1 of 3 customers found the following review helpful:
 His Masterpiece, 2004-07-03
The album you throw at anyone who says he was only a singles artist, the Jazz Singer is a terrible movie and the best piece of work he ever did. You Baby and My Louise could and should have been hits, Acapulco and Summer Love are wonderful charming songs, and with the exception of the one terrible cut Diamond puts on every cd to make sure you appreciate the good stuff (Songs of Life) this was and is a superior cd. Only Tennessee Moon has given it any competition in the last 20 years.
2 of 2 customers found the following review helpful:
 Listen to Neil Diamond's soundtrack and skip the film, 2004-04-27
The decision to make a modern version of Al Jolson's "Jazz Singer" in 1980 is one of the more dubious ideas to come out of Hollywood. Putting singer Neil Diamond in the Jolson role opposite Laurence Olivier as his cantor father and Lucy Arnaz as the woman he loves had only one sure upside in that Diamond also did the music for the film. If your choice is between watching the film or listening to the soundtrack, then listen to the soundtrack.Diamond was inspired by the immigrant element of the story to honor the national melting pot in the opening song "America," along with one of his better ballads from that part of his career "Hello Again." The songs also play to Diamond's strength in that several of them would be done "live" in the context of the film, and anyone who has listened to "Hot August Night" or any other concert album by Diamond knows he is a lot better live than he is in the studio. In retrospect that is clearly the point in Diamond's career where the hard rock and gospel influences went away and he began a soft rock/pop artist where songs like "Love on the Rocks" and "Summerlove" became the norm. His early songs are arguably his best, but it was not until his 1976 album "Beautiful Noise" that Diamond ever had an album go platinum. To his credit Diamond does come up with songs that meet the narrative needs of the film, not that this is a reason to watch the movie, so do not accuse me of advocating you do that. There is no reason for you to see that "You Baby" is part of an awkward homage, for lack of a better word, to Jolson in black face. Also worked into the mix are some traditional Jewish songs, "Adon Olom" and "Kol Nidre/My Name Is Yussel," and Diamond makes an earnest attempt to do them right. The resulting mix might be uneven, but there are enough solid songs here to make this an above average Neil Diamond album.
1 of 11 customers found the following review helpful:
 3 good songs and the rest is BAD!!!!, 2004-04-21
Starting with September Morn, all of his CDs have been very uneven and this is one of the worst. This has a couple of good songs on it (you know what they are) but the rest is REALLY BAD!!! I wish they would put out Greatest Hits Vol. 3 with all of his great songs since September Morn that aren't on Vol. 2 including That Kind, The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore, On The Way To The Sky, Right By You, The Drifter, First You Have to Say You Love Me, Front Page Story, Heartlight, In Ensanada, Turn Around, You Make It Feel Like Christmas, Sleep With Me Tonight, The Man You Need, Story of My Life, It Should Have Been Me, (I'll See You On The Radio) Laura, Me Beside You, Best Years of Our Lives, This Time, If I Couldn't See You Again, If There Were No Dreams, Don't Turn Around, Hooked On The Memory of You and a couple from Tennesse Moon and Three Chord Opera. Now that would be an AWESOME CD and you wouldn't have to waste your hard-earned money on awful CDs like this with only 3 or 4 good songs!!!!
3 of 3 customers found the following review helpful:
Neil Diamond Jazz Singer CD the Best, 2002-08-14
I'm extremely happy with the CD, "The Soundtrack from The Jazz Singer". His music in this CD is all new and very uplifting. It's got to be one of Diamond's best!! The sound is premium quality. I just want to listen to it over and over again, and it inspires me to purchase the other of his CD's that I now have on old 33 rpm albums. Received it in two days after ordering. I'm completely satisfied with the purchase.
2 of 2 customers found the following review helpful:
strong music supports the movie, 2002-08-07
Neil has been able to create strong songs on this one, and happely for him this was neccessary cause the move wasnt really a smash hit, as the story was weak as i can remember, cause i was still very young at that time...but anyways...the music is great, strong songs with 'america' one of his everlasting new classics, the touching "hello again" , the joyfull 'acapulco' and so many others, real neil diamond gems to be enjoyed with a great glass of old red wine, on a hot summer night in yr beautiful garden...
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