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Neil Diamond – Hot August Night III (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 02:22:33 minutes | 3,12 GB | Genre: Pop Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Neil Diamond

Los Angeles – June 22, 2018 – On August 17, Capitol/UMe will celebrate one of the century’s most electrifying live albums, with the release of Neil Diamond’s Hot August Night Ill, a live concert DVD/CD Blu-Ray multi-disc set. Hot August Night Ill chronicles Diamond’s triumphant return to the legendary Greek Theatre in Los Angeles in August 2012.The magical evening was Diamond’s 40th anniversary celebration of the original multiplatinum-selling Hot August Night collection that was recorded at the very same venue in 1972.

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Neil Diamond – Hot August Night II (1987/2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:12:57 minutes | 3,28 GB | Genre: Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Geffen

Hot August Night 2, is the follow up album to Hot August Night 1 which was one f the best and highly acclaimed live albums in the 70’s.The sequel recorded in the Greek Theatre in LA, maybe not as good as the original, but still contains some of Neil’s early greats like Cracklin Rosie, Sweet Caroline and I am I Said amongst others.

Over all this album is ok but as it gets going Neils voice begins to get tired and very rough indeed spoiling some of his great tracks, however this is a bad thing its just putting more of Neils emotion into the tracks, something wich Neils live perfomances are famed. If you like Neils Live albums then get this one, it may not be his best but Its very good all the same.

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Neil Diamond – Home Before Dark (2008/2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:02:59 minutes | 1,23 GB | Genre: Pop Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Neil Diamond

Home Before Dark is Neil Diamond’s second collaboration with producer Rick Rubin. It follows the fine but ill-fated 12 Songs, which was sabotaged by Sony’s “Rootkit” program scandal: a nefarious bit of “copy protection” software that invaded the operating system of PCs and wreaked havoc. 12 Songs had to be recalled from store shelves just as Diamond received better reviews than he had in a decade. Sony reissued it in 2007, but the damage was done. Diamond, disappointed but undaunted, sought out Rubin. Rubin enlisted Heartbreakers keyboardist Benmont Tench and lead guitarist Mike Campbell, studio guitarist/bassist Smokey Hormel, and former Chavez guitar slinger Matt Sweeney. There are no drums. David Campbell did some skeletal string arrangements, but that’s it. In addition, Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks duets on the track “Another Day (That Time Forgot).” Home Before Dark is a more exposed Diamond than listeners have ever heard. He’s out there, bashing on his guitar and singing from a position of extreme vulnerability; he’s on a wire without a net. His musicians understand what is so dynamically and poetically evident in the songs, and use painterly care in adorning them. Diamond is not a young man anymore and, thankfully, he doesn’t write like one — though he sounds lean and hungry for something just out of reach. “Forgotten” has a rock & roll progression worthy of his Bang singles. Its lyric reflects the travails of a protagonist whose heart bears hurt without the grace and wisdom that age is supposed to bring. The grain in his voice is fierce; it quavers just a bit in the refrain, and Sweeney’s electric guitar nails it to the wall. It follows “One More Bite of the Apple,” another rollicking rocker, but this one is about reuniting with his true beloved — songwriting itself.

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Neil Diamond – Heartlight (1982/2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 40:29 minutes | 1,84 GB | Genre: Pop, Soft Rock, Singer-Songwriter
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Neil Diamond

Although Diamond has continued to sell healthy quantities of his albums and to fill arenas for his concerts, Heartlight and its title song, which was a Top Ten hit, were his last record releases as what might be called “a front’line artist,” one who makes contemporary music for a contemporary audience and sells a million copies on release. It’s a typical album for Diamond at this point, full of romantic sentiments rendered in highly produced settings and employing the cream of L.A. studio musicians, but lacking the excitement of his early work and the ambition of his middle period.

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Neil Diamond – Headed For The Future (1986/2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 39:53 minutes | 1,73 GB | Genre: Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Neil Diamond

Having stumbled with Primitive, Diamond attempted, with Headed for the Future, to re-establish himself as a contemporary artist, co-writing with Stevie Wonder, recording songs by Bryan Adams and Maurice White of Earth, Wind & Fire, and employing nine producers and nine recording studios. The result was a slight upturn in sales and Diamond’s last singles-chart entry with the title track. But the album was also overblown and unfocused, record-making by committee, and Neil Diamond as an individual artist was getting lost in the process.

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Neil Diamond – Dreams (2010/2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 55:05 minutes | 2,05 GB | Genre: Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Neil Diamond

After two excellent collaborations with Rick Rubin, Neil Diamond can’t resist taking the production reins himself for this collection of (mostly) covers. His liner notes claim these songs as some of his favorites from the “rock era” implying it’s over. While this set is more intimate than most of his overblown production of the last 30 years, it is a step away from the simplicity of his work with Rubin, featuring full strings, chamber reeds, winds, and brass on various cuts. As a vocalist, Diamond’s dramatic rather than involved authority is his trademark; he imposes it on almost every track. It works well here sometimes: the reading of Bill Withers’ “Ain’t No Sunshine” is excellent for this reason, more like a playwright’s look than a lover’s. The fiddle in Lennon and McCartney’s “Blackbird” adds warmth to Diamond’s declamatory vocal. Randy Newman’s “Feels Like Home” is a set high point: it so intimate, naked, and desperate uncharacteristic of the ultra-private Diamond it can stop the listener in her tracks; it feels unintentionally included on this collection. The restrained narrative storyteller’s presentation of “Midnight Train to Georgia” is, despite its simple delivery, more empathic than passionate. The reading of Leonard Cohen’s transcendent “Hallelujah” is not definitive by any means, but it best illustrates Diamond’s intention to pay homage to the song it’s an excellent version to add to the bunch that already exists. Lesley Duncan’s “Love Song” (Elton John’s reading on Tumbleweed Connection is the classic) is quietly yet exotically treated with layered acoustic guitars, a spare piano, and King Errisson’s imaginative hand percussion. Harry Nilsson’s “Don’t Forget Me,” which bookends the album, is another high point with a celebratory horn chart underscoring the romantic world-weary irony in Diamond’s delivery. Some tracks just don’t work. Gilbert O’Sullivan’s “Alone Again (Naturally)” sounds like the maudlin, trite novelty it is. Diamond’s “I’m a Believer” is rendered with far more drama than necessary. Here it’s not an iconic pop song. It comes from the back end of the story illustrated by acoustic guitars, cello, and vibraphone, its joy is displaced by resolve, as if the singer is trying to convince himself the song’s lyrics are true. Like most covers sets, this is a mixed bag, and it’s for the hardcore Diamond fan more than those who admire Home Before Dark, 12 Songs, or his work from the ’60s through the mid-’70s.

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Neil Diamond – Classic Diamonds With The London Symphony Orchestra (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 59:40 minutes | 2,00 GB | Genre: Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Capitol Records

The 14 classic song collection ‘Classic Diamonds’ features new vocals from Neil Diamond paired with a new interpretation of Diamond’s most celebrated chart-topping hits performed by The London Symphony Orchestra. Recorded at both the world famous Abbey Road Studios in London and Neil Diamond’s studio in Los Angeles, the album was produced by Grammy-winning producer/arranger Walter Afanasieff and co-arranged by Afanasieff and Grammy winning conductor/arranger William Ross, who also conducted The London Symphony Orchestra for the recording. Neil Diamond is simply one of the most important vocalists and songwriters in the history of popular music, and this majestic new album shines a beautiful spotlight on some of his greatest works.

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Neil Diamond – All-Time Greatest Hits (2014/2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:18:51 minutes | 3,59 GB | Genre: Pop, Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Neil Diamond

The original studio recordings from America’s quintessential singer-songwriter. 23 of Neil Diamond’s best loved hits. Includes the rare solo version of ‘You Don’t Bring Me Flowers.’

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Neil Diamond – Acoustic Christmas (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 37:29 minutes | 773 MB | Genre: Pop, Christmas
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Capitol Records

Re-teaming with Don Was and Jacknife Lee, the pair who produced his 2014 album Melody Road, Neil Diamond cut Acoustic Christmas, his fourth holiday album and first since 2009’s A Cherry Cherry Christmas. The title Acoustic Christmas suggests that this 2016 LP will be sparse, but it’s hazy and open, consisting of much more than a man and a guitar. Usually he’s supported by a full band — a rhythm section, another guitarist, a keyboardist, and backing vocalists — and that gives Acoustic Christmas some spunk, which is enough to keep things lively. If Diamond isn’t always original — his version of “Children Go Where I Send Thee” follows the contours of Nick Lowe’s 2013 version exactly — he nevertheless performs with gusto, particularly on the closing “Christmas Medley.” That showmanship is ultimately what gives Acoustic Christmas its personality and is the reason to return to the record: it may not align with the spirit of the season, but it’s charming nonetheless. – Stephen Thomas Erlewine

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Neil Diamond – A Cherry Cherry Christmas (2009/2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 45:12 minutes | 1,81 GB | Genre: Pop, Christmas
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Neil Diamond

Neil Diamond’s first two holiday albums were plainly titled The Christmas Album and The Christmas Album, Vol. 2, which gave a pretty good indication of the by-the-book music they contained, just like how the very name of 2009’s A Cherry Cherry Christmas is a tip-off that this collection is a decidedly less serious affair, even if it recycles a good chunk of the same recordings that comprised those earlier albums. A Cherry Cherry Christmas keeps a barbershop quartet arrangement of “Deck the Halls,” a doo wop “White Christmas,” and a swinging “Jingle Bell Rock,” but what’s notable are the additions: a ridiculous, self-celebrating “Cherry Cherry Christmas” that’s trumped only by a goofy cover of Adam Sandler’s “Chanukah Song.” These two new cuts make Diamond seem like the garrulous uncle at your family’s holiday party, the one who is eager to prove how cool he is, which only makes him seem all the more out of touch.

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Neil Diamond – 50th Anniversary Collector’s Edition (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 06:51:58 minutes | 15,88 GB | Genre: Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Neil Diamond

Although UMe/Capitol already ‘celebrated’ Neil Diamond‘s 50 years in music 18 months ago with a three-disc set called the ’50th anniversary collection’ it seems they haven’t celebrated enough and so will this month offer forward the ’50th Anniversary Collectors Edition’ a six-disc hardcover book deluxe package that features the same artwork, but this time includes six CDs of content, including rarities, demos and 14 previously unreleased tracks.

This set contains a full disc of unreleased songs, including ‘Sunflower,’ (originally recorded by Glen Campbell recently updated by Neil Diamond), ‘Before I Had a Dime’ and ‘C’est La Vie’ (a song that Neil co-wrote with friend Gilbert Bécaud). Also unreleased are two original demos of ‘I Am…I Said’ and ‘America,’.

I suppose they’ve got there in the end, as this set is far more appealing than last year’s effort – and is reasonably priced – although one wonders whether Universal Music plan to release 50th anniversary editions of Neil Diamond’s output every year, going forward?

For now, this year’s Neil Diamond 50th Anniversary Collector’s Edition will be released on 30 November 2018.

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Neil Diamond – 50th Anniversary Collection (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 02:53:16 minutes | 7,19 GB | Genre: Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Neil Diamond

The 50th Anniversary Collection from Neil Diamond, is a celebratory music package marking the 50th anniversary of the iconic, Grammy Award-winning and Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame member’s first hit ‘Solitary Man’ plus 49 additional hits. Throughout an illustrious and wide-ranging musical career, Neil Diamond has sold over 130 million albums worldwide and has dominated the charts for more than five decades with 37 Top 40 singles and 16 Top 10 albums. He has achieved record sales with 40 Gold albums, 21 Platinum albums and 11 multi-platinum albums. Before becoming one of the most noted and successful recording artists in the world, Neil Diamond’s early recognition came as a songwriter. His recorded songs have become a part of the fabric of America’s songbook with a wide range of international hits.

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