Neil Diamond The Christmas Album

While Neil Diamond's The Christmas Album is designed almost exclusively for his adult contemporary constituency, the vocalist still manages to light up most of the obviousness of these standards with his trademark gritty soul and flair for inflection. Opening with the grandeur of "O Come, O Come Emmanuel/We Three Kings of Orient Are" and "Silent Night," the album is awash in rich reds and golds almost immediately. But Diamond has fun with "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town," loosening up with a harmonica solo and a busy, up-tempo arrangement, and "Jingle Bell Rock" does just that with a 1950s doo wop vibe.

Neil came up with a stocking full of unique arrangements of holiday perennials for this 1994 album. See what he does with The Hallelujah Chorus; Sleigh Ride; Away in a Manger; Winter Wonderland; The First Noel; Joy to the World , and more!

Specially artist-curated compilation of the greatest songs from Neil's four beloved and best-selling Christmas albums - 'The Christmas Album', 'The Christmas Album Volume II', 'A Cherry Cherry Christmas' and 'Acoustic Christmas'. All tracks have been newly remastered under the artist's direction by Neil's engineer, Bernie Becker. Additionally, Neil and Bernie have created a stunning new mix of 'O Holy Night', originally released on 'The Christmas Album'. Critics have praised Neil's originals while celebrating the inventive arrangements of the traditional songs, singling out Neil's 'trademark gritty soul and flair for inflection', noting his performances are 'much more than a man and a guitar'.

Re-teaming with Don Was and Jacknife Lee, the pair who produced his 2014 album Melody Road, Neil Diamond cut Acoustic Christmas, his fourth holiday album and first since 2009's A Cherry Cherry Christmas.

Acoustic Christmas is the new holiday album from Neil Diamond on Capitol Records. Set for release on October. 28 and followed Nov. 18 by a vinyl version, the holiday collection includes new material alongside Diamond's singular renditions of yuletide classics. Acoustic Christmas was produced by Jacknife Lee (U2, R.E.M.) and Don Was (Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan), the pair behind Diamond's previous release, 2014 s Melody Road.

Part of Legacy's budget-priced Classic Christmas series, the Neil Diamond installment offers up 12 previously issued holiday hits, including yuletide classics like "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," "The First Noel," "Winter Wonderland," "O Come All Ye Faithful," and "Silent Night."

In My Lifetime is a triple-disc, 71-track box set spanning Neil Diamond's entire career, from his early Bang hits, through his heyday at MCA, to his latter-day adult contemporary hits for Columbia. Demos, alternate takes, and live cuts are interspersed throughout the box. Not all of Diamond's greatest songs are here – obscurities like "Two-Bit Manchild" would have been welcome – but all of the classics are present. Aside from the flimsy book-style packaging, the only real problem with the set are the rarities. While the songwriting demos from the beginning of his career are of interest to both dedicated and casual fans, latter-day demos and alternate takes are only of interest to hardcore collectors and break the rhythm of the set. Nevertheless, if anyone wants just one Neil Diamond album, In My Lifetime is the one to get – it has all the songs you know plus several great lesser-known gems, presented in crisp, clear sound and with an excellent biography and discography.

Neil Diamond's first two holiday albums were plainly titled The Christmas Album and The Christmas Album, Vol. 2, which gave a pretty good indication of the by-the-book music they contained, just like how the very name of 2009's A Cherry Cherry Christmas is a tip-off that this collection is a decidedly less serious affair, even if it recycles a good chunk of the same recordings that comprised those earlier albums. A Cherry Cherry Christmas keeps a barbershop quartet arrangement of "Deck the Halls," a doo wop "White Christmas," and a swinging "Jingle Bell Rock," but what's notable are the additions: a ridiculous, self-celebrating "Cherry Cherry Christmas" that's trumped only by a goofy cover of Adam Sandler's "Chanukah Song." These two new cuts make Diamond seem like the garrulous uncle at your family's holiday party, the one who is eager to prove how cool he is, which only makes him seem all the more out of touch.