In our house, we've been Neil Diamond fans, FOREVER (literally just about for me!), SO i WAS SUPER PSYCHED to be able to review his latest cd!
This new SINGLE DISC compilation features 23 of Neil's best-loved and signature songs. This is the first compilation to pull from his ENTIRE studio discography, making it really unique for the Neil Diamond fan! Across a musical career spanning nearly five decades, Neil Diamond has sold more than 125 million albums worldwide, with a remarkable track record of 16 Top Ten albums, and 37 Top Ten singles. Wow- isn't that a singer's dream? Not only a Grammy Award-winning artist, Neil has been inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame and in 2011, he was a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductee! He has even won a Golden Globe Award!
So that's QUITE a career to choose from! This new cd includes his first pop hits as a writer/performer, including I'm a Believer and Girl You'll be a Woman Soon. And then what I like to call the 'fever' years, as it seemed to me that all women were swooning over him during this time frame - including Beautiful Noise, Sweet Caroline and Cracklin Rosie! And NO collection would be complete without music from his 1980's movie, The Jazz Singer (the soundtrack went 5x platinum), so I was thrilled to see America was included! It is SUCH a quintescential song, and it amazes me every time I hear it, about how simple, yet profound it is! Love on the Rocks, You Don't Bring Me Flowers and Hello Again, are such staples of my teen years, so it was great to see them also! The rest of the songs included are Forever In Blue Jeans, Cherry, Cherry, I Am…I Said, Play Me, Holly Holy, Solitary Man,Song Sung Blue, Red, Red Wine, If You Know What I Mean, Brother Love’s Travelling Salvation Show, Pretty Amazing Grace, Kentucky Woman and Shilo. The album finishes with Hell Yeah, which if you've never heard it, is a song about Neil's life as an artist and it is pretty poignant, uplifting and emotional, all at the same time.
And that I think is the kernel about why Neil's songs reach out to us and grab us, and keep us singing along and loving his songs. They are full of emotion and life, as we know it. When I looked at the list of songs on this cd for the first time, I had to laugh- I had a vivid memory associated with EVERY song! Which not only told me how much we love Neil's music, but how important it has been in shaping my memories. Some make sense, like America and all the military homecomings for Dad, off cruises. And others like Sweet Caroline, when I buried my favorite cat, were more of the song that happened to me on, that embedded itself on the memory. I can not thing of a songwriter, or singer, whose music is so attached to my memories. And for that I am glad, because not only are Neil's songs meaningful, they are very very enjoyable to sing along with! And this cd? BEYOND compare- truly it is a great cd to put in no matter where you are- it is always appropriate and suitable!
A super duper bonus to this cd is "Recollections," a set of liner notes penned by Neil, especially for this collection, providing anecdotal detail and behind-the-scenes insight into each of the songs. An example: "While chatting with a Canadian fan one day I was told the story of an Indian tribe on a reservation in Canada which had a deficit in the number of women. This meant that those unfortunate single men would buy an inexpensive bottle of wine called Crackling Rosé to keep them company on Saturday nights. This wine would become their date for the evening and they called her Cracklin’ Rosie. That was all the story I needed to hear to write this song. It ended up being my first #1 record as an artist. For a recording artist there is no bigger thrill." . How cool is that? I love reading the stories behind songs I love- it always seems to really enhance them!
You will love these remastered songs- they are superbly done and even if you're not a huge Neil Diamond fan, you're gonna LOVE the upbeat songs on the disc! And if you have a Neil Diamond fanatic in the family, this is THE Christmas gift to get them!
And one lucky BTHM will get to do just that! Win their own copy of this cd! But hurry to enter, as I'm making this a QUICK giveaway, so the winner can get it in time for Christmas!
**
a Rafflecopter giveaway **
Disclosure / Disclaimer: I received this cd, free of charge, from Sony Music, for review purposes on this blog. No other compensation, monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for this post. Nor was I told how to post about it.
So that's QUITE a career to choose from! This new cd includes his first pop hits as a writer/performer, including I'm a Believer and Girl You'll be a Woman Soon. And then what I like to call the 'fever' years, as it seemed to me that all women were swooning over him during this time frame - including Beautiful Noise, Sweet Caroline and Cracklin Rosie! And NO collection would be complete without music from his 1980's movie, The Jazz Singer (the soundtrack went 5x platinum), so I was thrilled to see America was included! It is SUCH a quintescential song, and it amazes me every time I hear it, about how simple, yet profound it is! Love on the Rocks, You Don't Bring Me Flowers and Hello Again, are such staples of my teen years, so it was great to see them also! The rest of the songs included are Forever In Blue Jeans, Cherry, Cherry, I Am…I Said, Play Me, Holly Holy, Solitary Man,Song Sung Blue, Red, Red Wine, If You Know What I Mean, Brother Love’s Travelling Salvation Show, Pretty Amazing Grace, Kentucky Woman and Shilo. The album finishes with Hell Yeah, which if you've never heard it, is a song about Neil's life as an artist and it is pretty poignant, uplifting and emotional, all at the same time.
And that I think is the kernel about why Neil's songs reach out to us and grab us, and keep us singing along and loving his songs. They are full of emotion and life, as we know it. When I looked at the list of songs on this cd for the first time, I had to laugh- I had a vivid memory associated with EVERY song! Which not only told me how much we love Neil's music, but how important it has been in shaping my memories. Some make sense, like America and all the military homecomings for Dad, off cruises. And others like Sweet Caroline, when I buried my favorite cat, were more of the song that happened to me on, that embedded itself on the memory. I can not thing of a songwriter, or singer, whose music is so attached to my memories. And for that I am glad, because not only are Neil's songs meaningful, they are very very enjoyable to sing along with! And this cd? BEYOND compare- truly it is a great cd to put in no matter where you are- it is always appropriate and suitable!
A super duper bonus to this cd is "Recollections," a set of liner notes penned by Neil, especially for this collection, providing anecdotal detail and behind-the-scenes insight into each of the songs. An example: "While chatting with a Canadian fan one day I was told the story of an Indian tribe on a reservation in Canada which had a deficit in the number of women. This meant that those unfortunate single men would buy an inexpensive bottle of wine called Crackling Rosé to keep them company on Saturday nights. This wine would become their date for the evening and they called her Cracklin’ Rosie. That was all the story I needed to hear to write this song. It ended up being my first #1 record as an artist. For a recording artist there is no bigger thrill." . How cool is that? I love reading the stories behind songs I love- it always seems to really enhance them!
You will love these remastered songs- they are superbly done and even if you're not a huge Neil Diamond fan, you're gonna LOVE the upbeat songs on the disc! And if you have a Neil Diamond fanatic in the family, this is THE Christmas gift to get them!
And one lucky BTHM will get to do just that! Win their own copy of this cd! But hurry to enter, as I'm making this a QUICK giveaway, so the winner can get it in time for Christmas!
**
a Rafflecopter giveaway **
Disclosure / Disclaimer: I received this cd, free of charge, from Sony Music, for review purposes on this blog. No other compensation, monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for this post. Nor was I told how to post about it.
Love Neil Diamond, my kind of music!
ReplyDeletewfnren at aol dot com
wrensthoughts.blogspot.com
OOPS Favorite Neil Diamond song is Sweet Caroline.
ReplyDeletewfnren at aol dot com
wrensthoughts.blogspot.com
Song Sung Blue
ReplyDeletelkish77123 at gmail dot com
Leslie love veggies has a Giada De Laurentiis for Target ~ Easy Entertaining Review
ReplyDeletelkish77123 at gmail dot com
Mary Did You know
ReplyDeleteI really like Song Sung Blue.
ReplyDeletecenya2 at hotmail dot com
Man alive, I really love Sweet Caroline, but someone has said that ALREADY LOL - he has SO many that are just classics LOL - peices of my childhood/young adulthood. So many memories ;)
ReplyDeletetracyschultz@yahoo.com
He has so many great songs that it's hard to pick just one. I'd have to say that my favorite is The Story Of My Life.
ReplyDeletewdwfla at gmail dot com
Forever in blue jeans!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite is Red, Red Wine.
ReplyDeletegourdsrmylife(at)yahoo(dot)com