Two ads including a countdown clock? I guess the "partners" are supposed to make this album seem less somnambulistic, but the song selections...ugh. And Elvis? Ugh. At least her face was made to look the same for the last 20+ years. That's not at all creepy.
Ugh.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
Agree about the horrible photoshopping and the song selection, but she sounds pretty damn good with Elvis and Buble. The voice sounds a bit rough on the Billy Joel song. As for the song selection, why sing songs that you've sung before when you were 30 years younger and in better shape vocally?
I'm not saying I think Elvis is a bad singer! I just find her decision to record a posthumous duet with Elvis is...ugh. Natalie and Nat King Cole? Fabulous, touching and TOTALLY makes sense. Barbra and Elvis? Rubs me the wrong way.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
Or were her "partners" in a different recording studio on a diffferent continent, and recorded months apart? Tony Bennett insisted that his guest artists actually record the songs with him in person for his acclaimed Duets albums. It would be nice if this was the same.
Agree about the Elvis "duet". Creepy.
Beyoncé is not an ally. Actions speak louder than words, Mrs. Carter. #Dubai #$$$
I think recording a duet with her son is kind of sweet.
But, otherwise, if I had to make a list of the most boring duet partners she could pick, that would be it.
(I'm not saying they are the most boring singers, just the most boring choices to duet with Streisand. Bennett and Lauper, Bennett and Lang? THOSE were duets you HAD to hear. Streisand and Lionel Richie? Not so much.)
Gav, who would you have picked her to sing with? I would've loved a Springsteen duet. Like it or not, the album is a big hit and should be #1 this week beating out Tim McGraw and Chris Brown who had new albums this week. She is breaking a couple of records if it does go #1. Longest span between #1 albums (1964-2014) and the only artist ever to have a #1 album in 6 decades. Pretty incredible.
A duet with Springsteen would have had that "must hear" quality I was talking about. No doubt about it.
Bono, Meat Loaf, Green Day (or at least Billie Joe Armstrong), Pink or maybe Cyndia Lauper and k.d. lang. Streisand's voice mixed with Sting's would be very interesting and he has plenty of ballads that would suit her. Hell, even Katy Perry.
(Would it kill Streisand to learn a new song?)
Basically, I say pair her with anyone who remains remotely relevant.
(Not to rain on her parade, but a #1 hit today is a far cry from #1 in 1964.)
I think it far more difficult for this type of music to place at #1 in 2014 than in 1964. Especially when sung by a 72 year old woman who has been in the business for 50 years.
Album sales are so much lower now, it's less of an achievement for anyone.
But Streisand is the best-selling female singer in history (or at least in the top 2 or 3). Nobody is suggesting her recording history is anything but impressive.
This is 2014, not 1964. It does not take much to debut at number 1 especially with a mediocre collection of songs as this CD is.
What the Barbra crazies refuse to realize is that the CD will debut at number 1 and then plummet down the charts as the weeks go by. Only her core fans and those with a mild interest in the men will buy this and then no one will give a damn.
The Bennett/Gaga CD will sell a hell of a lot more than Partners because both of the singers are likeable people who know how to market and to have FUN, which Barbra has not had since going down the stoney end back in 1971. . . somebody forced her!
Please come to your senses and record "The Third Broadway Album" with Rupert Holmes and tell sycophants like Richard-Jay Alexander, Jay Landers, and William Ross to STAY AWAY!
Do you know what happens when you let Veal Prince Orloff sit in an oven too long?