"If Judy Garland or Billie Holiday had lived to 67 and released an album like this, I would have been just as happy."
OMG!
It would have been heaven!
"TheatreDiva90016 - another good reason to frequent these boards less."<<>>
“I hesitate to give this line of discussion the validation it so desperately craves by perpetuating it, but the light from logic is getting further and further away with your every successive post.” <<>>
-whatever2
I truly believe that there is some resentment that Streisand didn't self-destruct as Garland and Holiday did. The fact that she's accomplished more than anyone in her fields without being self-destructive is upsetting to some who obviously feel the need to do the destructing themselves.
And Theatre Diva, it isn't just because of your opinion of the cd that makes you bitter and a queen.
I just watched the VV footage and just kept thinking - wow 67! I agree that she sounds great and looks the most comfortable I've ever seen her. Keep it up, lady! Can't wait to pick up the album.
Laughter is much more important than applause. Applause is almost a duty. Laughter is a reward.
Carol Channing
I didn't miss any 'swinging' numbers. They would have been jarring and out-of-place.
Disc 2 is 99.99.99% her finest CD. Only two things keep it from being complete perfection.
Even Streisand can't save "Love Dance" from being a weak song. I'd take it out and replace it with "This Time The Dreams On Me". I'm surprised (and dissapointed) there isn't any Arlen on the album. But it's no tragedy.
The heart-breaker: "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes". One of the songs I was most looking forward to. First half - I'm in heaven. Second half - I cringe.
"Hurry up and get into your conga clothes - we've got to do something to save this show!"
Chickfila, thanks so much for your Barbra thoughts! I love a person who common sense! YAY!!!!
It always amazes me when people say that they hate a person/performer - especially when they have never met them. That's very, very odd.... Then when you question them on it, it's throw back in your face, deflecting the attention and making it look like you're the bad guy. Never understand that..??
My pleasure Neal. I don't post often, but the Barbra bashing that goes on here is just, pardon the expression, NUTS. If Babs was shooting up for the last ten years and gone into rehab twice, most here would be singing her praises.
Build em up, tear em down. God forbid she take time off and live her life instead of sitting in a recording booth or on a sound stange.
"If You Go Away": A prime example of Barbra 'acting' a song: She has never expressed such dark, controlled anguish before. More Brel, Barbra please.
"Spring Can Really Hang Up The Most" - chills with every replay. This hour, it's my current favorite cut. I'm glad she dispensed with the "College boys are writing sonnets" line she used in her previous version.
I now don't mind "Love Dance". It's lovely. More Brazilian, Barbra please.
"Some Other Time" - More chills. More Comden & Green, Barbra please.
"Make Someone Happy" - about 1000 times better than her lovely Oprah rendition. More non-FUNNY GIRL Styne, Barbra please.
That last half of "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" still kills me, yet it's not nearly as painful on disc 1.
"Hurry up and get into your conga clothes - we've got to do something to save this show!"
And there are some people here who spend way too much time thinking about her at the neglect of their own lives. Which is why I look at her objectively.
The new album is yet another pretentious bore with such little passion and feeling. The arrangements by Krall [how appropriately named] are little better than elevator music.
How I miss Peter Matz and Don Costa; they would know what to do with these songs and with this singer.
To reclaim some energy I will play some NIRVANA CDs tonight. We miss you Kurt Cobain.
Do you know what happens when you let Veal Prince Orloff sit in an oven too long?
Since when is defending untruths mean that you have neglect in your life? That makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. If someone posted lies about you, you wouldn't like it.
Like I've said before, you seem to know what's best for her - a total stranger who you've never met before.
The quartet disc is sublime. It takes me back to vintage Babs. I just adore it. Perfect music for the coming winter chill. Delicious!!!
"The sexual energy between the mother and son really concerns me!"-random woman behind me at Next to Normal
"I want to meet him after and bang him!"-random woman who exposed her breasts at Rock of Ages, referring to James Carpinello
I've been listening to some of the songs, so far I love it!
X
"People have their opinions and that doesn't mean that their opinions are wrong or right. I just take it with a grain of salt because opinions are like as*holes, everyone has one".
-Felicia Finley-
And this is dedicated to all the tired old queens bemoaning the State of Babs, courtesy of Liz Smith...
From the NY POST...
Liz Smith: In a World of Faux Stars, Barbra Streisand Remains the Real Deal and Pitch-Perfect After All These Years SEPTEMBER 30, 2009, 7:52 am
"It’s hard to have stage fright when, like, there’s no stage!"
That was Barbra Streisand last Saturday night at NYC’s tiny club, Village Vanguard. VV is the kind of artistically reputable, physically dinky spot the great star played back in the early 1960s, when she sang for practically pennies and – if she was lucky – her suppers. (Barbra never actually performed at the Vanguard – she auditioned to open for Miles Davis but didn’t get the gig!)
Streisand returned, for real, to the Vanguard for a one-night-only stint to promote her latest album, "Love Is the Answer," produced by Diana Krall.
The event was also an answer to about one hundred fans’ prayers. These were contest winners from around the country and the world, who were happy to be squeezed into the club, just to hear La Divina sing. Well, not only did they get Barbra, they were squeezed against such as Hillary, Bill and Chelsea Clinton, Nicole Kidman, Sarah Jessica Parker, Donna Karan and other Streisand intimates such as Barry Diller, David Geffen, composers Marilyn and Alan Bergman and the enduring Marty Erlichman, who has been Streisand’s manager since 1961.
So, how was Barbra in this intimate setting, backed by a simple jazz quartet, holding an old-fashioned microphone with a wire? (Streisand herself joked about the mike, but it was surely her choice to use it. Nobody springs any surprises on Barbra.) She was … sublime.
Streisand’s voice has not suffered much over the years, despite the fact that she doesn’t exercise those golden vocal chords. She has admitted to some last-minute warm-ups right before recording or beginning a tour, but otherwise, she just opens her mouth and out come those famous tones, ravishing, if inevitably matured and deeper. But at the Vanguard, something truly incredible happened. Years slipped away from her voice. Maybe it was the soulful, jazzy, tender material, most of which was from the album. Maybe it was the size of the room, so much different than hearing her in huge concert halls and stadiums, amplified to the max.
Whatever it was, Barbra sounded like the girl on her earliest albums, not only pitch perfect, but totally invested in her material, fresh. There was a difference, however – her having lived! Experience has ripened her art, enhances every note. She has always been in the great tradition of singer-actors; artists who give a performance in song. Well, on Saturday night, Barbra Streisand gave her best dramatic performance since "Nuts." Her renditions of "Spring Can Really Hang You up the Most" and "If You Go Away" were astonishing. If one could hand out an Oscar for singing, Streisand would surely be holding her third golden guy.
She did perform a few numbers that are not on the album –"Evergreen" (dedicated to Bill Clinton, and her introduction of him brought a mist to the eyes of the former president), "My Funny Valentine," "Bewitched Bothered and Bewildered" and winding up with "The Way We Were." Her best previous versions of these songs were bettered that evening. Unlike some others who demand this or that in a no-nonsense manner, Streisand’s oft-criticized perfectionism results in actual … perfection! If you can’t stand the excellence, stay out of Barbra’s kitchen.
***
Later, Barbra, accompanied by her super-handsome hubby James Brolin, popped into the Louis XVI Suite at the Waldorf Astoria, where press had gathered to watch a live feed of the show. (And to feed off a luscious buffet of desserts.) She circulated enthusiastically, and didn’t seem nearly as shy and hesitant as she can be when facing a room full of strangers.
She looked fabulous. Seeing her, I was reminded of an article I read recently, about Jennifer Aniston. It declared that what all women wanted was to be tiny; no matter the number on the scale, it was the appearance of tiny-ness that was most valued. Miss Aniston has achieved that. And so has Miss Streisand. She wore a loose black top, with a lacy neckline, but it didn’t appear to be concealing anything that was not tiny. Her arms were lithe and smooth – the famously beautiful, manicured hands in constant expressive movement. Her legs and backside, encased in formfitting black pants, were as slim as those of an adolescent frolicking on the Disney Channel. She did, almost immediately, have a bit of a nibble on some of the sweets provided, but she could have scarfed down every pastry in the joint and not given it a second thought.
And whether it can be attributed to love (which, as her album insists, is the answer), good genes, staying out of the sun or a daily multivitamin, Streisand appeared downright dewy and girlish that night – a pore-less, flawless complexion.
***
In a coarse, uncivil, loud, over-hyped, under-talented world of "stars" and "celebrities," Barbra Streisand remains reassuringly constant. She is a genius, an original and still the greatest star. By far.
***
Oh, an insider at the Vanguard told me that all the celebs on hand to worship Barbra were very nice. But "the most gracious were the Clintons. And they left a whopping tip!"
---------------------------------------------------------------- P
"I truly believe that there is some resentment that Streisand didn't self-destruct as Garland and Holiday did."
WRONG.
Again.
"TheatreDiva90016 - another good reason to frequent these boards less."<<>>
“I hesitate to give this line of discussion the validation it so desperately craves by perpetuating it, but the light from logic is getting further and further away with your every successive post.” <<>>
-whatever2
Her tickets were way too expensive when she was here in Ft Lauderdale, so I skipped her concert.
"People have their opinions and that doesn't mean that their opinions are wrong or right. I just take it with a grain of salt because opinions are like as*holes, everyone has one".
-Felicia Finley-
What a wonderful gift to her fans!!! This is the woman that has sold the most albums in music history, and her voice sounds pretty damn well!
"People have their opinions and that doesn't mean that their opinions are wrong or right. I just take it with a grain of salt because opinions are like as*holes, everyone has one".
-Felicia Finley-
And there are some people here who spend way too much time thinking about her at the neglect of their own lives.
^ projecting much fflagg? I mean you *are* the one who is consistently bashing her and have this almost frightening obsession that she is now a married woman and that it has somehow "done her in".
Oh, yeah....Fflagg can dish it, but he sure can't take it. Sounds like he's a little irked that Streisand is married and he isn't.
Whenever he posts inaccurate info on Barbra, I reply back with the correct info, and rather than acknowledge it, he's happier to name call - deflect it back, as if it's your fault.
