The Essential Neil Diamond

The Essential Neil Diamond is a two-disc compilation album by Neil Diamond. It was released by Sony Music in 2001.

The Essential Neil Diamond
Compilation album by Neil Diamond
Released	December 4, 2001
Recorded	February, 1966 – October 28, 2001
Genre	Pop rock
Length	2:21:09
Label	Columbia
Compiler	Neil Diamond, Al Quaglieri
Neil Diamond chronology
Three Chord Opera (2001) The Essential Neil Diamond (2001) Play Me: The Complete Uni Studio Recordings...Plus! (2002)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]

Diamond and his collaborator Al Quaglieri personally chose the 38 tracks that appeared in the collection. Nine selections were from Diamond's early period with Bang Records (1966–68) while 14 were from his Columbia years, which began in 1973. The Bang recordings are now owned by Sony, Columbia's parent company. For the five top ten hits that Diamond record for Uni Records (1968–73) Columbia leased the right for their appearance on this collection. Nine recordings that were used for the album were not the original studio recordings but live renditions from concerts.[2] "You Don't Bring Me Flowers", Diamond's 1978 duet with Streisand is included in The Essential Barbra Streisand as well as this compilation.[3] The Essential Neil Diamond reached number 90 on the Billboard 200 chart and was awarded double platinum status by the RIAA on March 3, 2016.[4][5]

In 2009, Columbia issued an expanded version of the album entitled The Essential Neil Diamond 3.0 which featured the original two discs and a bonus third disc containing eight more selections.[6]

Track listing

Disc one

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Solitary Man"	Neil Diamond	2:32
2.	"Cherry, Cherry"	Neil Diamond	2:42
3.	"I Got the Feelin' (Oh No, No)"	Neil Diamond	2:13
4.	"Kentucky Woman"	Neil Diamond	2:26
5.	"Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon"	Neil Diamond	2:55
6.	"You Got to Me"	Neil Diamond	2:48
7.	"Red Red Wine"	Neil Diamond	2:41
8.	"Thank the Lord for the Night Time"	Neil Diamond	3:00
9.	"I'm a Believer"	Neil Diamond	2:43
10.	"Sweet Caroline"	Neil Diamond	3:21
11.	"Song Sung Blue"	Neil Diamond	3:13
12.	"Holly Holy"	Neil Diamond	4:30
13.	"I Am... I Said"	Neil Diamond	3:33
14.	"Cracklin' Rosie"	Neil Diamond	2:59
15.	"Play Me" (live recording)	Neil Diamond	4:21
16.	"Morningside" (live recording)	Neil Diamond	5:25
17.	"Crunchy Granola Suite" (live recording)	Neil Diamond	4:05
18.	"Brooklyn Roads" (live recording)	Neil Diamond	5:29
19.	"Soolaimon" (live recording)	Neil Diamond	5:06
Total length:			1:06:02

Disc two

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"America"	Neil Diamond	4:19
2.	"Hello Again"	Neil Diamond, Alan Lindgren	3:39
3.	"Love on the Rocks"	Gilbert Bécaud, Neil Diamond	3:40
4.	"Captain Sunshine" (live recording)	Neil Diamond	3:20
5.	"He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" (live recording)	Bob Russell, Bobby Scott	3:46
6.	"Yes I Will " / "Lady Magdalene" (live recording; medley)	Neil Diamond	7:01
7.	"Shilo" (live recording)	Neil Diamond	3:57
8.	"Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show" (live recording)	Neil Diamond	5:02
9.	"If You Know What I Mean"	Neil Diamond	3:43
10.	"Beautiful Noise"	Neil Diamond	3:26
11.	"You Don't Bring Me Flowers"	Alan Bergman, Marilyn Bergman, Neil Diamond	3:16
12.	"Desiree"	Neil Diamond	3:17
13.	"Forever in Blue Jeans"	Richard Bennett, Neil Diamond	3:39
14.	"September Morn"	Gilbert Bécaud, Neil Diamond	3:52
15.	"I've Been This Way Before"	Neil Diamond	3:48
16.	"Yesterday's Songs"	Neil Diamond	2:51
17.	"Heartlight"	Burt Bacharach, Neil Diamond, Carole Bayer Sager	4:26
18.	"Headed for the Future"	Neil Diamond, Tom Hensley, Alan Lindgren	4:06
19.	"You Are the Best Part of Me"	Neil Diamond	3:59
Total length:			1:15:07

Disc three (Limited edition 3.0)

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"The Boat That I Row"	Neil Diamond	2:41
2.	"Do It"	Neil Diamond	1:53
3.	"Longfellow Serenade"	Neil Diamond	3:51
4.	"And the Grass Won't Pay No Mind" (live recording)	Neil Diamond	4:10
5.	"Done Too Soon" (live recording)	Neil Diamond	2:53
6.	"Glory Road" (live recording)	Neil Diamond	3:37
7.	"Pretty Amazing Grace" (live recording)	Neil Diamond	3:29
8.	"Hell Yeah"	Neil Diamond	4:33
Total length:			27:07

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[7]	Platinum	70,000^^
New Zealand (RMNZ)[8]	3× Platinum	45,000^^
United Kingdom (BPI)[9]	Gold	100,000^^
United States (RIAA)[10]	2× Platinum	2,000,000
^^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References

1. The Essential Neil Diamond at AllMusic
2. Ruhlmann, William. The Essential Neil Diamond at AllMusic. Retrieved March 9, 2014..
3. Ruhlmann, William. The Essential Barbra Streisand at AllMusic. Retrieved February 10, 2010.
4. Diamond, Neil. "Billboard 200". Billboard. Retrieved March 9, 2014.
5. Diamond, Neil. "RIAA Neil Diamond". RIAA. Retrieved 19 November 2016. Note: Enter advanced album search for "The Essential Neil Diamond"
6. The Essential Neil Diamond 3.0 at AllMusic
7. "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2006 Albums". Australian Recording Industry Association. Archived from the original on 10 August 2020. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
8. "Official Top 40 Albums - 1 September 2008". NZ Top 40. 1 September 2008. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
9. "British album certifications – Neil Diamond – The Essential Neil Diamond". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 8 March 2019. Select albums in the Format field. Select Gold in the Certification field. Type The Essential Neil Diamond in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
10. "American album certifications – Neil Diamond – The Essential Neil Diamond". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 8 March 2019. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH.