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  EW review: Neil Diamond's amazing albumAlso: OK Lauper, outstanding 'Anthem'By David Browne  YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS(Entertainment Weekly) -- You've encountered him before, but rarely like this. He's at the bar, nursing a drink and holding forth in that voice-of-God way. He calls himself a "lucky old dreamer" but worries he's "too old to pretend" there are happy endings. He admits he's been hurt and lied to, and that he's "gotta say it fast" because, as a man in his 60s, he's feeling more than a little perishable. He'll listen to your worries, but he's in need of solace and salvation himself, and he thinks he still may be able to find it with one last great love. He's a bit of a windbag, but you like him anyway, especially when he hauls out a well-trod idea like "Be careful how time's spent, because it's never gonna last" and makes it sound like anything but a clich. That's the Neil Diamond we hear on "12 Songs," and it's about time. Although he's still capable of melancholic magnificence (2001's "I Haven't Played This Song in Years," a worthy successor to his underrated '70s ballads), Diamond has spent the last two decades in a purgatory of sparkly shirts, unremarkable Lite FM fodder, and concert crowds who still (groan) interject "ba-ba-ba!" into "Sweet Caroline." Rick Rubin, his new producer, decided to downsize Diamond's music. Finally, the songs don't sound as if they were arranged to fill arenas; the singer's well- preserved, Corinthian-leather voice and softly strummed chords are the focus. Only once, on the overheated "Delirious Love," does Diamond risk embarrassment by getting horny-old-guy frisky. Mostly, Rubin restores a graceful simplicity to the songs, from the bashful seduction "Save Me a Saturday Night" to the doleful dirge "Oh Mary," and "I'm On to You" is a marvel: a rare snappish post-breakup putdown that sounds as if Diamond were stranded in a jazz cocktail bar. "12 Songs" isn't merely a reprise of Rubin's work with Johnny Cash. Rubin may have wanted to present his new client as nakedly as he did Cash, but you can almost hear Diamond resisting. Songs that start simply -- like "Hell Yeah" and "Evermore"-- gradually swell with the addition of billowy strings and stately pianos. That tension between Rubin's desire to pare it down and Diamond's tendency to amp it up makes for the best musical checks and balances; nothing gets too unplugged or too bombastic. And Chris Martin could learn a thing or two about crafting a virile, unsappy lean-on-me ode from "Captain of a Shipwreck" and "What's It Gonna Be." Those expecting another "Cherry, Cherry" will be disappointed; those days are long gone. Yet "12 Songs" sounds more natural -- and more honest -- than, say, the latest by the Rolling Stones. Granted, it does end with "We," a song so corny it could have been a TV theme had television existed in 1925. It seems an odd way to wrap up, but actually, it's about right -- the sound of that guy in the bar meandering out, a hint of a spring in his step and a cautious sense of hope in his head. EW Grade: A 'The Body Acoustic,' Cyndi LauperReviewed by Chris Willman Veterans are discovering they can do acoustic retrospectives even without a TV franchise: Un-MTV Unpluggeds. Already practiced at recasting her most famous material, Cyndi Lauper's well-equipped to join the stripped club. The standouts of "The Body Acoustic" are from that first album: "Girls Just Want To ..." with fun-loving J-pop duo Puffy AmiYumi; "She Bop" slowed down (and now the most weirdly contemplative masturbation anthem ever); and "Money Changes Everything," still the most cynical song ever written, no less beautifully nasty as a hootenanny sing-along. EW Grade: B 'Imaginational Anthem: 1965-2005,' Various ArtistsReviewed by Michael Endelman Inspired by an old compilation of '60s acoustic-guitar eccentrics, former Sony exec Josh Rosenthal has gathered two generations of fringe guitar virtuosos for "Imaginational Anthem: 1965-2005," a collection of meditative string-picking and hypnotic blues-drone explorations. John Fahey is the biggest name, though Rosenthal also dug up tracks from obscure players such as Max Ochs and Harry Taussig, as well as like-minded new-school artists like Jack Rose and Kaki King. EW Grade: A- 'Get Rich or Die Tryin' ' soundtrack, 50 Cent, Various ArtistsReviewed by Ryan Dombal In his feature-film acting debut, 50 Cent portrays a "character" who makes good on the same gangs-to-riches glory story as the man himself. So it's hardly surprising that the accompanying 18-song "Get Rich or Die Tryin' " soundtrack -- which features six new solo tunes from 50 Cent -- exhibits all of the standard G-Unit talking points: guns, gaudiness, and girls. Although 50 shows a deft touch on tracks like "Hustlers Ambition" and "Window Shopper," the album loses momentum when it's handed over to his less-than-competent partners in rhyme. EW Grade: B- Click Here 
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