Rating:
Genre:
Rock
Release Date: 10/25/1990
Run Time: 45:36
Keying off the title of an earlier hits collection on another label,
Columbia's
12 Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 sums up
Neil Diamond's first eight years with the label, 1973-1981, as well as his successful 1980
soundtrack for
The Jazz Singer on
Capitol Records. Five of the 12,
"Longfellow Serenade," "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" (with
Barbra Streisand),
"Love on the Rocks," "Hello Again," and
"America," were Top Ten hits. Another six,
"Be," "If You Know What I Mean," "Desiree," "Forever in Blue Jeans," "September Morn," and
"Yesterday's Songs," made the Top 40, and the last,
"Beautiful Noise," was the title track of
Diamond's best album of the period. The songs share a catchiness that belies
Diamond's shallow philosophizing and thinly veiled lust, and they make for a consistent collection out of what had been a series of uneven albums. And, since
Diamond only made the Top Ten one more time, the album caps his hit-making days. This is the record to buy instead of investing in the
Columbia catalog.
~William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
;)
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