Search - Neil Diamond :: Play Me: The Complete Uni Studio Recordings...Plus!

Joalice M. from CROYDON, PA
Reviewed on 8/9/2006...

I like Neil Diamond. This is a little too much Neil Diamond for me

What you want and what you need

Timothy Schubert | Chicago,IL USA | 04/22/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"For any true Neil Diamond fan this is the find of the century.While working in the Brill Building with the likes of Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield,Carole King and Gerry Goffin and many other young and hungry songwriters,Neil signed with Bang records as a singer.He wrote some of his best songs for himself including the classics,"Kentucky Woman"(covered by Deep Purple),"Thank The Lord For The Night Time","Cherry Cherry","Red,Red Wine","Solitary Man" and "Do It",to name a few.He also covered songs such As "New Orleans" and "Hanky Panky".All of his recordings for Bang are here and many are in true Stereo.A first for almost all of them.These songs give you both a taste of Neil Diamond,Rock And Roll Star and the more mature Neil he would become after leaving Bang for Uni.Most of these songs were released as singles either when he recorded them or after he left.Bang recycled every one of these songs on numerous LP's throughout the 60's and early 70's.That doesn't take away from their lasting appeal.Every song is either a hit or worth a listen as a gem or curiosity.Neil's version of "Hanky Panky",written by his producers,Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil,has a hilarious opening with him 'refusing' to sing it while his producers cajole him into it and his version of "New Orleans" is,if not as good as Gary U.S.Bonds' original,at least a charting single.Buy this CD if you want to hear most of the early years in true Stereo.This is much better than Columbia's compilation of barely a dozen of these great songs."

Complete collection of Diamond's fruitful middle period

hyperbolium | Earth, USA | 07/18/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Following his early success as a songwriter ("I'm a Believer") and recording artist for Bang Records ("Solitary Man" "Cherry Cherry" "Girl You'll Be a Woman Now" "Thank the Lord for the Nighttime" "Kentucky Woman") Diamond spent five fruitful years on the Uni label. MCA's triple-disc set collects all six studio albums from this 1968-72 period, plus non-LP singles and a handful of cuts from two contemporaneous live albums. It's an exhaustive (and, at times, exhausting) treatment that shows Diamond a superb singles artist and inconsistent album auteur.His Uni debut, "Velvet Gloves and Spit" placed three singles onto the lower rungs of the chart (including the fine "Two-Bit Manchild" and autobiographical "Brooklyn Roads"), but was otherwise commercially stillborn. The title cut of the follow-up LP, "Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show" cracked the top-40, and subsequent chart-toppers, "Cracklin' Rosie" and "Song Sung Blue," led a successful run at the top-20.Diamond's albums mix lower-charting singles, oddball experiments and, ironically for such a gifted songwriter, covers of contemporary composers. His originals are canny, hook-filled combinations of folk, rock, country, gospel and soul. In between the hits and misses are numerous little-known gems, including the blues of "Dig In," the shuffling soul of "Free Life," and a a surprisingly effective cover of Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now."The six albums draw an arc of growing sophistication, trading the free-spirited pop found on the earlier releases for increasingly consistent balladry. It's a compelling collection, augmented by live recordings of his Bang hits, handsome photos, a detailed discography and Robyn Flans' over-the-top liner notes ("His vocals stir the listeners' dormant emotions with his passionate delivery of a style that belongs only to him"). Perhaps not for beginners, but it's a bargain for anyone interested in getting beyond the well-worn hits.4-1/2 stars, if Amazon allowed fractional ratings."