Tap Root Manuscript
Artist: Neil Diamond
Community Score: 10.00

The follow-up to Touching You, Touching Me was an ambitious set of songs, all originals except for a Top 20 cover of "He Ain't Heavy...He's My Brother," including the side-long suite "The African Trilogy" (which featured the hit "Soolaimon"), the number one hit "Cracklin' Rosie," and "Done Too Soon." Going gold within two months, this album... Read More

Scott
Artist: Scott Walker
Community Score: 8.00

Scott Walker's success as a teen idol singer of Spectorish ballads with the Walker Brothers in no way prepared listeners for the mordant, despairing lyrics of his solo debut. To compound the surprise, he does his best to imitate the vocal girth of Tony Bennett and Frank Sinatra on this mix of original tunes and covers, which also features... Read More

Christmas in My Heart
Artist: Connie Francis

Originally released in 1959, this is vintage Connie Francis. ~ David A. Milberg, All Music Guide Read More

Glory Road: 1968 to 1972
Artist: Neil Diamond

The double-CD Glory Road: 1968 to 1972 set raises all kinds of mixed emotions. On the one hand, it's a great idea to distill down the highlights of Neil Diamond's career on Uni Records; on the other, that was the period that moved him in the direction away from being a rock musician and songwriter, and toward being the kind of performer that... Read More

The Best of Bobby Goldsboro
Artist: Bobby Goldsboro
Scott 4
Artist: Scott Walker
Community Score: 9.50

Walker dropped out of the British Top Ten with his fourth album, but the result was probably his finest '60s LP. While the tension between the bloated production and his introspective, ambitious lyrics remains, much of the over-the-top bombast of the orchestral arrangements has been reined in, leaving a relatively stripped-down approach that... Read More

Scott 2
Artist: Scott Walker
Community Score: 9.00
12 Greatest Hits, Vol. 2
Artist: Neil Diamond
Community Score: 7.50

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),... Read More

20 Golden Greats
Artist: Neil Diamond

EMI's 20 Golden Greats collects many of Neil Diamond's biggest hits from the late '60s and early '70s, but the vinyl-only compilation has since been supplanted by several CD-era collections that offer better track selections and fidelity. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide Read More

His 12 Greatest Hits
Artist: Neil Diamond
Community Score: 4.00

Actually, His 12 Greatest Hits consists of 12 songs that were hits for Neil Diamond on Uni between 1969 and 1972. "Cracklin' Rosie" is here, along with Diamond's other chart-topper of the period, "Song Sung Blue," and the Top Ten hits "Sweet Caroline" and "Holly Holy." ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide Read More

Touching You, Touching Me
Artist: Neil Diamond
Community Score: 10.00

Diamond's first regular album release to sell in substantial numbers, Touching You, Touching Me contains the gold Top Ten single "Holly Holy," and a Diamond composition, but is mostly notable for its covers of standards by other songwriters: "Everybody's Talkin'," "Mr. Bojangles," "Both Sides Now," and the chart entry "Until It's Time for You to... Read More

Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid
Artist: Burt Bacharach
Community Score: 6.00

In spite of its short length (26 minutes), Bacharach's Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid soundtrack is still a fine release. Many fans will be pleased to see one of his biggest hits here, the B.J. Thomas vehicle "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" (augmented by an instrumental and additional vocal version that add little). What's really... Read More

Classics: The Early Years
Artist: Neil Diamond

Classics: The Early Years rounds up 12 highlights from Neil Diamond's recordings for Bang Records. These, of course, were Diamond's earliest recordings, and for many fans they remain among his very best work, and it's easy to see why -- not only are these terrific songs, but the productions don't oversell the songs. Even when strings grace the... Read More

Love at the Greek
Artist: Neil Diamond