''Neil Diamond's Greatest Hits'' is the first compilation album of songs recorded by Neil Diamond. It was released in 1968 by

Bang Records Bang Records was created by Bert Berns in 1965 together with his partners from Atlantic Records: Ahmet Ertegun, Nesuhi Ertegun and Jerry Wexler. The first letters of their names (Bert, Ahmet, Nesuhi, Gerald) formed the label's name. Forming the ...

after Diamond left Bang for

Uni Records Uni Records (short for the label's legal name Universal City Records and rendered as UNI) was a record label owned by MCA Inc. The brand, which long featured a distinctive UNi logo, was established in 1966 in music, 1966 by MCA executive Ned Tanen ...

. Bang would eventually release four Neil Diamond compilation albums on top of the two original Diamond albums that Bang issued in 1966 and '67. Ten of the twelve songs on this album are original Diamond compositions with the remaining two cover versions of

oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music (broadly characterized as classic rock and pop rock) from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as ...

. After Columbia Records absorbed Bang Records, this album was replaced by a new compilation titled '' Classics: The Early Years'' which replaced the cover songs with additional Diamond originals: "

I'm a Believer "I'm a Believer" is a song written by Neil Diamond and recorded by the Monkees in 1966 with the lead vocals by Micky Dolenz. The single, produced by Jeff Barry, hit the number-one spot on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart for the week endi ...

" (which became a hit for

The Monkees The Monkees were an American rock and pop band, formed in Los Angeles in 1966, whose lineup consisted of the American actor/musicians Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork alongside English actor/singer Davy Jones. The group was con ...

) and " Shilo" which Bang initially rejected as a single but was later released as a single and became a hit in 1970 after this album was released.

Track listing

All songs composed by Neil Diamond unless otherwise indicated.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Neil Diamond's Greatest Hits Neil Diamond compilation albums 1968 compilation albums Bang Records compilation albums Albums produced by Ellie Greenwich Albums produced by Jeff Barry