By some fluke, Neil Diamond – the once cheese-tatstic singer that pretty much defined the 70’s, sequenced shirt and all – has managed to not only remain relevant more than four decades after his first record, but has gotten everyone from housewives to hipsters to look beyond the sideburns and Vegas-ready stage show and see him for what he really is: a damn great songwriter.
As The Very Best of Neil Diamond (the 2011 version, not to be confused by the 1997 and 2002 versions that go by the same name) proves, the Jewish Elvis had plenty of arena-ready sing-alongs to back up the swagger. “Forever in Blue Jeans,” “Cherry, Cherry” and “Sweet Caroline,” (his best out of a career of bests) still hold up remarkable well and can get even the drunk and sober alike bonding in sing-along every single time (it’s been proven by teams of scientists and backed up by years of research).
There have been a slew of Diamond greatest hits packages over the years, but the 23 track Very Best Of is the most up to date, including the solid “Hell Yeah” off his 1995 record produced by Rick Rubin. Somewhere Gordon Lightfoot is trying to figure out exactly where he went wrong.
Neil Diamond – The Very Best/23 tracks/Columbia & Legacy/2011