Product Description Absolutely essential for Diamond devotees: his six Uni studio LPs and seven live bonus cuts, together on 3 jam-packed CDs! The hits- Sweet Caroline; Holly Holy; Song Sung Blue; Cracklin' Rosie; I Am I Said; Play Me -join signature songs like Shiloh; Brooklyn Roads , and Crunchy Granola Suite ; his hit covers of He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother and Until It's Time for You to Go ; experimental tracks like his Childsong medley; live performances of Red, Red Wine and Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon , and more. 74 tracks! .com The seven studio albums Neil Diamond recorded for Uni Records between 1968 and 1972 are all collected on the three-disc collection Play Me: The Complete Uni Studio Recordings. And it's quite a revelation to listen to them front to back in succession like this, as these records highlight the most dramatic artistic evolution in Diamond's career. Diamond was no neophyte when he signed with Uni in '68; he'd already penned million-sellers like "I'm a Believer" and "Cherry Cherry." But he was still coming into his own as a solo artist, and albums like Velvet Gloves and Spit and Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show are wildly erratic, even for an artist renown for producing uneven albums. That said, there are countless life-affirming, goose-bump-inducing, campy, and brilliant songs on this collection. And one could easily make the argument that they're somehow made more likable--more human, in a way--when heard in their original context, bookended by unsuccessful experiments such as "The Pot Smoker's Song" and "I Am the Lion." This may not be the single Neil Diamond collection to get, but it surely should be the second or third one you buy. --Mike McGonigal
Trustpilot
2 weeks ago
5 days ago
