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Nov 1, 2010Like most covers sets, this is a mixed bag, and it's for the hardcore Diamond fan more than those who admire Home Before Dark, 12 Songs, or his work from the '60s through the mid-'70s.
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Nov 9, 2010It's such a disappointment when something you hope is going to be great is, well, such a disappointment. That's the case with Dreams, the latest album from Neil Diamond.
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Oct 29, 2010In the US they're pitching this as Diamond's revelatory masterpiece, which is a bit rich considering he's performed covers often before, and his own best songs were as strong as anything here.
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Nov 8, 2010Given his role as one of pop's most respected songwriters, Neil Diamond might be expected to fill a covers album with underappreciated obscurities by tunesmiths less highly regarded than he.
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Nov 1, 2010This album is flush with easy-listening ballads, but they are often wondrously rearranged by Diamond, who continues to be a restless experimenter.
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Entertainment WeeklyNov 1, 2010There's a certain pleasure in hearing him refashion pop history in his sonorous, self-serious style. [Nov. 5, 2010, p. 71]
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MojoDec 14, 2010A third Rick Rubin-produced album -- cover versions but the comeback continues. [Jan. 2011, p. 97]
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Nov 2, 2010As a whole, Dreams is a bleak affair, Diamond sounding often forlorn and beaten, most notably on a morose, slowed down reimagining of his own 1966 tune, I'm A Believer, which became The Monkees' biggest success.
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Nov 30, 2010Diamond's song selection will hardly shake anyone's world – two each by the Beatles and Randy Newman – but he has the vocal power to make many cuts his own.
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Nov 3, 2010Dreams possesses the charm of a confident man who understands the beauty of pop music and the serious allure of emotional lyrics.
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Q MagazineDec 22, 2010It isn't just that it's (mostly) a covers album, more that so many of the selections are so uninspired. [Jan 2011, p.139]
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Nov 12, 2010There isn't a bad song--well, apart from "Alone Again (Naturally)"--or a tacky arrangement on the album, but the material suffers from excessive familiarity.
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Nov 4, 2010The minimal recordings (often just voice, guitar and piano) give proceedings an eerie feel, and Diamond's hurting vocals must be among the most emotional he has ever delivered.