The Essential Neil Diamond

The Essential Neil Diamond
Head shot of a man whose dark hair blends into the black background
Compilation album by
Neil Diamond
ReleasedDecember 4, 2001 (2001-12-04)
RecordedFebruary, 1966 – October 28, 2001
GenrePop rock
Length141:09
LabelColumbia
CompilerNeil Diamond, Al Quaglieri
Neil Diamond chronology
Three Chord Opera
(2001) 		The Essential Neil Diamond
(2001) 		Play Me: The Complete Uni Studio Recordings...Plus!
(2002)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]

The Essential Neil Diamond is a two-disc compilation album by Neil Diamond. It was released by Sony Music in 2001.

Diamond and his collaborator Al Quaglieri personally chose the 38 tracks that appeared in the collection. Nine selections were from Diamond's early period with Bang Records (1966–68) while 14 were from his Columbia years, which began in 1973. The Bang recordings are now owned by Sony, Columbia's parent company. For the five top ten hits that Diamond record for Uni Records (1968–73) Columbia leased the right for their appearance on this collection. Ten recordings that were used for the album were not the original studio recordings but live renditions from concerts.[2] "You Don't Bring Me Flowers", Diamond's 1978 duet with Streisand is included in The Essential Barbra Streisand as well as this compilation.[3] The Essential Neil Diamond reached number 90 on the Billboard 200 chart and was awarded double platinum status by the RIAA on March 3, 2016.[4][5]

In 2009, Columbia issued an expanded version of the album entitled The Essential Neil Diamond 3.0 which featured the original two discs and a bonus third disc containing eight more selections.[6]

  1. ^ The Essential Neil Diamond at AllMusic
  2. ^ Ruhlmann, William. The Essential Neil Diamond at AllMusic. Retrieved March 9, 2014..
  3. ^ Ruhlmann, William. The Essential Barbra Streisand at AllMusic. Retrieved February 10, 2010.
  4. ^ Diamond, Neil. "Billboard 200". Billboard. Retrieved March 9, 2014.
  5. ^ Diamond, Neil. "RIAA Neil Diamond". RIAA. Retrieved 19 November 2016. Note: Enter advanced album search for "The Essential Neil Diamond"
  6. ^ The Essential Neil Diamond 3.0 at AllMusic