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Play Me: The Complete Uni Studio Recordings...Plus! | 
 enlarge | Artist: Neil Diamond
Label: Mca
Category: Music
List Price: $29.98
Buy New: $16.97
You Save: $13.01 (43%)
New (38) Used (11) from $14.99
Rating:  13 reviews
Sales Rank: 42470
Format: Box Set
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 3
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.7 x 4.7 x 0.9
MPN: 112824
UPC: 008811282424
EAN: 0008811282424
ASIN: B0000639AP
Release Date: March 26, 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: FACTORY SEALED! Small drillhole in case. We ship fast all over the world using DHL.
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| Tracks:
Disc 1
| • | Two-Bit Manchild | | • | A Modern Day Version Of Love | | • | Honey-Drippin' Times | | • | The Pot Smoker's Song | | • | Brooklyn Roads | | • | Shilo | | • | Sunday Sun | | • | Holiday Inn Blues | | • | Practically Newborn | | • | Knackelflerg | | • | Merry-Go-Round | | • | Broad Old Woman (6 A.M. Insanity) | | • | Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show | | • | Dig In | | • | River Runs, New Grown Plums | | • | Juliet | | • | Long Gone | | • | And The Grass Won't Pay No Mind | | • | Glory Road | | • | Deep In The Morning | | • | If I Never Knew Your Name | | • | Memphis Streets | | • | You're So Sweet Horseflies Keep Hangin' Round Your Face | | • | Hurtin' You Don't Come Easy | | • | Sweet Caroline | | • | Everybody's Talkin' |
Disc 2
| • | Mr. Bojangles | | • | Smokey Lady | | • | Holly Holy | | • | Both Sides Now | | • | And The Singer Sings His Songs | | • | Ain't No Way | | • | New York Boy | | • | Until It's Time For You To Go | | • | Cracklin' Rosie | | • | Free Life | | • | Coldwater Morning | | • | Done Too Soon | | • | He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother | | • | Childsong | | • | I Am The Lion | | • | Madrigal | | • | Soolaimon | | • | Missa | | • | African Suite | | • | Childsong (Reprise) | | • | I Am... I Said | | • | The Last Thing On My Mind | | • | Husbands And Wives | | • | Chelsea Morning |
Disc 3
| • | Crunchy Granola Suite | | • | Stones | | • | If You Go Away | | • | Suzanne | | • | I Think It's Gonna Rain Today | | • | I Am... I Said (Reprise) | | • | Song Sung Blue | | • | Porcupine Pie | | • | High Rolling Man | | • | Canta Libre | | • | Captain Sunshine | | • | Play Me | | • | Gitchy Goomy | | • | Walk On Water | | • | Theme | | • | Prelude In E Major | | • | Morningside | | • | Lordy | | • | Kentucky Woman | | • | Thank The Lord For The Night Time | | • | Solitary Man | | • | Cherry, Cherry (Single Version) | | • | Red, Red Wine | | • | Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
The seven studio albums Neil Diamond recorded for Uni Records between 1968 and 1972 are all collected on the three-disc collection Play Me: The Complete Uni Studio Recordings. And it's quite a revelation to listen to them front to back in succession like this, as these records highlight the most dramatic artistic evolution in Diamond's career. Diamond was no neophyte when he signed with Uni in '68; he'd already penned million-sellers like "I'm a Believer" and "Cherry Cherry." But he was still coming into his own as a solo artist, and albums like Velvet Gloves and Spit and Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show are wildly erratic, even for an artist renown for producing uneven albums. That said, there are countless life-affirming, goose-bump-inducing, campy, and brilliant songs on this collection. And one could easily make the argument that they're somehow made more likable--more human, in a way--when heard in their original context, bookended by unsuccessful experiments such as "The Pot Smoker's Song" and "I Am the Lion." This may not be the single Neil Diamond collection to get, but it surely should be the second or third one you buy. --Mike McGonigal
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| Customer Reviews:
 Should have been a winner July 1, 2008
MikeP5877 (Ohio)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I love each of Neil's six Uni studio albums tremendously and this set could have been great but alas it was not meant to be.
The sound quality is harsh and super compressed. There is no space at all to let the music breathe. These albums were very dynamic and warm to begin with and much of that is lost on the Play Me set.
Sequencing - the ideal sequencing would have been to place two complete albums on each disc, with the leftover space to be used for the single mixes that have not yet been released on CD (the mono mix of Brother Love's for example). Instead, they filled up each disc to the max, forcing one to change discs in the middle of an album side which totally breaks up the flow. I know one can burn these to CD-R to get whatever sequencing they like, but there was absolutely no reason for the compliers to do this.
No gaps between songs - one song starts almost immediately after the other. This is completely pointless. Like most albums, the original Uni albums had a few seconds of silence between the songs.
Disc 3 indexing - most of the songs on disc 3 chop off the first split-second of the song if you scan from track to track. If you play the disc straight through, it's not a problem.
Stones - the first few seconds of "Stones" (the song) are completely missing. Unacceptable.
Extra material - instead of filling up the remaining space on disc 3 with live songs from Gold and Hot August Night, it would have been much more preferable to give us the mono single mixes that have not yet seen the light of day on CD.
 play me June 2, 2008
Robert H. Hipkins
Take a close look at the specific titles,many of his newer stuff is not there or is done in a not so good live version. Lots of little known tunes,was a little disapointed,i thought i had all his good stuff.
 just a data point regarding the 'Stones' intro February 26, 2006
Kurt P. Lloyd (New Hampshire, USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
One reviewer mentioned that the intro to 'Stones' "is abbreviated by a couple of bars of guitar". I noticed that also when playing the CD on a portable CD player. However if I instead insert the disc into my Apple PowerBook, and play the CD in iTunes, these "missing" bars are actually there and play perfectly. Ditto if I drag the 'Stones' track onto the PowerBook's "Desktop" and play it (the AIFF file) using QuickTime. :):):):)
 Uni/MCA done right... almost. August 25, 2005
E. C. Powell (Brooklyn, NY)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Every now and then, unfortunately more often than not, there's a release that's so close to being done right and yet falls short due to obvious consumer ploys, leaving one with that dirty frustrating anticlimactic feeling. "Play Me" falls into this category I'm afraid. The upside of this release is that it contains all of Neil's Uni/MCA studio records on three handy cds. The downside is the layout of the records across the discs. A seemingly obvious way to do a release like this correctly would be to put two albums per disc, so a listener could listen to the albums complete without changing the disc. Instead, here the organizers have arranged the tracks to accommodate a handy consumer ploy at the end of disc three. So, in the end two of the records are spread across two discs: "Touching You, Touching Me" on discs 1 and 2, and "Stones" on discs 2 and 3. The live tracks come from "Gold" and "Hot August Night" and of course are tunes that Bang owns in their studio versions, so MCA figures throwing the live versions on here will make this set more appealing to the casual fan trying to get more of the "hits" in one package. The only upside is that the version of "Cherry, Cherry" is the single version, which the completists out there will want. I wish the producers of this set had a little more vision and respect for the flow of the original albums and instead of the bonus live tracks here had simply placed two albums per disc and otherwise focused on a remastered "Gold", or had just added that disc to this set as a fourth cd. Aside from this major flaw though this is still the best way to get these albums for a nice price. This set is almost done right... almost.
The mystery of Neil Diamond February 26, 2004
Stephen C. Peifer (Kenya)
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
It all comes down to a song called Captain Sunshine. The words are so dumb, but the melody is so nice, and the singing is so heart felt that in spite of myself I find myself enjoying it. Why his record company wouldn't insist on someone to edit his lyrics and protect his voice (Diamond was the biggest selling artist on the planet during the time this was recorded, and a heavy heavy smoker) is beyond me. But listen to Captain Sunshine, see if it hooks you, and if it does, there are lots of non hit gems on this collection. And I'm also grateful for the Cherry Cherry version available only on this cd which was a radio hit but different than the Hot August Night version.
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