Timeless: Live In Concert

Performer: Barbra Streisand
Artist: Frank Sinatra; Celine Dion; Judy Garland; Barry Gibb; Bryan Adams; Savion Glover; Neil Diamond; Lauren Frost
Engineer: David Reitzas
Producer: Barbra Streisand
Distributor: Sony Music Distribution (

Notes: Personnel includes: Barbara Streisand (vocals); Randee Heller, Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Barry Gibb, Bryan Adams, Neil Diamond, Celine Dion, Lauren Frost (vocals); Savion Glover, Bert Kramer, Alec Ledd (spoken vocals); Dean Parks (guitar); Randy Waldman, Tom Ranier (keyboards); Neil Stubenhaus, Chuck Domanico (bass); John Robinson (drums). Recorded live at MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada on December 31 1999 and January 1, 2000. Includes liner notes by Jay Landers and Barbra Streisand. TIMELESS: LIVE IN CONCERT was nominated for the 2001 Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album. Timeless: Live in Concert, recorded at her Las Vegas show on New Year's Eve 1999, takes as its subject the star herself. It opens with a dramatization of her first, amateur recording session, with young Lauren Frost playing a part described in the credits as "Young Girl," though Streisand later refers to her as "mini-me." Frost doesn't get too far before being joined by Streisand herself on a stirring version of "Something's Coming" from West Side Story. The rest of "Act One" traces Streisand's career from her club days to her movie performances. "Act Two" has less of a narrative structure, though it is equally autobiographical, with Streisand displaying and commenting on videos of herself performing with other stars and building up to the stroke of midnight with a combination of old, recent, and new specially written songs. At 57 that night, Streisand remains in good voice, and the old warhorses, among them inevitable hits like "People," "Evergreen," and "The Way We Were," sound, well, like they always do. More interesting are songs that, while previously recorded, have not been heard live before, especially "Alfie," which the singer confesses to having forgotten she ever did. But unless you are a big Streisand fan, you may want to stick to the studio albums on which she just sings. The extensive stage remarks here include comic interludes such as a dialogue with Shirley MacLaine and negative opinions about new technology, but for the most part they center on the singer herself. Timeless was issued a week before what were said to be her final concerts in September 2000. ~ William Ruhlmann Las Vegas was the place to be as the clock struck midnight on the new millennium, as TIMELESS proves. Barbra Streisand's Las Vegas performances were a prelude to her four performances in New York and L.A., the final concerts of a 40-year career during which Streisand shied away from live performance. The set begins with a look back to 1955, New York. "Something's Coming" from WEST SIDE STORY leads to a reflective "The Way We Were." Babs then takes things uptown for a rousing "Lover, Come Back to Me" featuring Marvin Hamlisch's powerful brass section. A peppy and spirited "Miss Marmelstein," a song she hadn't performed in 37 years, continues her trip down memory lane. Recalling favorite movies, she delivers a poignant "Alfie" and a version of "Evergreen" that doesn't leave a dry eye in the house. After explaining that "Auld Lang Syne" means "time remembered with fondness," she works her Barbra magic over somber strings. Welcoming in 2000, Barbra proclaims that "Happy Days Are Here Again" in a slow, signature version. With maturity and grace, Ms. Streisand turns her fear of performing into an advantage, creating a recording that is truly TIMELESS.

When she emerged in a 1960s pop scene dominated by rock & roll, Barbra Streisand was a breath of fresh air to those nostalgic for the great Broadway-oriented pop vocalists of the past. Her stratospheric range and (initially) anachronistic taste in material made her the new Grande Dame of non-rock pop music. Along the way she experimented with the flavors of the day, from folk-rock to disco, but she always returned to the Great American Songbook for inspiration.

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