Neil Diamond is a rare gem in the solid gold oldies of Rock and Roll.
Neil gained superstardom in the '70s with his bombastic concerts and his determined top 40 hits. But there was a truer Neil before then

In the mid/late '60's, Neil wrote/ recorded songs that squeeked the edge of Pop and Punk. His early recordings on Bang records evoke a time and place. That time of a young man being a believer and the place of the new. Listen! a year period produced "Cherry Cherry" "Solitary Man" "You Got to Me" "I Got the Feelin'" "The Boat That I Row" "I'm a Believer" "Thank The Lord for the Nighttime" "Girl, You'll be a Woman Soon", "Red Red Wine", etc..

This is early Neil at his best, stereo and hard to find. Latter day Neil found him on UNI then Columbia, and with each new recording, a bigger head of hair. And less fun.

Stick with him with sideburns and no dye job

Took it on vacation. It was campy and great! It had several tracks I did not know and fell in love with.

Now this is the good old foot stomping Neil Diamond songs that I grew up listening to with my parents. I like his other more famous stuff too, but this is the one collection that I was hoping to find & now that I have, it is awesome! These are several of his recordings with the "Bang" label, which for some reason are hard to find on CD. Neil had a big impact on the early sound of the "Monkees" in the 60's & even wrote one of their biggest hits (I'm a believer) & you can tell by some of these songs (as well as his own version of the song).

Classic Neil Diamond songs. Excellent. Enjoy listening to CD in the car on my way to work (an hour drive!)

My one small problem with this is that it is one short CD. There are only about 30 minutes of music here. In an era where 1 hour and 18 minutes can fit on a CD, there's simply no excuse for that. And with all the testimonials here that these were Neil Diamond's "great years", you might guess that out of the dozens and dozens of other songs he recorded for Bang during that time, quite a few of those were pretty great, too. And you'd be right. This CD provides the absolute minimum representation of that period by presenting only the hit singles, plus his own versions of two songs he wrote that were hits by others, "I'm A Believer" and "The Boat That I Row". There are so many more superb cuts this collection could have introduced Neil Diamond fans eager for more of those great years to - the sublime "Love To Love", "I'll Come Running", "The Long Way Home", and too many more to name - that it feels like a cheapskate cheat. Of course what is here is great, and absolutely worth having. But minus one star for what could have been. Anyway, it does have TWELVE songs, and with "His 12 Greatest Hits", "12 Greatest Hits Volume II", and the recent "12 Songs", I suppose it does fit right in. But it's a shame that Sony, the biggest company in the universe, couldn't have sprung a few more bucks to license some more tracks that would have made this CD a real treasure trove.