Name: Neil Diamond - Shilo 1970 U.S. LP
SKU: 43989
Price: 35.0000 USD
Availability: InStock

Description

Offered for sale is an original U.S. copy of Neil Diamond’s compilation LP, Shilo.

About this copy: The copy of Shilo offered for sale is a 1970 U.S. pressing on the Bang! label.

The cover is VG++ with slight wear at the bottom of the back cover. The front cover is clean with a couple of faint pencil lines.

The disc is VG++ and close to M- with a couple of faint inaudible marks on each side. Clean disc!

A nice copy of a terrific LP that’s hard to find with a clean cover.

Background: Neil Diamond recorded two albums for Bang Records in the mid-1960s before leaving for Universal City Records (UNI). Part of the reason for Diamond’s change of labels is because Bang refused to release the song “Shilo” as a single, and Diamond thought the song had the potential to become a hit.

After Diamond left for UNI, he had a couple of hits there and Bang wanted to capitalize on his success at his new label by finally releasing “Shilo” as a single. Since they felt that the recording in their possession wasn’t representative of Diamond’s “new” sound, the label took Diamond’s vocal track from the song, recorded a new instrumental track, mixed the two together, and released the song as a single. “Shilo” reached #24 on the charts, so Bang followed up their 45 release by issuing a compilation LP containing the new single as well as a number of Diamond’s previous hits, with Shilo as the title of the album.

The cover featured dot-to-dot artwork of Diamond with a guitar, inviting the buyer to grab a pen or pencil in order to connect the dots to see the complete image. Many buyers did so, and because of this, it’s rather difficult to find a copy of the Shilo LP today that doesn’t have writing on the cover.

Allmusic.com gave Shilo a 4 star review:

Shilo is a hits compilation covering Neil Diamond’s Bang years, from his first hit, “Solitary Man,” to the title track, which was issued in 1970 to compete with Diamond’s Uni hits after he left Bang. There is significant overlap with the 1966 album The Feel of Neil Diamond, and all but a couple of Diamond’s early hits are represented here.