Calling
12 Songs Neil Diamond's best album in three decades may be a little misleading: truth be told, it doesn't have much competition in his discography. While
Diamond never stopped making albums, he did seem progressively less interested in recording sometime after the
Robbie Robertson-produced 1976 album
Beautiful Noise. Following that weird, ambitious album, he pursued a slicker, streamlined course and started writing less original material. For a while, this paid off great commercial dividends, culminating in his 1980 remake of the
Al Jolson film The Jazz Singer, but after 1982's
Heartlight he slowly drifted off the pop charts. Over the next two decades, he toured regularly, turning out a new album every three or four years, and their patchwork nature of a few covers and a few originals suggested that
Diamond wasn't as engaged in either the writing or recording process as he was at the peak of his career. With 2001's
Three Chord Opera he delivered his first album of all-original material since
Beautiful Noise, which was also his first non-concept album since 1991's
Lovescape (he spent the interim cutting theme albums, such as a record devoted to Brill Building pop or a country-oriented collection). While it was uneven, it did suggest that
Diamond was re-engaging with both writing and recording, and as he prepared material for a new record, he received word that producer
Rick Rubin -- the man responsible for
Johnny Cash's acclaimed '90s comeback,
American Recordings -- was interested in working with him, and the two combined for the project that turned out to be
12 Songs.