12 Songs (Neil Diamond album)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''12 Songs'' is the twenty-sixth studio
album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records co ...
by Neil Diamond, released in 2005. It was his first studio album since 2001's '' Three Chord Opera''. It was produced by
Rick Rubin Frederick Jay Rubin (; born March 10, 1963) is an American record producer. He is the co-founder (alongside Russell Simmons) of Def Jam Recordings, founder of American Recordings, and former co-president of Columbia Records. Rubin helped popula ...
. The working title for the album was self-titled. The original pressing of the album was copy-protected using Sony's controversial XCP technology.


Album history

Initial work on the album began after Diamond had concluded his tour behind ''Three Chord Opera'' in 2002. Retreating to his
Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...
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 Bang or bangs may refer to: Products * M1922 Bang rifle, a US semi-automatic rifle designed by Søren Hansen Bang * Bang, a model car brand * Bang (beverage), an energy drink Geography * Bang, Lorestan, a village in Iran * Bangs, Ohio, Uni ...
and early
Uni Uni or UNI may refer to: Entertainment *Uni Records, a division of MCA, formally called Universal City Records *"U.N.I.", a song by Ed Sheeran from ''+'' (''Plus'') *Uni, a species in the Neopets Trading Card Game *Uni, a character in the anim ...
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 Thomas Earl Petty (October 20, 1950October 2, 2017) was an American musician who was the lead vocalist and guitarist of the rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, formed in 1976. He previously led the band Mudcrutch, was a member of the la ...
sidemen Mike Campbell and
Benmont Tench Benjamin Montmorency "Benmont" Tench III (born September 7, 1953) is an American musician and singer, and a founding member of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Early years Tench was born in Gainesville, Florida, the second child of Benjamin ...
, 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 Extended Copy Protection (XCP) is a software package developed by the British company First 4 Internet (which on 20 November 2006, changed its name to Fortium Technologies Ltd) and sold as a copy protection or digital rights management (DRM) schem ...
or XCP, a controversial feature that automatically installed
rootkit A rootkit is a collection of computer software, typically malicious, designed to enable access to a computer or an area of its software that is not otherwise allowed (for example, to an unauthorized user) and often masks its existence or the exis ...
software on any Microsoft Windows machine upon insertion of the disc. In addition to preventing the CD's contents from being copied, it was also revealed that the software reported the users' listening habits back to Sony and also exposed the computer to malicious attacks that exploited insecure features of the rootkit software. 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. Rubin says that he and Diamond were not aware of XCP, and Rubin provided this explanation to ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'': 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, guitar * Mike Campbell – guitar, horn and string arrangements, conductor *
Smokey Hormel Smokey Hormel (born circa 1959)Cohen (2017) quotes Hormel as saying he was "4 or 5 ears old when "I Want to Hold Your Hand" by The Beatles was "a big hit on the radio"; the song was released in America in December 1963. is an American guitarist ...
,
Pat McLaughlin Pat McLaughlin is a singer-songwriter based in Nashville, Tennessee. He was raised in Waterloo, Iowa, but moved to San Francisco, California in the early 1970s. There McLaughlin began to write songs, playing alone at open mic nights and in the ...
, Jason Sinay – guitar *
Jonny Polonsky Jonny Polonsky (born July 10, 1973) is an American rock guitarist, singer, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. Career Born in Chicago, Illinois and raised in suburban Wilmette, Illinois, Polonsky began writing, recording and self-rel ...
– guitar, bass guitar * Lenny Castro – percussion *
Benmont Tench Benjamin Montmorency "Benmont" Tench III (born September 7, 1953) is an American musician and singer, and a founding member of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Early years Tench was born in Gainesville, Florida, the second child of Benjamin ...
– piano, Hammond organ *
Larry Knechtel Lawrence William Knechtel (August 4, 1940 – August 20, 2009) was an American keyboard player and bassist who was a member of the Wrecking Crew, a collection of Los Angeles-based session musicians who worked with such renowned artists as Simon & ...
, Roger Joseph Manning Jr. – piano *
Patrick Warren Patrick Warren (born March 26, 1957) is an American musician, composer, and record producer. He is known for his work on the films ''Magnolia'', ''Fifty Shades of Grey'', '' Boogie Nights'' and ''Red State'', as well as the television series ' ...
Chamberlin The Chamberlin is an electro-mechanical keyboard instrument that was a precursor to the Mellotron. It was developed and patented by the American inventor Harry Chamberlin from 1949 to 1956, when the first model was introduced. There are several ...
* Billy Preston – Hammond organ (4, 9, 11) *
Jimmie Haskell Jimmie Haskell (born Sheridan Pearlman, November 7, 1926 – February 4, 2016) was an American composer and arranger for motion pictures and a wide variety of popular artists, including Elvis Presley, Neil Diamond, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Steely ...
– horn and string arrangements (4) * Brian Wilson – vocals (14)


Production

* Producer – Rick Rubin * Recorded by
Greg Fidelman Greg Fidelman (born September 4, 1965) is an American record mixer, engineer and record producer. He is a frequent collaborator of producer Rick Rubin, and has worked with many bands in various genres, including Metallica, Slayer, High on Fire, B ...
, Jason Lader and Andrew Scheps. * Additional Recording – Mark Linette * Assistant Engineers – Greg Burns, Chris Holmes, Pete Martinez, Jim Monti,
Dana Nielsen Dana Nielsen is an American mix engineer, audio engineer, record producer and saxophonist based in Los Angeles. Nielsen has worked with a wide range of artists including Metallica, Rihanna, The Avett Brothers, Bob Dylan, Adele, Neil Diamond, Slay ...
and Erich Talaba. * Mixed by Greg Fidelman * Recorded and Mixed at Arch Angel Studios (Los Angeles, CA). * Additional Recording at
Ocean Way Recording Ocean Way Recording was a series of recording studios established by recording engineer and producer Allen Sides with locations in Los Angeles, California, Nashville, Tennessee, and Saint Barthélemy. Ocean Way Recording no longer operates record ...
,
The Sound Factory The Sound Factory (also known as Sunset Sound Factory) is a recording studio in Los Angeles, California. The Sound Factory was built in the 1960s on Selma Avenue in Hollywood. At the time, it served as the home of Moonglow Records and the Moon ...
and Akademie Mathematique of Philosophical Sound (Los Angeles, CA);
Sound City Studios Sound City Studios is a recording studio in Los Angeles, California, known as one of the most successful in popular music. The complex opened in 1969 in the Van Nuys neighborhood of Los Angeles. The facility had previously been a production facto ...
(Van Nuys, CA). * Mastered by
Vlado Meller Vlado Meller is a Slovak audio mastering engineer, currently with Vlado Meller Mastering in Charleston, South Carolina. Meller works across many genres of music, with credits on rock, hip-hop, pop, jazz, metal, dance, opera, Broadway, and classic ...
at Sony Mastering (New York City, NY). * Art Direction and Design – Reina Katzenberger * Photography – Martin Atkins


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Certifications


References


External links


''Are You Affected By Sony-BMG's Rootkit?''
(November 9, 2005) from Electronic Frontier Foundation {{DEFAULTSORT:12 Songs Albums produced by Rick Rubin Neil Diamond albums 2005 albums Columbia Records albums Albums recorded at United Western Recorders Albums recorded at Sound City Studios