Pop music seldom comes bigger or with more panache than a Neil Diamond song, and this 11-track best-of, part of MCA's 20th Century Masters Millennium Collection, highlights some of the best from his late-'60s/early-'70s stay at Uni Records. Usually, a short stay at a record company means no hits but in a career as prolific and as successful as Diamond's, this short tenure yielded classics like "Sweet Caroline," "Holly Holy," "Song Sung Blue," "I Am..I Said," "Cracklin' Rosie," and "Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show." Even "secondary" hits like Play Me," "Stones," "Soolaimon," "Crunchy Granola Suite," and the autobiographical "Brooklyn Roads" (all included here) reveal a craftsmanship that made Diamond's induction into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame in 1984 no less than his due. ~ Cub Koda, All Music Guide
