Love Is the Answer [Bonus Track]

by Barbra Streisand

Overview

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

Product Details

Release Date:	09/29/2009
Label:	Sony Music Distribution / Columbia
UPC:	0886974335429

Tracks

1. Here's to Life
2. In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning
3. Gentle Rain
4. If You Go Away (Ne Me Quitte Pas)
5. Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most
6. Make Someone Happy
7. Where Do You Start?
8. A Time for Love
9. Here's That Rainy Day
10. Love Dance
11. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes
12. Some Other Time
13. You Must Believe in Spring

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Barbra Streisand   Primary Artist
Paulinho Da Costa   Percussion
Alan Broadbent   Conductor,Piano
Anthony Wilson   Guitar,Conductor
William Ross   Conductor
Bill Charlap   Piano
Tamir Hendelman   Piano
Jeff Hamilton   Drums
Johnny Mandel   Conductor
John Clayton   Bass
Diana Krall   Piano
Robert Hurst   Bass

Technical Credits

Alan Broadbent   Arranger
Betty Comden   Composer
Bob Hilliard   Composer
Anthony Wilson   Arranger
Adolph Green   Composer
Alan Bergman   Composer
Gilson Peranzzetta   Composer
Paul Francis Webster   Composer
Paul Williams   Composer
Steve Genewick   Engineer
Al Schmitt   Engineer,Mixing
Johnny Burke   Composer
Fran Landesman   Composer
Mary Maurer   Photography
Phyllis Molinary   Composer
Matt Dubey   Composer
Barbra Streisand   Liner Notes,Photography
Artie Butler   Composer
Ivan Lins   Composer
Jacques Brel   Composer
Johnny Mandel   Arranger,Composer
John Clayton   Photography
Luiz Bonfa   Composer
Marilyn Bergman   Composer
Jay Landers   Liner Notes
Leonard Bernstein   Composer
Rod McKuen   Composer
Diana Krall   Producer,Liner Notes
Jule Styne   Composer
James Van Heusen   Composer
Michel Legrand   Composer
Otto Harbach   Composer
Tommy Wolf   Composer
Tommy LiPuma   Producer
David Mann   Composer
Jerome Kern   Composer