Excellent collection spoilt by mediocre live versions

Review Score: (6/10)
I bought this compilation after looking thru the track-listing and seeing that all my favourite Neil Diamond songs were included. Unfortunately 13 of the songs are mediocre live versions from Neil's early 90s concerts. Classics such as Cracklin' Rosie, I Am I Said, Song Sung Blue and Sweet Caroline are poor imitations of the original studio recordings of the early 70s. I recommend that you get your hands on the Neil Diamond Collection if you want to listen to these and others in their full glory. Clearly, Uni who own the rights to these songs didn't give permission to Columbia for them to be included on these CDs. So until all these songs are released on a single collection, you will have to do what I did, buy both and make your own compilation. Not cheap, but worth it for the ultimate Neil Diamond collection.

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