Columbia Records.

The flaws of the set are many--the albums are broken up oddly over the three CD set with, for example, some songs that were the second or third track appearing as the first on another CD. This does break up the flow of the original albums. Also, the mastering is loud and compressed which robs the original recordings of much of their rich warmth and dynamic range.

If the fact that this isn't the best sounding collection doesn't bother you, this is the most economical way to get these albums and the only place to find "Broad Old Woman" that I know of right now. The booklet is informative with a good overview of each album and credits for each one (although they are all lumped together on the last page and credits for those guest vocalists often aren't mentioned at all).

I'd give this collection 3 to 4 stars for the albums themselves (as the quality varies)and the mastering 2 stars. Personally, I'd go with "Glory Road" if you want the bulk of his singles and a few album tracks from the same time frame as it nicely captures the hits and highlights with better sound quality.

Excellent collection containing 2 songs never released on album or CD before. Broad old woman and Lordy. Both were flipsides to 45 releases. (remember those?) One problem though. The intro to the song "Stones" is abbreviated by a couple of bars of guitar. Too bad. Otherwise it would have been perfect.

One reviewer mentioned that the intro to 'Stones' "is abbreviated by a couple of bars of guitar". I noticed that also when playing the CD on a portable CD player. However if I instead insert the disc into my Apple PowerBook, and play the CD in iTunes, these "missing" bars are actually there and play perfectly. Ditto if I drag the 'Stones' track onto the PowerBook's "Desktop" and play it (the AIFF file) using QuickTime. :):):):)

It all comes down to a song called Captain Sunshine. The words are so dumb, but the melody is so nice, and the singing is so heart felt that in spite of myself I find myself enjoying it. Why his record company wouldn't insist on someone to edit his lyrics and protect his voice (Diamond was the biggest selling artist on the planet during the time this was recorded, and a heavy heavy smoker) is beyond me. But listen to Captain Sunshine, see if it hooks you, and if it does, there are lots of non hit gems on this collection. And I'm also grateful for the Cherry Cherry version available only on this cd which was a radio hit but different than the Hot August Night version.

Although there are some songs that will not be like by most people, there are several fairly unknown gems in this collection. These are what make this collection worth getting. Whether it be the haunting Juliet or the whimsical Horseflies, I enjoyed the diversity of these albums. If you only know his later songs, this is worth listening to.

The title says it all - Simply the best Diamond set you can own! Neil Diamond was and is my choice. My friends would hear his music playing every time they came over.

This is my choice as the Neil Diamond alblum to own.

Jon