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Category:    Home > Reviews > Pop > Rock > Soft Rock > Forever Neil Diamond (Compilation CD)

Forever Neil Diamond (CD Compilation)

 

Sound: B     Music: B-

 

 

Neil Diamond is a divisive singer/songwriter.  Some see him as a sappy, melodramatic variant of Bob Dylan, while others think he is a genius.  One fact that is inarguable is that he is a name to be reckoned with, a survivor and has had a career that most could only dream of.  As a matter of fact, it is 40 years since his first Top Forty and Top Ten hit Cherry, Cherry and Rhino has decided to mark it with a compilation of 13 cover hits of his works by other artists dubbed Forever Neil Diamond.

 

The songs are:

 

  1. The Monkees - "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You
  2. Bobby Womack - "Sweet Caroline (Good Times Never Seemed So Good)"
  3. The Box Tops - "Ain't No Way"
  4. Urge Overkill - "Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon"
  5. Deep Purple - "Kentucky Woman"
  6. Elvis Presley - "And The Grass Won't Pay No Mind"
  7. Crooked Fingers - "Solitary Man"
  8. Shane McGowan & The Popes - "Cracklin' Rosie"
  9. UB40 - "Red Red Wine"
  10.  Arthur Alexander - "Glory Road"
  11.  Four Tops - "I'm A Believer"
  12.  Lulu - "The Boat That I Row"
  13.  Jr. Walker & The All-Stars - "Holly Holy"
  14.  The Band with Neil Diamond - "Dry Your Eyes"

 

 

Of course, The Monkees are the early beneficiary of al the Brill Building writers and I’m A Believer was a huge hit.  Track #1 was the follow-up single, which worked well enough for them, if a bit dippy.  Womack is an underrated talent and his cover in Track #2 is interesting in that it is different without him sellout out his style.  On the other hand, the artists for tracks 5, 8, 11 and even 13 are unusually subdued to do the songs, letting the song’s dictate their performance instead of the other way around.

 

As noted in a recent UB40 review, Red Red Wine is a horrible, horrible hit song and we cannot even blame Diamond for this torture-test of a performance.  That leaves the Urge Overkill track immortalized by Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, Elvis scoring one of the best performances here with Track #6, Tracks #7 & #8 being two of the most interesting entries and Lulu doing a decent job typical of what she could do when she applied herself.

 

The result is more historical than anything else, which also applies to the sound quality, which varies.  The PCM 2.0 16bit/44.1kHz Stereo is about as could be expected for the varying age of the tracks, but Shout! Factory is building their reputation on the best sound for CD the way Rhino did and this is as good as it will get in this format.  Overall, this CD is for fans and the curious only.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo


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