GUILTY
PLEASURES
Columbia #CK 93559 (CD) Release: September 20, 2005 (order
from Amazon.com)
Columbia #CN 94997 (DualDisc) Release: September 20, 2005 (order
from Amazon.com)
Executive Producers: Barbra Streisand and Jay Landers
Produced by Barry Gibb and John Merchant
Recorded and Mixed by John Merchant
Liner Notes: Jay Landers
Photography: Alberto Tolot
- Come
Tomorrow (Duet with Barry Gibb)
[5:01]
(Barry
Gibb, Ashley Gibb & Stephen Gibb)
- Stranger In A Strange Land
[4:48]
(Barry Gibb, Ashley Gibb & Stephen Gibb)
Hideaway
[4:15]
(Barry Gibb
& Ashley Gibb)
- It's Up To You
[3:31]
(Barry Gibb &
Ashley Gibb)
- Night Of My Life
[3:59]
(Barry Gibb &
Ashley Gibb)
- Above The Law
(Duet with Barry Gibb)
[4:26]
(Barry Gibb, Barbra Streisand & Stephen
Gibb)
- Without Your Love
[3:49]
(Barry Gibb &
Ashley Gibb)
- All
The Children
[5:13]
(Barry Gibb, Ashley Gibb & Stephen Gibb)
Golden Dawn
[4:40]
(Barry Gibb, Ashley Gibb & Stephen Gibb)
- (Our Love) Don't Throw It All Away
[4:01]
(Barry Gibb & Blue
Weaver)
- Letting Go
[3:53]
(Barry Gibb & George
Bitzer)
Footnotes
- Read
The BSMG's Review
.
- DualDisc
contains standard CD audio on one side and on the flip side a DVD program
featuring a higher resolution PCM stereo mix of the songs in addition to
exclusive interview
segments
with Barbra and Barry, which precede each performance video directed, photographed, and produced by Rick Walker in
early June of "Above The Law" (duet), "Hideaway,"
"Stranger In A Strange Land," and "Letting Go" (alternate
piano version). Reknown cinematographer Laszlo Kovacs was lighting consultant.
- Read Columbia's
8/29/05 official press
release.
- Guilty
Pleasures blog site
launched August 15th, providing ongoing daily updates, Q&A
with Barbra, Jay Landers' production notes, and previews of the
new album, including the alternate piano version of "Letting Go"
(video appear
s on DualDisc). Streisand says, "Reuniting with Barry
was wonderful. I love his voice and the passion that comes through in his
melodies. Singing with him on the duets was a delight, and singing to his
background vocals (or as he calls them "The BG's Choir") is always
inspiring. It's almost as though the combination of our two voices creates a
third voice." The site also features reviews from various online and print publications.-
"Stranger
In A Strange Land" (radio edit) on promo CD single (#CSK 17314) was
released to radio stations on August 23rd. Amazon.com world premiered the
music
video
on August 16th. At the beginning of
September, some major retail chain stores, including Barnes &
Noble, are offering a free one-song
"Stranger In A Strange Land" CD single (#CSK
17311, see above photo) with a discount coupon for
purchasing Guilty Pleasures during its first week of release.
"Stranger" enhanced CD single released in UK on October
17th with 1980's "Guilty" studio recording joining the single in
addition to "Stranger" video.
Billboard Review by Chuck Taylor (9/10/05): For
all of Barbra Streisand's eccentricities and polarizing political views, her
reunion with Barry Gibb—who masterminded 1980's stellar
"Guilty"—pairs her with some of the best arrangements she has ever
sung throughout the full-length "Guilty Pleasures," due Sept. 20. First single "Stranger in a
Strange
Land
" is a positive yet poignant and timely expression honoring soldiers who
have perished "fighting someone else's war." The video is streaming
at amazon.com. The melody, Gibb's background contributions and Streisand's
impassioned performance are superlative. "Stranger" is written and
produced by a pop king and sung by his parallel queen. Priceless.
-
In the UK the same two disc formats will be available on 9/19/05
under the different title Guilty
Too (due to British legal issues) with identical track listings and catalog numbers 519645 (CD) and
519650 (DualDisc).- On
September 27th Columbia released four different dance remixes
of "Night Of My Life" on 12-inch vinyl (Columbia #44-80392).
- Night Of My Life - Junior's Roxy Anthem (7:54)
- Night Of My Life - John Luongo 12" Mix (9:05)
- Night Of My Life - L.E.X. Club Mix (8:50)
- Night Of My Life - John Luongo 7" Mix (3:48)
- Barry
Gibb completed demos
and instrumental recordings in spring 2005 at Miami's The Hit Factory
Criteria studios, with "Golden Dawn" the first song newly written. Principal recording commenced at The Barbra Streisand Scoring
Stage in Culver City, CA the week of May 23rd and later continued at Streisand's Grandma's House in Malibu. Gibb produced,
performed, and supervised editing, re-recording, and final mixing at The Hit Factory Criteria and his own Middle Ear studios in South Beach, FL during the summer.
On June 25th and July 16th Barry chatted with fans on his new Web site, barrygibb.com,
confirming that a duet with Barbra was among the the new recordings and that
the album was then untitled but would be finished in three weeks (as of 7/16).
Commenting on the recordings, Gibb remarked, "Yes, it is wonderful,
she's in great voice, and I think it’s a nice album." In mid-June, All
About Barbra spoke with Barbra's manager Marty Erlichman, who advised,
"It's basically finished, and everyone is very pleased with
it." Optimistically and excitedly looking ahead to the September
release, Erlichman said, "It's gonna be a huge album." At the
end of July he advised that the album was not yet titled. A few titles
were considered, including Letting Go, some of which leaked to the public.
An additional song, "If Only (You Were Mine)" was recorded and mixed
for the album but is unreleased.
- "Come Tomorrow"
released on CD single in UK December 19th with "Night Of My Life"
(Love To Infinity Master Mix) on same disc.
- Listen to RealAudio clips by clicking
hyperlinks under each song title in the track listing above.
-
Billboard
200: 10-08-05 chart debut
and
peak position (#5:
101,000 units) & Billboard Top Internet Album Sales chart 10-08-05: #1
- RIAA
Album Certifications: G,
10/21/05
[review all certifications in the BSMG's Album
Directory.], 19 weeks on chart
The
BSMG Review
The
Guilty dream team returns! Of course, this refers to Barbra
Streisand and her amazingly multi-talented collaborator Barry Gibb who have
just created the refreshing, utterly entertaining Guilty Pleasures. In
Streisand's 61-album catalogue, this new work of pop music is only matched in
excellence by Guilty 25 years ago. Indeed, time has been
kind to the creative pairing, Streisand enhancing her virtually
ageless vocal prowess through the years, while Gibb has become a
recording studio genius and prolific songwriter/producer/arranger for other
artists including his brothers Gibb. In fact, he enlisted his sons
Ashley and Stephen to join him in writing again for Barbra, inspiring
marvelous and diverse performances, from the delightful mid-tempo radio
friendly "Above The Law" to the lovely ballad "Letting
Go."
"Above
The Law" grabs one's attention instantly, as Streisand playfully croons
"This is me talking to you..." Keep talking, keep talking,
Barbra. With Barry Gibb's solo vocals at his best on this track,
the pair infuses the catchy melody with endearing vocal interplay (and a
counter-melody Barbra created), best appreciated in the accompanying video.
Similarly, they enjoy each other's company on the duet "Come
Tomorrow," the doo wop style tune with cool horns. Continuing in
this mid-tempo romantic style, Barbra admirably covers Andy Gibb's 1978
smash hit "(Our Love) Don't Throw It All Away," which begins with a
gentle electric piano tribute to "What Kind Of Fool" (from Guilty)
and soon brightens with the familiar chorus and Barry's signature
background vocals. Concluding with Barbra's vocal vamping, this
song was worth redoing. Similarly mid-tempo is the slightly
disappointing "It's Up To You," the shortest and least interesting
song on the album.
Much
more worthy are "Hideaway" and "Golden Dawn," both
subtly displaying bossa nova influence and a pervasive sense of romance and
passion. Barbra flies and soars on "Hideaway," looking (see
the video) and sounding pleased with her vocal performance ("I'm falling
into you") blended with an indelible melody from start to finish.
In an exciting climax, she exclaims, "We are one with the
night," amidst overlapping vocals akin to lovers entwined.
"Golden Dawn" adds bongos, going more overtly bossa nova (a musical
genre about which Barbra recently claimed an affinity) while boasting
warm strings within an inspired poetic structure.
If more
uptempo music is your preference, this album features the joyous
"Night Of My Life," Barbra Streisand's first new dance recording
since 1984's "Emotion." Like its predecessor and the
danceable "Promises" (from Guilty), this song is
already hitting clubs with a 12-inch vinyl single (hopefully a matching
CD too). Its swirling mélange of pulsating rhythms and exciting belting
vocals offers good ear candy.
In a different musical
style comes the album's first single "Stranger In A Strange Land,"
which finds Barbra voicing an earnest, urgent missive to homesick troops
overseas, trying to elevate all of our spirits. Her uncanny vocals are
like a mighty call to action, with an unmistakable message that might even
placate her conservative critics.
Somewhat
more enigmatic, yet suggesting a sociopolitical theme, "All The
Children" sports mystical atmospheres and some big Barbra belting
with a distinctly Indian flavor. "Freedom is the message in your
song" is a lyric supporting the pro-child theme, as the final two minutes
ascends with Bollywood musical exhilaration exemplified by overlapping Barbra
& Barry vocals, synthesizers, and electric guitar rave-ups and solos.
Intense.
In the
next breath, Streisand returns to familiar musical territory on the
absolutely exquisite "Letting Go" and the dramatic "Without
Your Love." The latter song resembles a mini three-act play,
reminiscent of the best moving theatrical ballads in Barbra's back catalogue.
Gibb's tempo changes are inventive, and the song's guitar, piano, and
vivid orchestration champion the strong lyrics. "Letting Go"
goes even further but with a unique structure and sparse instrumentation -
just piano and quiet strings - supporting Streisand's ever-so-delicate and expressive,
heart-wrenching singing. When she phrases, "It's so hard
letting go," you experience her penetrating emotion and depth, and
this is the case with countless earlier Streisand performances, for she will
always epitomize the consummate actress who sings. In the accompanying DVD
interview, she happily admits that it's a song she was waiting to record for
20 years. Well worth the wait for Barbra...and especially for us, as is
this entire marvelous album. - Mark Iskowitz, 9/16/05
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1996-2009 Mark Iskowitz. All rights reserved.
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redistributed.
www.bjsmusic.com
)
)
Hideaway
[4:15])
Golden Dawn
[4:40])
.
)
"Stranger
In A Strange Land" (radio edit) on promo CD single (#CSK 17314) was
released to radio stations on August 23rd. Amazon.com world premiered the
music
video
on August 16th.