The Barbra Streisand Music Guide: For All We Know

Timeless - Live In Concert DVD & VHS in Stores February 20
Posted/Updated: 27 July 2003 19:26
Barbra Streisand: Timeless - Live In Concert
Release Date: February 20, 2001
Columbia Music Video/Sony Music
List Price: $29.98
Sony Catalog Number: CVD 54020
UPC: 0-74645-4020-93
Features: Full Screen, English - Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, English - Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, Discography, Song (Chapter) Access, Interactive Menus
Running Time: 2 hours 7 minutes
Disc Format: Single Layer/Single Sided
Region Code: 1 (no insert card or booklet)
VHS videotape released simultaneously ($19.98)

[Product Announcement #1] To celebrate the final concert tour of Barbra Streisand's unparalleled career, here is the complete version of her critically acclaimed "Timeless Concerts," which were the highlight of the Millennium celebration. Recorded at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas on December 31, 1999 and January 1, 2000, the program contains performances of over 40 songs that span Barbra's illustrious career.

Read BSMG DVD review.
Read Columbia's 2/5/01 press release, 2/15/01 press release.
View Timeless concert photo album.
Read BSMG Timeless - Live In Concert CD review.
Read BSMG Timeless - Millennium Eve Concert review.
This is the very first Streisand music DVD release. It features the entire February 14 FOX concert special plus 38 minutes of additional music and comedy edited from the telecast. Performances noted with an asterisk (*) below are on the DVD/VHS only.

Foreign Release Dates: Canada (March 20), UK & Europe (May 28), Australia (July 16)

Chart Action: Billboard Top Music Video Sales (VHS/DVD)
-- 3/10/01: #1 (debut week)
-- 3/17/01: #1
-- 3/24/01: #3
-- 3/31/01: #8
-- 4/7/01: #10
-- 6/16/01: #4

Billboard Top Video Sales (VHS)
-- 3/17/01, 3/24/01: #31
-- 3/31/01: #11
-- 4/7/01: #10

RIAA Gold certification: 4/12/01 RIAA Platinum certification: 6/4/01

- Program Chapters -
1. Program Start
Act One
INTRODUCTION
2. Brother Time (Savion Glover)
NOLA RECORDING STUDIO
3. You'll Never Know (Lauren Frost, Alec Ledd & Randee Heller)
4. Something's Coming (with Lauren Frost)
5. The Way We Were
6. Shirley MacLaine Y1K*
BON SOIR
7. Cry Me A River
BASIN STREET EAST
8. Lover, Come Back To Me
9. A Sleepin' Bee*
BROADWAY
10. Miss Marmelstein*
11. I'm The Greatest Star/Second Hand Rose/Don't Rain On My Parade (Medley)
12. Something Wonderful/Being Alive (Medley)
THE MOVIES
13. As Time Goes By/Speak Low (Medley)*
14. Alfie
15. Evergreen

16. Dialogue (Father, Part #1)
17. Papa Can You Hear Me?/You'll Never Know (with Lauren Frost)
18. A Piece Of Sky (with Lauren Frost)

Act Two
19. Entr'acte*
20. Putting It Together
21. On A Clear Day (You Can See Forever)
22. Send In The Clowns
DUETS
23. Happy Days Are Here Again/Get Happy (with Judy Garland)/Guilty (with Barry Gibb)/I Finally Found Someone (with Bryan Adams)/Tell Him (with Celine Dion)/You Don't Bring Me Flowers (with Neil Diamond)
24. Sing (with Jason Gould)/I've Got A Crush On You (with Frank Sinatra)

25. Technology (Dialogue)/The Clicker Blues
26. The Main Event/Fight
27. Time After Time/Brother Time (with Savion Glover)*
28. Dialogue (Father, Part #2)
29. I've Dreamed Of You
30. At The Same Time
31. Auld Lang Syne (Ballad)*
32. Dialogue (Barbra and Brother Time)*
33. People
34. New Year's Eve/Auld Lang Syne (Celebration)*
35. Everytime You Hear Auld Lang Syne (Barbra/Audience)*
36. Happy Days Are Here Again
37. Don't Like Goodbyes
38. I Believe/Somewhere (with Lauren Frost)

Review: Barbra Streisand has taken full advantage of cutting edge audio and video technology to produce her first Columbia music DVD, Timeless - Live In Concert. From start to finish, the Millennium Concert is a feast for eyes and ears, shimmering as brightly and sharply as the multitude of stars against the black sky over the immense four-tiered stage during "The Main Event," one of the show's major highlights. In Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, you can hear a pin drop and later perhaps be moved to join the applause from the surround speakers. In fact, this mix is so good, even a basic stereo amplifier can replicate its sensitivity and power.

The disc contains attractive animated on-screen menus, beginning with a very brief title intro featuring logo graphics and photos and Barbra humming the beginning of "Evergreen." This segues directly into the main menu's four-option screen surrounded by moving photos. The individual song selection menu features a series of screens with an identical rose background and 3-4 songs each. Select a song, and a screen transition commences, flashing moving photos (including one previously unpublished from the portrait sessions) and a swirling rose. The audio set-up menu displays moving photos of Barbra and Lauren Frost with an "Alfie" soundtrack. The BSMG is quite pleased that the DVD's bonus Discography includes all of Barbra's 56 albums and movie soundtracks pictured and in correct sequence, even those on other labels or out of print. The menus are straightforward and user friendly, no surprise Easter eggs...yet.

For those who were able to attend Barbra's Millennium concerts, the DVD may very well transport you back in time to your seats inside the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Except for "Simple Pleasures" (included only on the CD), every memorable moment is preserved from the two evenings. In fact, Barbra, co-producer/director Don Mischer, and recording engineer-mixer extraordinaire David Reitzas have seamlessly and creatively blended the two evenings, so we see and hear the best Barbra has to offer. While the recent two-hour FOX network TV presentation was limited by commercial breaks, this 2-hour 7-minute concert offers the ultimate viewing experience, adding 38 minutes edited from the TV special. Act I clocks in almost five minutes longer than the CD equivalent, kicking off with dazzling Savion Glover's tap dance and finishing with the moving and always rousing "A Piece of Sky." Barbra's comfortable ad-libbing -- "This was thrilling" (remarking on writing "Evergreen") and "It's just tea, you know" (beginning of "Father Part #1") -- makes the video much more entertaining than the already excellent double CD. Barbra simply appears delighted, and every nuance in her performance is reflected here, literally. At least 12 cameras capture the finest detail and exquisite lighting of every song and every thread in her three costumes, with an accompanying soundtrack as terrific as the companion CD. The entire New Year's Eve countdown and celebration is elaborately presented with confetti and fireworks, including some precious moments -- Barbra bending down so Lauren Frost can pick confetti from her hair, Mr. & Mrs. Brolin dancing. It's all here.

Just before the red velvet curtain opens, Barbra introduces the concert with some written words on screen: "The first of my last concerts happened while the whole world was celebrating the new millennium. In the hours before the clock struck midnight, I thought it was appropriate to look back in time." This is a variation of her FOX special intro. Some of the intimately staged comedy, such as "Miss Marmelstein" (Barbra literally rolls all over the stage and mugs for the camera), the encounter with the waiter (Frost's "You'll Never Know" pianist), and "Technology" (Barbra struggling with clickers, her mother rising and lowering from the stage) definitely hits the mark and seems funnier on TV now than when previously viewed from arena seats. More serious moments are even more emotional here, photos of Barbra's father and his written words bringing him alive for us. The DVD also captures Barbra's boundless energy, intense concentration, and dramatic interpretations in her songs. From the elegant close-ups of "Alfie" and "I've Dreamed Of You" to the wider shots of "The Main Event" and "Lover, Come Back To Me" with Barbra's stage boogie, the stunning visuals are a joy.

Did you want to slow down or still a particular frame in the amazing "Putting It Together" montage when you first saw it? With the DVD you can do just that. Also, the "Entr'acte" features wonderful perspectives of the orchestra and stage, but what's really surprising is also seeing audience members speaking enthusiastically about Barbra and the show. Have the pause button ready. Of course, Barbra had to showcase Savion Glover's astounding tap dancing gifts one more time during the concert. His three-minute "time step" during Barbra's costume change in Act II is sheer wizardry. "Time gave you a good time!" Barbra proudly exclaims on her return. More must-see material edited from both the FOX telecast and the CD. Indeed, the FOX special was merely a teaser for the masterwork. If you already own a DVD player or a computer with a DVD drive, Timeless - Live In Concert will be an often-viewed title in your library. If you only have VHS capability, be sure to pick up the videotape.
- MJI, 2/19/01 © 2001 Mark J. Iskowitz

Timeless - Live In Concert DVD & VHS in Stores February 20