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100Spiritual, lovelorn and vulnerable, this is the album Diamond has deserved for decades.
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[The] tension between Rubin's desire to pare it down and Diamond's tendency to amp it up makes for the best musical checks and balances; nothing gets too unplugged or too bombastic. [11 Nov 2005, p.67]
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100It's stripped down (and we're not just talking about the jumpsuits), simple and the songwriter's best work in ages.
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90The result is something of a songcraft master class.... A career best. [Dec 2005, p.150]
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90It may well be his strongest ever collection. [Feb 2006, p.98]
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80For some, the excursions into god-bothering territory ("Create Me", "Man Of God") will be too mawkish, but few could deny that we're now in the full swing of a fascinating new era - a place where rock'n'roll, formerly the preserve of the doomed teenager with nothing to lose, has grown old.
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80It's not that Diamond has recorded a masterpiece, since quite a good portion of this is decidedly B material. It's that the good stuff represents Neil at his best, exploiting his considerable knack for melody and structure to the fullest.
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80It's not flawless, though it's damn good, and consistently engrossing. [Feb 2006, p.94]
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80Even with Rubin dialling things back, the material grabs the listener by the collar and holds on tight. [Album of the Month, Feb 2006, p.66]
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But if 12 Songs does occasionally come across as slightly affected in its intent and presentation, it also is inarguably Neil Diamond's best set of songs in a long, long time.
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One of the most indisputably interesting pop albums of the year.
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The new album sounds great, but it has its share of filler, and Rubin's narrow vision means he lets some songs lie motionless when they might be improved by old-fashioned sweetening.
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60While the all-original material is not strong enough to qualify this as the instant classic some have suggested, heartfelt tracks like the jubilant "Delirious Love," the rousing "Hell Yeah" and the string-tinged love song "Evermore" are outstanding. [12 Nov 2005]
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Unlike Cash, the ego on display here still sounds like it's got the whip hand on the talent and you never really start to like him. [4 Mar 2006, p.31]
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41Not all of Diamond's new songs go awry. Most just go away, their melodies dissipating, their lyrics flimsy even through those tremendous pipes.
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User score distribution:
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Positive: 30 out of 37
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Mixed: 2 out of 37
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Negative: 5 out of 37
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