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12 Songsby Neil Diamond |
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Price Range: $9.97 - $18.99
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One of the year's most heavily-anticipated new releases, 12 Songs pairs the pop music icon with legendary producer Rick Rubin. Producing a Neil Diamond album has been a long-time dream for Rubin, whose extraordinary resume spans the history of hip-hop from LL Cool J to Jay Z, the world of hardcore rock from Slayer to System Of A Down, and the pantheon of mythic stars from Tom Petty and Donovan to Mick Jagger and Johnny Cash's immortal Grammy-winning American Recordings series.
"Most of the songs were recorded with Neil playing and singing at the same time," said Rick Rubin in a Rolling Stone article (9/22/05) profiling the producer, "and it's a different animal. It's taking him back to being more of a singer-songwriter. He really blows me away."
When it came time to record 12 Songs, Rick Rubin assembled a sympathetic ensemble of musicians to capture the essence of Neil Diamond's extraordinary new songs, each of them a finely-wrought gem, soul-searching, honest, yearning, and powerful.
A core group of musicians made up of Mike Campbell (guitar) and Benmont Tench (piano/organ) from Tom Petty's Heartbreakers and guitarist Smokey Hormel (Beck, Tom Waits) and other musicians including the renowned Larry Knechtel (piano) and Billy Preston (organ) played on the album.
The track listing for 12 Songs is: "Oh Mary," "Hell Yeah," "Captain of a Shipwreck," "Evermore," "Save Me A Saturday Night," "Delirious Love," "I'm On To You," "What's It Gonna Be," "Man of God," "Create Me," "Face Me," and "We." A special digipak edition of 12 Songs features two bonus tracks: "Men Are So Easy" and an alternate version of "Delirious Love" with guest artist Brian Wilson.
"?.judging by eight finished tracks," wrote Lorraine Ali, previewing 12 Songs for Newsweek (August 1, 2005), "this is the best work Diamond has done in 30 years."
From Amazon.com:
Forget for a moment that you're a sophisticated consumer of music with a mercilessly low tolerance for schlock: Neil Diamond--"Cracklin' Rosie" and "Forever in Blue Jeans" be damned--is going to break your heart. 12 Songs, the hotly anticipated collaboration between Rick Rubin and the formerly jumpsuited Don Juan, exceeds all hopped-up expectations, deflating fans' concerns that their hero might fall flat on the frames of his huge sunglasses in attempting to turn out something hip and harnessing what sounds like decades' worth of untapped, superior songcraft instead. There it is on "Captain of a Shipwreck," a declaration of love that skims the poetic with its promise that "If you're captain of a shipwreck/I'll be first mate to your shame," and around it comes again on "Hell Yeah," a life-affirming, rumor-debunking anthem fairly bursting with bravado (think "I Am...I Said," but with context). Bravado aside, expect no pulled punches here. Rubin's masterful approach is to let Neil Diamond do what Neil Diamond does best, and that is to strap on a loose guitar and let those teflon-ravaged vocals ride over it. Some rides, of course, are smoother than others--Brian Wilson's guest spot on bonus track "Delirious Love" is so melodic and harmony-rich it ought to have sails attached, while "What's It Gonna Be" sounds like something snatched in a pre-dawn lark from a Leonard Cohen disc. All of it is lovely, every last track. A respectful rescripting of the legend, a la the Rubin-aided recasting of Johnny Cash after 2002's American Recordings, is in order. --Tammy La Gorce
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12 songs will fill your heart with good feelings! -  |
12 Songs Review |
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just get this cd without a second thought, you'll be happy you did. everyone in my family loved it, from young to old and every age in between. these are 12 of the most beautiful songs neil has recorded ever.
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Goodbye Girdles & Spangles! - |
12 Songs Review |
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I liked Neil Diamond for a few years in the late 60s and early 70s but found him incredibly un-hip and almost cringeworthy during the 80s and 90s. Well, color me ashamed of my feelings becuase I picked up this CD at a serious discount a few days ago and have played it almost non-stop since then. This is probably the greatest "makeover" of a mainstream pop/rock star that I've ever heard. Each song is precise, touching, and most importantly without distracting frills. I urge you to listen to it. |
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Not the Neil Diamond I Expected -  |
12 Songs Review |
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I have been a Neil Diamond fan since the late 1960's and have purchased all Neil's albums, but for the first time I am disappointed; this is one album I wish I had not bought.
Neil's musical career as a top-100 charting singer faded away in the mid-1980's, as the popular music genre changed. Having been away from making records for so long, I expected something in the order of "Beautiful Noise", his brilliant remembrance of his years on Tin-Pan Alley put to music. Neil's first works in the 1960's were a mixture of love-ballads with a lively lead guitar and some background instrumentation. As he peaked in popularity in the mid-70's his sound transformed into a lush mixture of strings, guitar, piano, and percussion, with his voice clear and strong leading the way. I believe this is the sound most Diamond fans want to hear. Unfortunately, the Neil Diamond of this album has none of the positive atributes of the mid-70's Diamond. He chops his vocal intonation into curt sentences instead of soaring with his once-stong vibrato. Hearing Diamond now, the characteristic voice is still there, but the smooth strong voice that could sustain a note is gone. Diamond vocalizes much like Johnny Cash did in his American Recordings. Cash was known all his career as a singer who sang with words, almost like telling a story. However, Neil Diamond has been a crooner all of his career, and to hear him sing in the stark manner on this album left me feeling uninspired and disappointed, perhaps even cheated. Diamond fans will recall the vivid inspiring uplifting instumental piece that preceeded his hit song "Headed For The Future". There are no instrumentals in this album. It is simply Diamond and his guitar. I thought the songs were too slow, (boring almost comes to mind), had little energy, and were tedious to listen to. How I wish Neil had been inspired to put together a mix of love-ballads with upbeat inspiring songs as well. I truly miss the strings and percussion that used to mark Diamond's music as distictly superior to the norm. I realize that the critics hail this album as a great comeback success for Diamond, but I cannot agree with their assessment. Rick Rubin did wonders for Johnny Cash, but fell short with Neil Diamond. I love Neil Diamond and his music, but I cannot give this album a thumb's up recommendation. Perhaps this is why you can purchase the album on Amazon (used) for less than a dollar. I hope Neil realizes what his fans want to hear and returns to the lush strings of his prime. However, I wonder if Diamond still has the pipes to pull off a truly great album again? The fact that he does not hold notes in this album leads me to believe he has perhaps lost his once great and distinctive voice. Jim "Konedog" Koenig (Neil Diamond Fan forever) |
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12 Songs is the Best - |
12 Songs Review |
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To me this is one of Neil Diamonds's best ever CDs. I love each song and have played the CD countless times. The songs are Diamond himself. No one could write as he does. The songs are catchy and melodious. They demonstrate a wide range of emotions, from sad to 'delirious.' You can play them in your head for hours and not get bored. They seem to talk to you; they are very personal, one-on-one. I love this product! |
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Dissapointing to say the least... - |
12 Songs Review |
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After listening to this album several times and thinking about it a lot, I have finally realized why I just don't like it. At all. I like Neil Diamond's music because normally it is upbeat and optimistic. The songs on this album (except for Delirious Love with Brian Wilson, which is the one song I liked) are all depressing. And the minimalist arrangements just add to the dreariness. Where is the percussion? Where are the strings? Where is the Neil I used to know and love? |
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