Neil Diamond Compilations - need some advice/opinions

A few days ago, my wife asked me if I could go thru our Neil Diamond comps, decide what was good and rip them for her to listen to on her iPod. I discovered that we have a mere 7 comps (one of which is a duplicated title) - and from what I can tell, I need at least 6 of them.

I also discovered that the only sane way to evaluate Neil's hits is to tackle them in 3 parts: Bang, Uni/MCA & Columbia/Capitol.

Here is what I have. All are US CDs except where noted.

• Classics: The Early Years (Columbia-1983/1986 - I assume the CD released in 86?)
• The Bang Years (Columbia/Legacy-2011)
• His 12 Greatest Hits (MCA-1985? - original with all studio versions-Japan for US)
• His 12 Greatest Hits (MCA-1993 - re-release with live versions of "Sweet Caroline" & "Holly Holy" restored)
• Glory Road 1968-1972 (MCA-1992 2CD Set) (Remastered by Paul Elmore)
• His 12 Greatest Hits, Volume 2 (Columbia - Booklet says Made In Japan, no indication on disc - matrix DIDP 20010 41A3)
• The Greatest Hits 1966-1992 (Columbia-1992 2CD Set) (Remastered by Stephen Marcussen)

Bang
* Most comps have the same 8-10 tracks.
* I like the sound quality for these songs on the Columbia 2CD The Greatest Hits 1966-1992 quite a lot. (I don't like that they sub'd live versions for "Red, Red Wine" & "I'm A Believer" though!)
* The sound quality on The Bang Years is what it is - not particularly good - but it does provide "fill-in" + the rest of that material.
* Classics: The Early Years is a nice "diversion" once in a while.

Uni/MCA
* The 1985 MCA His 12 Greatest Hits sounds wonderful! For the most part, I see these being my "go-to" versions of these songs.
* I did compare the original 12GH to the 1993 re-release. I don't really care about the 2 live tracks and always felt it was a bad idea to include them on an album called "His 12 Greatest Hits" in the first place. I'm planning to get rid of the 1993.
* Glory Road 1968-1972 has an outstanding track selection for his Uni/MCA years. Every charted hit is included.
* Between the two, I think I'm set for this material. Agree/disagree/comments?

Columbia/Capitol
* I have not done a listening comparison between His Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 and The Greatest Hits 1966-1992 yet. All of the songs on GH2 are also on TGH66-92. The latter gets me "Heartlight" & "Headed For The Future".

Questions:
1) Do I need the In My Lifetime boxed set? I've read good things about the remastering - and also read that it didn't as nice as TGH66-92.
2) On a number of comps, Amazon shows quite a few songs as being the "Single Version". How many of Neil's hits had different versions for the single release? I'm not talking about early fades - or even trimmed starts - but different mixes. (According to the booklet, the only "single version" on Glory Road is "Song Sung Blue" - and I think I like the one on 12GH better!)

​

As always, your comments and suggestions are welcome. Thank you!

 

For the UNI/MCA stuff, I highly recommend the following CD ...

Neil Diamond - The Neil Diamond Collection - Amazon.com Music

 

In my Lifetime
For Scotch on The Rocks

 

My comments ( ) are after each title ...

 

Someone will checkily point out this has been discussed before, but they won't tell you where.

If you give me a PM, I can email you some of those previous discussions.

My iPad won't let me post them here.

 

Updating.....
I've spent good amount of time over the past 7 days listening to Neil's Bang material and his Uni/MCA hits on the comps I listed above. I also read a whole bunch of threads on here (when I wasn't reading The Beatles Sgt. Pepper 50th Annv. threads!)

* I will be picking up a copy of In My Lifetime soon.
* Yes, The Bang Years sounds pretty bad - but it's necessary for a few tracks I don't have elsewhere. What a missed opportunity. (My wife's comment: "I didn't know something could sound mushy & tinny at the same time." Mushy to her = compressed.)
* I like a number of tracks on Classics: The Early Years. (Half of them appear to be original stereo. "Solitary Man" is a favorite - the remix is fun. It's my only source for Version #2 of "Shilo", even if it is in stereo.)
* I don't know where MCA's Glory Road got a reputation for having bad/questionable sound quality. It sounds great to me! It's a tad brighter than 12 Greatest Hits, but not in a bad way - and the track selection is very complete for the Uni years. (The only single mix on this comp is "Song Sung Blue".)
* My 1985 MCA His 12 Greatest Hits is just freakin' gorgeous! The more you turn it up, the better it sounds to me! I did check the peak levels, and I appear to have a JVC one (Japan for US).

Question: On the 1985 H12GH, it's quite obvious that alternate mixes of the studio versions of "Sweet Caroline" and "Holly Holy" were used (which is fine with me - they sound great!) One of the threads I read mentioned that "Holly Holy" used an alternate vocal as well. I listened back & forth but couldn't hear a difference. However, I'm not always great at picking the subtleties out if two versions are really close. Can someone confirm that an alternative vocal was used? Thanks!

 

Only a portion of the vocal in the remixed version of Holly Holy appearing on the audiophile half-speed mastered LP and the initial CD release (MCAD-37252) of His 12 Greatest Hits is an alternate take.

The alternate vocal portion begins shortly after the first two verses as the song transitions to the first chorus (around 1:35 in the remix) and continues to the end of the second chorus (around 3:40 in the remix). Neil’s original vocal for the song from the Uni single and Touching You, Touching Me LP is used for the first two verses and for the remainder of the song following the second chorus.

Differences between the original and alternate vocal take are subtle. Variations in the way Neil sings the “And I Fly” lyric (around 2:10 and then again around 3:38 in the remix) is one of the more easily heard differences.

The “God (And) I Fly” line sung by Neil in the original was removed in the remix (3:41 to 3:45).

 

Thanks Jeff! Now I hear it - his vocals are more urging/strident on the original mix. You can really hear it on "sing it out.....sing it strong" in the choruses. I like both mixes. The remix sounds "fuller", but the original is more emotional.
The vocal track on "Sweet Caroline" is the same in both mixes, right?

The original 1985 CD was sourced from a half-speed master. Did that LP contain the remixes of those 2 songs or the live versions? I just find it interesting why they did remixes in the first place. Originals missing/mis-filed? (I've always felt that the stereo mix on "Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show" was a bit "lacking" and might have benefitted from a remix.)

Which do you like better?

Dexter

 

The half-speed LP contained the remixes of those 2 songs.

 

Thanks Brad!

 

The original 12 Greatest Hits.

 

I hope it's alright for me to ask for some information, too:

2014's All-Time Greatest Hits was released as a single-disc CD, but also as a double-disc compilation. See here.

Could someone please tell me what the sound is like, and if it contains a good/great booklet? Also, what's the packaging like: a cheap-looking jewel case
or do the CDs come housed in a digipack/cardboard sleeve? Thanks!

 

The single disc version is the one I have, I can't comment on the 2cd version. The sound is alright, you can't expect more from a modern mainstream CD. The booklet is very simple with publishing credits and album covers, but no liner notes. If you're happy with just the obvious stuff and don't mind the non-chronological sequencing it's a good purchase though, since it's cheap.

 

I'm surprised there are so few of his past albums available on vinyl these days and locating excellent originals seems to be pretty difficult too.

 

I think that was the one where the Amazon page had song by song commentary by Neil including some interesting stuff. I would have assumed that was included with the CD, but judging from mdekoning's comment perhaps that is wrong.

 

Thanks! Sounds good enough to me.

 

The mastering seems all over the board on this one. Some have massive clipping while others are shaved (clipped) and dropped.
I have the two disc, it has a 15 page booklet, sturdy jewel case. For SQ on a home system I don't recommend it.
If you want a sample Volt I'll dropbox one.

 

I don't see as many as I thought I would at thrifts. I have a couple on LP, one being a Quad mix I've yet to check out.
I've just been grabbing his old MCA's on compact disc.

 

not to reply for someone else but I have the half speed lp and the '85 cd and they both sound great, hard to believe those tracks could get much better...Bang on the other hand, well, still trying to find the definitive on that stuff. My interest ends before Capitol

 

Yeah - the Bang Years was a real missed opportunity. It just sounds flat to me - and bright. I've kept it for now because it has songs I don't have elsewhere.
I have the 70s releases of "Solitary Man" and "Shilo" (I think) on 45s I should compare them.
They should have included the second version of "Shilo" in addition to the original - wasn't that the one that actually got airplay & charted in 1970?

The 1985 CD of His 12 Greatest Hits just sounds wonderful, including the 2 remixes. At one time it was still available in Canada, as I recall, with the all-studio versions line-up. I don't know if that is still the case or not.

As far as the Columbia (and Capitol) years, I haven't gotten to that yet....looking forward to it!

 

Do yourself a favor and find an original 1985 MCA Japan for US CD of "Moods". It sounds amazing!

To answer your original question, there is no such comp that gets everything right.

 

@Batears52 Several of the tracks on the 12 Greatest Hits Vol. 2 comp are the 45rpm radio edits and the same tracks on the Greatest Hits 1966-1992 comp are the album versions. 12 GH Vol. 2 is a pre-emphasis disc and surprisingly, some of the tracks that aren't de-emphasized as ripped into EAC, the brightness does enhance the songs to my ears such as the acoustic guitar in "Forever In Blue Jeans" while on "Love On The Rocks," the de-emphasized version sounds better than the pre-emphasized version all the way through. The Greatest Hits 1922-92 masterings of the full length album versions do sound excellent and 12 Greatest Hits Vol. 2 does sound excellent overall. The 2 live versions on the 1993 His 12 Greatest Hits come from "Hot August Night" and they are only worth listening to in that context, not on a Greatest Hits comp.

 

What songs are those, and how are they different from the album versions?

 

Forever In Blue Jeans for one is the radio edit (edited from the album version) and there are others as well.

 

This isn't really a compilation but I highly recommend Neil's Play Me: The Complete Uni Studio Recordings three-disc set. The sound is very listenable on it.