''The Best Years of Our Lives'' is the eighteenth studio album by Neil Diamond. It was released by Columbia Records in 1988 and reached number 46 on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart, number 42 on the

UK album chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

, and number 92 on the Australian chart. The album was certified gold by the RIAA on February 16, 1989. In his review of ''The Best Years of Our Lives'' music critic Bryan Buss referred to it as "a strong entry in Diamond's oeuvre" and as "an album that is romantic and sentimental without being manipulative". Three singles from the album, the title track, "This Time", and "Baby Can I Hold You" reached numbers 7, 9, and 28, respectively on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart. '' Cash Box'' said of the title track that it was "not a terribly inspired tune, but served up with predictable skill by Mr. D."

Track listing

Personnel

* Lead vocals – Neil Diamond * Backing vocals –

Bill Champlin William Bradford Champlin (born May 21, 1947) is an American singer, musician, arranger, producer, and songwriter. He formed the band Sons of Champlin in 1965, which still performs today, and was a member of the band Chicago from 1981–2009. ...

Tamara Champlin Tamara Champlin (née Matoesian) is an American singer-songwriter who started her career as a session singer in Houston, Texas, later moving to Los Angeles. She has performed with and written for singers such as Elton John, Leon Russell, Nicky H ...

, Renée Geyer and

Richard Page Richard Lewis Page (born 22 February 1941) is a former Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979 and from December 1979 to 2005. Early life Born the son of Victor Charles Page, he went to the independent H ...

* Keyboards –

Michael Boddicker Michael Lehmann Boddicker (born January 19, 1953) is an American film composer and session musician, specializing in electronic music. He is a three times National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (N.A.R.A.S.) Most Valuable Player "Synthe ...

Robbie Buchanan Robbie or Robby is a surname. It is usually encountered as a nickname or a shortened form of Robert, Rob or Robin. The name experienced a significant rise in popularity in Northern Ireland in 2003. People Given name Robbie * Robbie Amell (born 1 ...

David Foster David Walter Foster (born November 1, 1949) is a Canadian musician, composer, arranger, record producer and music executive who chaired Verve Records from 2012 to 2016. He has won 16 Grammy Awards from 47 nominations. His music career spans mor ...

, Tom Hensley, Alan Lindgren, Michael Omartian and David Paich * Synthesizer programming – Rick Bowen,

Rhett Lawrence James Everett "Rhett" Lawrence is an American record producer and songwriter. He has produced, mentored, and helped launch the career of 5 artists amongst the top 200 artists to be featured on Billboard magazine's top charts from 1955-2012, who ...

and Kevin Maloney * Acoustic guitars – Richard Bennett and

Dean Parks Weldon Dean Parks (born December 6, 1946) is an American session guitarist and record producer from Fort Worth, Texas. Albums Parks was member of the North Texas State One O'clock Lab Band before moving to Los Angeles to work with Sonny and Cher ...

* Electric guitars – Michael Landau, Steve Lukather and Dean Parks * Bass – Mike Brignardello and Reinie Press * Drums – Tris Imboden,

Paul Leim Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) * Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity * Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chr ...

and

Carlos Vega Carlos Vega (December 7, 1956 – April 7, 1998) was a Cuban-born Los Angeles-based session drummer best known for his performances with James Taylor. As a part of the L.A. studio scene from the late 1970s through the 1990s, Vega contributed to ...

* Horns – Gary Grant,

Jerry Hey Jerry Hey (born 1950) is an American trumpeter, flugelhornist, horn arranger, string arranger, orchestrator and session musician who has played on hundreds of commercial recordings, including Michael Jackson's ''Thriller'', '' Rock with You'' ...

Dan Higgins Dan Higgins (born January 28, 1957 in Boston, Massachusetts) is an American saxophone and woodwind player. He has worked with such artists as John Williams, Seth MacFarlane, Aerosmith, Stevie Wonder, Neil Diamond, Al Jarreau, Maroon 5, Kenny Loggin ...

Bill Reichenbach Jr. William Frank Reichenbach Jr. (born November 30, 1949) is an American jazz trombonist and composer. He is the son of Bill Reichenbach, who was the drummer for Charlie Byrd from 1962 to 1973. He is best known as a session musician for television, ...

and

Larry Williams Larry Williams (born Lawrence Eugene Williams, a.k.a. Lawrence Edward Williams; May 10, 1935 – January 7, 1980) was an American rhythm and blues and rock and roll singer, songwriter, producer, and pianist from New Orleans, Louisiana. Williams ...

* Horn arrangements – David Foster and Jerry Hey * String arrangements – Jeremy Lubbock

Production

* Produced and Arranged by David Foster * Production Coordination – Sam Cole and Chris Earthy * Production Assistants – Ned Brown, Barry Cardinale, Larry E. Williams and Alison Zanetos * Engineer – Jeffrey Woodruff * Assistant Engineers – Jesse Kanner, Ray Pyle and Dave Reitzas. * Mixing –

Humberto Gatica Humberto Gatica is a Chilean-born American recording engineer, mixing engineer and record producer, best known for his work with Celine Dion, Chicago, Michael Jackson, Barbra Streisand, Andrea Bocelli, Josh Groban and Michael Bublé. Gatica's inte ...

* Mix Assistants – Mauricio Guerrero and Laura Livingston * Mastered by

George Marino George Marino (April 15, 1947 – June 4, 2012) was an American mastering engineer known for working on albums by rock bands starting in the late 1960s. Biography Marino was born on April 15, 1947, in the New York City borough The Bronx. He at ...

at Sterling Sound (New York, NY). * Art Direction and Design – David Kirschner * Additional Design – Beverley Lazor-Bahr * Photography –

Matthew Rolston Matthew Russell Rolston is an American artist, photographer, director and creative director, known for his lighting techniques and detailed approach to art direction and design. Rolston has been identified throughout his career with the revival a ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Best Years Of Our Lives Neil Diamond albums Columbia Records albums Albums produced by David Foster 1988 albums Albums recorded at A&M Studios Albums recorded at United Western Recorders