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12 Songs
by: Neil Diamond

List Price: $18.97

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Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0828767750828
Format: Enhanced
Label: Sony
Manufacturer: Sony
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Sony
Release Date: November 08, 2005
Studio: Sony
Sales Rank: 2039
MPN: 77508

Disc 1:

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Editorial Review:

Album Description:
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."

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

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- 12 songs will fill your heart with good feelings!
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.

Rating:

- Goodbye Girdles & Spangles!
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.

Rating:

- Not the Neil Diamond I Expected
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 ... Read More

Rating:

- 12 Songs is the Best
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!

Rating:

- Dissapointing to say the least...
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?

Music : 12 Songs