12 Songs (Neil Diamond album)

June 2025 12 Songs studio Neil Diamond 12 Songs (Neil Diamond album - cover art).jpg yes 2005 11 8 April 2004–Summer 2005 Arch Angel Studios and Akademie Mathematique of Philosophical Sound (Los Angeles, California) Ocean Way Recording and The Sound Factory (Hollywood, California) Sound City Studios (Van Nuys, California) Rock, country 54 15 American/Columbia Rick Rubin Stages: Performances 1970–2002 2003 The Best of Neil Diamond 2006 81/100https://www.metacritic.com/music/12-songs/neil-diamond Reviews for 12 Songs by Neil Diamond Metacritic April 27, 2025 AllMusic 4 5[album r805249 yes AllMusic review] Blender 4.5 5The result is something of a songcraft master class.... A career best. [Dec 2005, p.150] E! Ahttp://www.eonline.com/Reviews/Facts/Music/RevID/0,1107,3589,00.html Neil Diamond - 12 Songs E! Online November 8, 2005 April 27, 2025 May 12, 2006 https://web.archive.org/web/20060512115324/http://www.eonline.com/Reviews/Facts/Music/RevID/0,1107,3589,00.html bot: unknown Entertainment Weekly Ahttp://www.ew.com/article/2005/11/07/12-songs Atkins Martyn November 7, 2005 12 Songs Entertainment Weekly Time Inc. February 27, 2015 The Guardian 5 5https://www.theguardian.com/music/2006/feb/24/popandrock.shopping2 Neil Diamond, 12 Songs The Guardian Clarke Betty 24 February 2006 27 April 2025 Mojo 4 5It's not flawless, though it's damn good, and consistently engrossing. [Feb 2006, p.94] Pitchfork 4.1/10Hogan Marc November 21, 2005 http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/2630-12-songs/ Neil Diamond: 12 Songs Pitchfork February 27, 2015 Q 4.5 5It may well be his strongest ever collection. [Feb 2006, p.98] Rolling Stone 4 5https://www.rollingstone.com/artists/neildiamond/albums/album/8750525/review/8758117/12_songs https://web.archive.org/web/20070214081601/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/neildiamond/albums/album/8750525/review/8758117/12_songs dead February 14, 2007 Rolling Stone review Rolling Stone Slant Magazine 3.5 5Keefe Jonathan November 6, 2005 http://www.slantmagazine.com/music/review/neil-diamond-12-songs Neil Diamond: 12 Songs Slant Magazine February 27, 2015 12 Songs is the twenty-sixth studio album by Neil Diamond, released in 2005. It was his first studio album since 2001's Three Chord Opera. It was produced by Rick Rubin. The original pressing of the album was copy-protected using Sony's controversial XCP technology.http://cp.sonybmg.com/xcp/english/titles.html SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT - cp.sonybmg.com/xcp 24 December 2008 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20081224153240/http://cp.sonybmg.com/xcp/english/titles.html 24 December 2008 Album history Initial work on the album began after Diamond had concluded his tour behind Three Chord Opera in 2002. Retreating to his Colorado cabin, Diamond found himself temporarily snowed in, and started to pass the time away by working on new material. Not long afterward, Diamond met Rick Rubin. Rubin expressed interest in working with Diamond, and the two got together several times at each other's homes before ever going into the recording studio. Rubin, using the artist's Bang and early Uni albums as a springboard, encouraged Diamond to keep writing material over the course of a year. Once the two collaborators had plenty of material at their disposal that they felt strongly about, Rubin put together some of the same musicians he had used for Johnny Cash's American Recordings releases, including Tom Petty sidemen Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench, and encouraged Diamond to play guitar himself in the studio. The sessions were also the last ever performance by organ player Billy Preston, who died in June 2006. The end result, 12 Songs, ended up being one of Diamond's most successful and critically acclaimed studio albums in years, debuting at #4 on the Billboard 200 album chart. Rubin's influence would extend beyond the recording sessions, as the subsequent tour behind the album found Diamond using tougher-sounding arrangements of his classic songs with his longtime backing band, and playing more guitar onstage than he had done since the Hot August Night era. Extended copy protection In November 2005, it was revealed that Sony BMG was distributing albums with Extended Copy Protection (XCP), a controversial feature that automatically installed rootkit software on any Microsoft Windows machine upon insertion of the disc. In addition to preventing the CD's contents from being copied, Sony's software reported the users' listening habits back to the company; insecure features of the rootkit software also exposed the computer to malicious attacks. Though Sony refused to release a list of the affected CDs, the Electronic Frontier Foundation identified 12 Songs as one of the discs with the invasive software.December 2011 Rubin says that he and Diamond were not aware of XCP, and Rubin provided this explanation to The New York Times: The CD debuted at No. 4 [and] was the highest debut of Neil's career, off to a great start. But Columbia—it was some kind of corporate thing—had put spyware on the CD. That kept people from copying it, but it also somehow recorded information about whoever bought the record. The spyware became public knowledge, and people freaked out. There were some lawsuits filed, and the CD was recalled by Columbia. Literally pulled from stores. We came out on a Tuesday, by the following week the CD was not available. Columbia released it again in a month, but we never recovered. Neil was furious, and I vowed never to make another album with Columbia.https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/02/magazine/02rubin.t.html Rick Rubin - Recording Industry - Rock Music Lynn Hirschberg 2 September 2007 www.nytimes.com By December 2005, Sony BMG had remastered and repressed 12 Songs and all other albums released with the XCP software as standard, non-copy-protected CDs. Track listing All songs written by Neil Diamond. "Oh Mary" - 5:12 "Hell Yeah" - 4:25 "Captain of a Shipwreck" - 3:55 "Evermore" - 5:18 "Save Me a Saturday Night" - 3:31 "Delirious Love" - 3:12 "I'm on to You" - 4:27 "What's It Gonna Be" - 4:04 "Man of God" - 4:21 "Create Me" - 4:10 "Face Me" - 3:27 "We" - 3:49 "Men Are So Easy" (bonus track on special edition) - 4:04 "Delirious Love" (featuring Brian Wilson) (bonus track on special edition) - 3:23 Personnel Neil Diamond – vocals, guitars Larry Knechtel – acoustic piano Roger Joseph Manning Jr. – acoustic piano Benmont Tench – acoustic piano, organ Patrick Warren – Chamberlin Billy Preston – organ, Hammond organ (4, 9, 11) Mike Campbell – guitars, horn and string arrangements, conductor Smokey Hormel – guitars Pat McLaughlin – guitars Jason Sinay – guitars Jonny Polonsky – guitars, upright bass Lenny Castro – percussion Jimmie Haskell – horn and string arrangements (4) Brian Wilson – vocals (14) Production Rick Rubin – producer Greg Fidelman – recording, mixing Jason Lader – recording Andrew Scheps – recording Mark Linett – additional recording Greg Burns – assistant engineer Chris Holmes – assistant engineer Pete Martinez – assistant engineer Jim Monti – assistant engineer Dana Nielsen – assistant engineer Erich Talaba – assistant engineer Vlado Meller – mastering at Sony Mastering (New York City, New York) Lindsey Chase – production coordinator Sam Cole – production coordinator Reina Katzenberger – art direction, design Martin Atkins – photography Charts Weekly charts Chart (2005–2006) PeakpositionAustralia 40 Neil Diamond 12 songs true June 14, 2023Austria 11 Neil Diamond 12 songs true June 14, 2023Flanders 6 Neil Diamond 12 songs true June 14, 2023Wallonia 86 Neil Diamond 12 songs true June 14, 2023Netherlands 10 Neil Diamond 12 songs true June 14, 2023Germany 20 Neil Diamond 12 songs 27481 true June 14, 2023Ireland2 16 Neil Diamond true June 14, 2023Italy 82 Neil Diamond 12 songs true June 14, 2023New Zealand 40 Neil Diamond 12 songs true June 14, 2023Switzerland 43 Neil Diamond 12 songs true June 14, 2023UK 5 Neil Diamond true June 14, 2023Billboard200 4 Neil Diamond true June 14, 2023BillboardTastemaker 13 Neil Diamond true June 14, 2023 Year-end charts Chart (2006) PeakpositionDutch Albums (Album Top 100)https://dutchcharts.nl/jaaroverzichten.asp?year=2006&cat=a Jaaroverzichten – Album 2006 dutchcharts.nl July 21, 2020 99UK Albums (OCC)http://www.ukchartsplus.co.uk/ChartsPlusYE2006.pdf UK Year-End Chart 2006 Official Charts Company July 21, 2020 101US Billboard 200https://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/2006/top-billboard-200-albums Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 2006 Billboard July 21, 2020 161 Certifications Australia album 12 Songs Neil Diamond Gold 2005 2006 50,000 https://books.google.com/books?id=iw4EAAAAMBAJ&q=12+songs+continues&pg=PA101 66 '12 Songs' Continues Singer's Record of International Success Billboard Paul Sexton 9 December 2006 20 July 2019 Canada album 12 Songs Neil Diamond Gold 2005 2006 July 20, 2019 Germany album 12 Songs Neil Diamond true 2005 45,000 20 July 2019 Ireland album 12 Songs Neil Diamond Gold 2005 2006 July 20, 2019 United Kingdom album 12 Songs Neil Diamond 2005 2006 Gold 200,000 20 July 2019 63-3130-2 United States album 12 Songs Neil Diamond Gold 2005 2005 571,000 https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/00s/2008/BB-2008-05-10.pdf 'Home' Field Advantage Billboard 57 Jonathan Cohen 10 May 2008 20 July 2019 yes References 30em External links Are You Affected By Sony-BMG's Rootkit? https://web.archive.org/web/20080704144348/http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/004144.php July 4, 2008 (November 9, 2005) from Electronic Frontier Foundation Category:Albums produced by Rick Rubin Category:Neil Diamond albums Category:2005 albums Category:Columbia Records albums Category:Albums recorded at United Western Recorders Category:Albums recorded at Sound City Studios