| His 12 Greatest Hits | |
| Type: | greatest |
| Artist: | Neil Diamond |
| Cover: | NeilDiamondHis12GreatestHits.jpg |
| Released: | 1974 |
| Recorded: | 1968–1972 |
| Genre: | Pop rock |
| Length: | 44:03 |
| Label: | MCA |
| Producer: | Various |
| Prev Title: | Jonathan Livingston Seagull |
| Prev Year: | 1973 |
| Next Title: | Serenade |
| Next Year: | 1974 |
His 12 Greatest Hits is a compilation album by Neil Diamond, issued in 1974 on the MCA record label. As the title suggests, it contains twelve songs from Neil's catalogue.
The album contains songs from his tenure with Uni Records, from 1968 to 1972. After Neil had returned to Columbia Records, his earlier works were reissued on MCA Records, which was the parent company of Uni Records which had folded in the early 1970s.
All songs written and composed by Neil Diamond.
Side one
Side two
© 1974 MCA Records
Of the album's twelve songs, only ten were presented in their original studio versions. "Holly Holy" and "Sweet Caroline" were live recordings, taken from the live album Hot August Night. On the 1985 CD release of His 12 Greatest Hits, the studio versions appeared instead (but both songs were remixed and "Holly Holy" was a different version with a different vocal for a good part of the song), but a later reissue in 1993 reinstated the live versions of these two tracks.
In 1982, Columbia Records released 12 Greatest Hits, Volume II, a follow-up to this album. It contains songs from the years 1973-1981.
The album reached number 29 on the Billboard 200 chart. It was certified gold by the RIAA in 1974 and earned quadruple platinum status in 1993 for sales of four million units in the US.