Sealed 2014 2LP Gatefold Original With Custom Hype Sticker On Shrink. “Leaving Behind Columbia Records Along With His Latter-Day Collaborator Producer Rick Rubin, Neil Diamond Sets Up Shop At Capitol -- Which Now Belongs To Universal Records, Who Owns His Classic Recordings For Uni And MCA -- And Teams With Producer Don Was For 2014's Melody Road. Diamond May Have Left His Label Of 40 Years, But In An Odd Way, Melody Road Is A Return Home After His Stark Wanderings Of The 2000s. Rubin Encouraged Diamond To Be Spare, Sometimes Recording Him With Little More Than An Acoustic Guitar, But Was -- Who Is Assisted By Jacknife Lee -- Coaxes The Singer/Songwriter To Bring Back The Schmaltz, An Essential Element Of Neil's Glory Days That Was Largely Ignored On The Rubin Records. Was And Lee Retain A Hint Of That New Millennial Intimacy -- It's Never Once As Overblown As His '70s Records -- But The Songs Themselves Alternate Between Stately Ballads, Effervescent Bubblegum, And Self-Important Pomp. As On His Best '70s Records, Which Melody Road Often Resembles In Both Construction And Consistency, Diamond Is Best When He Keeps His Ambitions Relatively Simple.” – S.T. Erlewine, AMG