Barbra Streisand Albums (41)
What The Critics Say
Even before their first session together, Barbra Streisand and collaborator Diana Krall designed Love Is the Answer as a deeply emotional record: "each song an exploration concerning matters of the heart." And with the arrangements of maestro Johnny Mandel simply drawing occasional shading around Streisand's expressive voice -- and often leaving her voice as the only instrument -- the album goes well beyond the usual saloon-song tropes to become a heart-wrenching experience with virtually every song. Additionally, although much was made of the collaboration, Krall's piano stays in the background, and Streisand's is the only voice heard. But the song choices also were tailored to maximize the emotional impact of Love Is the Answer, and Streisand's incomparable voice. Nearly every song is a classic of tender balladry, despite the fact that none had been put on album by Streisand before during her long career. Those facts alone should leave Streisand fans in ecstasy, as practically nothing stands in the way of her voice as she sings some of the best songs of the last century, aching and sincere with every melancholy or lovelorn ballad, tenderly strident with every (ultimately) uplifting anthem. "Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most" opens up like a flower akin to some of her best performances, and the same goes for "Make Someone Happy," composed by the classic team of Jule Styne, Betty Comden, and Adolph Green (Styne composed the music for Streisand's Funny Girl). Elsewhere, more classics of the American songbook -- "Here's That Rainy Day," "Where Do You Start?," "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning," "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes," "Gentle Rain" -- prove themselves irresistible to the Barbra Streisand treatment. The overall effect is that this is one of the Streisand albums most appealing to her fans and her potential fans -- which includes nearly everyone who appreciates a singer singing like she's lived every line of her songs. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide
'Till I Loved You'
Release Date 2/1/2008
Tracks 11
Label Sbme Special MKTS.
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Guilty Pleasures isn't simply the belated sequel to Guilty, Barbra Streisand's 1980 collaboration with Barry Gibb. It's the best mainstream pop album she's made since that multi-platinum, chart-topping hit. Of course, the competition isn't exactly stiff -- her pop albums since then have been deliberately safe, overly calculated adult contemporary affairs that only made records of standards like 1985's The Broadway Album shine all the brighter -- and it, like its predecessor, is a bit of an anomaly in Streisand's catalog, since it shares more musical similarities with Barry Gibb's work than Barbra's own, yet there's no denying that this is the most satisfying straight-up pop album she's cut since Guilty. In fact, apart from the crystal-clear, overly clean digital production that immediately pegs it as a 2005 release, Guilty Pleasures could be taken as a bunch of outtakes from the 1980 album. Gibb, who wrote (along with a handful of other collaborators) and produced (along with John Merchant) the entire album, along with playing guitar and providing backup vocals, not only doesn't attempt to update his signature sound, but proudly sticks to unfashionable pop styles like the early-'80s anthemic soft rock of "Stranger in a Strange Land," the mellow Latin-tinged "Hideaway," and the disco of "Night of My Life." Yet instead of sounding like the work of a duo stuck in the past, Guilty Pleasures sounds as if Gibb has constructed a set of 11 songs that play to his strengths as a pop craftsman and Streisand's strengths as an interpreter. This may be firmly within both of their comfort zones, but despite the record's decidedly low-key vibe, neither Barry nor Barbra sound lazy, nor do they sound like they have something to prove, as if they're consciously trying to live up to the standard their first collaboration set. They sound relaxed and quietly assured, which makes this album far more charming than it might initially appear to be. Not everything works -- some of the ballads toward the end of the record are a little too hazy and samey to catch hold -- but most of the album holds its own with Guilty, which means this is not only a pleasant surprise, but one of Barbra's best straight-up mainstream pop records, and an album that surely lives up to its title. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
The idea of Barbra Streisand making an album of movie songs is a no-brainer; as annotators Jay Landers and Richard Jay-Alexander point out, she has already recorded over 50 songs written for motion pictures on her 59 previous albums. In fact, the only real challenge may be a marketing one for Columbia Records, since potential customers simply may assume this is a compilation of some of her previous performances. It is not. Rather, it is a newly recorded collection of songs chosen and arranged in Streisand's inimitable style. In keeping with the movie theme, she has thought big, using a 75-piece orchestra of the kind usually only found on a studio back-lot for a soundtrack. But all that firepower is used for support, not for its own sake. The key word here is "lush," not lavish. Streisand's immediately identifiable voice floats over the music, never challenged by it, so she is able to achieve her usual close-up, detailed performance, alternately intimate and expansive. At 61, she retains remarkable purity and range in her voice, though she is less interested in demanding effects. This is a smooth, conversational vocal album. Streisand's song collection is characteristic of her. As usual, she isn't much interested in the Great American Songbook of the interwar period. Only two songs, 1935's "I'm in the Mood for Love" and 1936's "Smile," date from before her birth, with most songs coming from the '50s and '60s. And, as usual, the songs as written sometimes don't satisfy her, so she has prevailed on the composers to change them. Johnny Mandel willingly wrote a new verse to her specifications for "Emily," and Bob Telson did the same for the obscure "Calling You" from Bagdad Café. Streisand's age is reflected in her choices, too. She frequently goes for lyrics about mature love such as "How Do You Keep the Music Playing?" and "The Second Time Around," and she sounds more convincing singing them, giving the words more emphasis than she does, for instance, when she just tosses off the line "You're life itself!" in "Wild Is the Wind." As she herself notes, "You're Gonna Hear from Me," which closes the album, is reminiscent of the assertive songs she sang in her youth, such as "Don't Rain on My Parade," and that makes it all the more notable that she sings it in such a mellow way, as a fond memory rather than an upstart declaration. It makes a fitting closer. If The Movie Album is not the sort of revelation that Streisand's 1985 masterpiece, The Broadway Album, was, it nevertheless gives the listener some superior new takes on standards the singer has not addressed previously and uncovers a gem or two that had been overlooked till now. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
'Timeless: Live in Concert'
Release Date 2/8/2000
Tracks 37
Label Sony
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Timeless: Live in Concert, recorded at her Las Vegas show on New Year's Eve 1999, takes as its subject the star herself. It opens with a dramatization of her first, amateur recording session, with young Lauren Frost playing a part described in the credits as "Young Girl," though Streisand later refers to her as "mini-me." Frost doesn't get too far before being joined by Streisand herself on a stirring version of "Something's Coming" from West Side Story. The rest of "Act One" traces Streisand's career from her club days to her movie performances. "Act Two" has less of a narrative structure, though it is equally autobiographical, with Streisand displaying and commenting on videos of herself performing with other stars and building up to the stroke of midnight with a combination of old, recent, and new specially written songs. At 57 that night, Streisand remains in good voice, and the old warhorses, among them inevitable hits like "People," "Evergreen," and "The Way We Were," sound, well, like they always do. More interesting are songs that, while previously recorded, have not been heard live before, especially "Alfie," which the singer confesses to having forgotten she ever did. But unless you are a big Streisand fan, you may want to stick to the studio albums on which she just sings. The extensive stage remarks here include comic interludes such as a dialogue with Shirley MacLaine and negative opinions about new technology, but for the most part they center on the singer herself. Timeless was issued a week before what were said to be her final concerts in September 2000. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Barbra Streisand makes sure there's no doubt to what love she's referring to in the title of A Love Like Ours. On both the front and back covers, and throughout the liner notes, she's seen with her new husband, James Brolin. As a matter of fact, the album is no less than a celebration of her love of Brolin and their storybook wedding. To some, this may be a little too sentimental, but the emotions are genuine, as she makes abundantly clear in her gushing, track-by-track liner notes. Streisand tackles both standards and newly written tunes, including the Richard Marx-penned "If You Ever Leave Me," which she sings with Vince Gill. She claims in the liner notes that "If You Ever Leave Me" was intended to be a country song -- that's why Gill sings on the track -- but, like the Gershwin tune "Isn't It a Pity," the show tunes, and "We Must Be Loving Right," the other country song on the album, everything is given a measured, polished adult contemporary production. That's a little ironic, since Streisand claims nearly everything was recorded live with an orchestra. Nevertheless, it sounds as if it was assembled in a studio piece by piece, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. However, the absence of longtime collaborator Marvin Hamlisch is notable, since the arrangers on A Love Like Ours don't have much flair. Consequently, the album is a little subdued, which is appropriate for a romantic album. And, judged as a romance album, it works pretty well. Essentially, A Love Like Ours is a simple love album, a soundtrack to Streisand and Brolin's wedding that will work for other weddings. It's mood music that doesn't set the mood, but will compliment the mood quite nicely. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
As Barbra Streisand's first studio album of mainstream pop material in nine years, Higher Ground is something of an oddity. Instead of devoting herself to Broadway standards or a set of radio-oriented pop tunes, Streisand has crafted a record that she intended as a tribute to the power of music as prayer. It's an ambitious project, but for the most part it works, achieving a surprising grace. Higher Ground comprises both traditional religious songs and new material (even "Tell Him," an overblown duet with Celine Dion, vaguely touches on that theme), with grandiose arrangements by Marvin Hamlisch. Although Streisand and Hamlisch still favor sweeping strings and bold statements -- so much so that many of the songs sound remarkably similar to each other, in terms of dynamics and arrangements -- the album retains its power thanks to her subtle interpretations of melody and lyrics. The end result might not quite match her latter-day masterpieces, but it's another strong addition to her catalog. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
After two less successful albums, Barbra Streisand returned to form on her fourth album, People, with a selection of songs that showed some of the imagination of her debut album. Much of the material was new. The album opened and closed with songs by Jule Styne and Bob Merrill, first "Absent Minded Me," and then the Top Ten title song that was the hit from Streisand's triumphant Broadway show, Funny Girl. Streisand introduced Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh's "When in Rome (I Do as the Romans Do)," a lively song that allowed her to display some of the spirit and humor that had been missing on her last two outings. And when picking from older songs, she again found obscure or atypical tunes from prominent composers or lost gems she could make her own. In the former category were Irving Berlin's "Supper Time," a blues song unlike any the composer had ever done, and "My Lord and Master," from Rodgers & Hammerstein's The King and I. In the latter was the delightful "Fine and Dandy," from the 1930 show of the same name, with music by Kay Swift. Add in some obvious choices like Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn's "Love Is a Bore" (a companion to the previously recorded "Down with Love") and "Don't Like Goodbyes," another selection from Harold Arlen and Truman Capote's House of Flowers, from which Streisand had earlier picked "A Sleepin' Bee," and you have an album fashioned to play to the singer's strengths and musical tastes instead of trying to fit her into existing ones. That wasn't quite enough to match the quality of her debut album, but it was a definite improvement over the second and third albums. (People won Grammy Awards for Best Vocal Performance and Best Album Cover.) ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
