12 Songs

I've always had mixed feelings about this guy, occasionally squirming at his more MOR offerings and at other times being blown away by the beauty of some his more lyrical songs such as "Stones" and "I am I said" This album is quite simply packed with songs composed and performed from the heart, with a exquisite maturity of voice that is unmistakably Diamond, but a Diamond that has seen life - all the blood, sweat and tears of it.

The only tiny fly in the ointment is the fact that the track with the chorus line "Love is all about we" has my 2 children in stitches as they hear it as "love is all about wee" - an unfortunate choice of lyric!

Apart from that...

Tremendous songs, tremendous production . A winner. Buy it.


Why Neil Why   January 28, 2006
40 out of 41 found this review helpful

Have we had to wait so long for this masterpiece !!!!!
The songs the voice the talent wasted for 30 years on karoke and spangly shirts .
This is without doubt the best Neil Diamond album for nearly 30 years beautiful songs beautifully written and sung as only a talent like Neil Diamond can sing it's a beautiful noise.
Got this album from the states early in Jan and just cannot stop listening to it, believe the hype, the reviews and every other superlative there is out about this album it is sheer quality , one man his guitar quality songwriting fantastic production .Oh have I said I like this album a lot !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


diamond and rubin at their best   February 23, 2006
ncdon (bucks)
11 out of 11 found this review helpful

for me the songs are written brilliantly, and diamonds voice is perfect for the songs, but im more impressed with the production of rick rubin, the man is a genius . to take an out of fashion artist, strip him back to his roots and make a great album like this amazes me, he did it with johnny cash now neil diamond i cant wait to see whos next


Diamond is a genius!   February 16, 2006
Mr. S. Greenaway (England)
10 out of 10 found this review helpful

I bought this album when it came out in the states a few months ago and have been listening to it almost constantly! It is a beautiful, haunting collection of songs. God given talent always shines through when the artist is stipped back to just the voice and a guitar, and Diamond certainly shines on this disc. A triumphant return to form. Pure gold.


Diamond's forever (in blue jeans?)   April 5, 2006
28 out of 30 found this review helpful

Those who take a serious interest in music will find that their taste in CDs or records - and tapes and 78s in my case - probably says something about them. As a teenager my preference was for garage, surf beat and punk, with a particular fondness for the Ramones, Link Wray, The Residents (who can ever forget their classic album "Meet The Residents") and The New York Dolls. I enjoyed the negative reaction the music got from those I played it to, and in particular my poor long-suffering mother.

Through the decades my taste became catholic. Now my collection, which probably runs to about 1000 LPs in one format or another, encompasses most genres: classical; jazz; funk; reggae; rap; and world music from Albania to Zanzibar. In fact, just about anything except prog rock and its modern equivalent, techno. Oh, and Coldplay!

My epiphany, if I can call it that, happened around 1982. I came across Tom Jones's first album, "Along Came Jones", at a jumble sale. At the time he was a has-been, performing regularly for the soup-in-a-basket Las Vegas crowds. The LP was raw and demonstrated that, even if only for a fleeting moment, most performers are capable of producing a few good songs before they find that a high degree of comfort takes the edge off them (yes, except Coldplay).

Most performers seem to lose the creative urge after the first flush of success. While Neil Young may be an honourable exception, others such as Elvis Presley are unable to reproduce the standards set by their first recordings.

Johnny Cash is an example of a hugely influential writer and performer who proved that it doesn't have to be that way. After his successes throughout the 50s and 60s, he spent the 70s and 80s in a relative wilderness. But he was rescued by the pioneering rap producer, Rick Rubin, and the four albums they made together, known as the American Recordings, between 1993 and his death ten years later, are as good as anything Cash did before.

Which brings me to Neil Diamond, a singer whose work I first explored when, during the 80s, my favourite band was the US psychobilly group, The Cramps. I knew he wrote Red Red Wine, popularized by UB40, and I'm A Believer, The Monkees' 1960s hit, and decided that, despite his MOR status, he clearly had a talent that was being overlooked by the critics. I used to be of an age when, dressed in ripped jeans and who knows what else, I thought that going into a record shop and asking for, "Neil Diamonds Greatest Hits" showed a wonderful sense of irony. (I'm now at an age where such requests are expected. In fact as soon as I walk through the portals of HMV I'm sure the assistants check the computer for their stock of Vera Lynn and Gracie Fields.) But I never got beyond his 'best of' collections...until now.

12 Songs is Neil Diamond's latest CD and it is, quite simply, very good. Produced sparingly by Rick Rubin with none of the cheesy overblown orchestration that frequently swamps Diamond's other works, it is a masterclass performance of carefully crafted originals written by a 65-year-old singer-songwriter who is clearly at the top of his game. He may not have achieved the iconic status of Johnny Cash or Muddy Waters, but this CD should ensure he is not only remembered for the satin shirts and schmaltz of his earlier days.