I am a Neil Diamond freak. I've bought his records and gone to his concerts ever since 1972.This CD compilation promised much. Great songs, Great conductor, Great singer.
Regrettably the sum of the parts is less than it should be.
The orchestra and arrangements are utterly sumptuous. Rich doesn't describe the sensual nature of the music that Bernstein coaxes from this ad-hoc orchestra.
It took me some time to work out what was wrong (at least for me). What should be a tour-de-force simply failed to excite me. And the principal reason was the extremely ponderous, leaden and slow pace of Diamond's interpretations. His performance on this CD does not display the vocal skills and excitement that have kept him at the top for 35 years.
The pace of the delivery is simply too slow. It gives time for all the flaws in Diamond's voice to come to the fore. I felt that I wanted to wind him up a bit. It is as though the batteries that power him have run flat.
Ironically, the slow delivery gives the orchestra all the time in the world to display its skills.
So, I was disappointed, but like any Diamond freak, I just had to add this CD to my collection.
