All Time Greatest Hits - Neil Diamond (2014)

 


Neil Diamond has about five songs I love, ten songs I like, one song I hate and a whole lot of songs I coudn't possibly care less about. Still fifteen songs I like mean that a compilation makes more sense than buying songs piecemeal on iTunes or whatever. (Yes, I purchase music: physical form and digital form alike. I just have to, otherwise, there is too much choice.)

This collection has almost all the songs I love and like. It also has the one song I hate and about seven or eight other songs I don't care about. About what I expected.

Main quibble is for some reason the version of "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" is not the familiar duet with Barbara Streisand, but for some reason is a solo version. The song sucks without Streisand, and its surprisingly effective sentimental reminiscence on love gone stale just seems whiny when one singer is singing it, and even weirder when it's some ultra-masculine dude whining about not getting sent flowers anymore. 

His piano ballads are mostly terrible, or at least just not my cup of tea, but there are still fourteen or fifteen good songs on this. 

My favorite songs: "I Am I Said", "Song Sung Blue", "Solitary Man", "Girl You'll Be a Woman Soon" "I'm A Believer."

Worst song ever: "America". Jesus. four minutes of maximum cringe. 


Mostly good songs on this compilation features mostly good songs. Any American my age or older, and probably some other nationalities too,  are going to have a lot of these songs imprinted on their brains.

3.8/5

Spotify Link:

https://open.spotify.com/album/6sdXGlrywMohGMVg5gIqwp?si=RiWifW6dTcWfFP9wdGvm5A

I just have the iTunes version, it sounds fine.


Coming Up:

A.M. Wilco

A.T.O.M. - Carbon Silicon

ABBA - ABBA 

ABBA Gold: Greatest Hits

Abbey Road - The Beatles

Achtung, Baby! U2

Actually - Pet Shop Boys

Adult/Child- The Beach Boys

Aerosmith's Greatest Hits

After The Gold Rush - Neil Young

Afterglow - Crowded House

Aftermath (UK Version) - The Rolling Stones

Against The Odds: 1974-1982 Blondie (three disc version)

Aimee Mann Live at St. Ann's Warehouse

Aiming For Your Head - Betchadupa

The Album -- ABBA

The Album That Never Was - The Kinks

All Four One - The Motels

All Over the Place - The Bangles

All Summer Long -- The Beach Boys

All the Great Hits -- Diana Ross

All Things Must Pass -- George Harrison

All This Useless Beauty -- Elvis Costello & the Attractions

All-Time Greatest Hits - Neil Diamond

Alluvium -- Eddie Rayner

Almost Blue -- Elvis Costello & The Attractions

Almost Summer - Celebration

Alpha Mike Foxtrot -- Wilco*

The Alphabetchadupa - Betchadupa

Altitude - ALT

American Idiot Green Day*

American Prayer -- The Doors

Amnesiac Radiohead*

And I Feel Fine...The Best of the IRS years (1982-1987) - R.E.M.

Animals - Pink Floyd

Anodyne - Uncle Tupelo

Another Life - Another Life

Another Music in Another Kitchen: The Buzzcocks

Another Side of Bob Dylan - Bob Dylan

Anthology: Diana Ross & The Supremes

Anthology: Smokey Robinson & The Beatles

Anthology 1: The Beatles

Anthology 2: The Beatles

Anthology 3 The Beatles

Anthology: North South, East West - Tim Finn

Apple Venus: Volume One -- XTC

Apollo 18 - They Might Be Giants

The ArchAndroid: Janelle Monae

Are the Village Green Preservation Society -- The Kinks

Are Well-Respected Men - The Kinks

Armed Forces -Elvis Costello & The Attractions

Around the World in a Day - Prince

Arthur (or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) - The Kinks

At My Piano - Brian Wilson

Autoamerican - Blondie

Automatic for the People - R.E.M.

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