Duets

Performer: Barbra Streisand
Artist: Barry Manilow; Barry Gibb; Neil Diamond; Bryan Adams; Ray Charles; Frank Sinatra; Celine Dion; Judy Garland
Distributor: Sony Music Distribution (

Notes: DUETS is a compilation of duets and contains a new duet recording with Barry Manilow, "I Won't Be The One Let Go". Personnel includes: Barbra Streisand, Barry Manilow, Barry Gibb, Neil Diamond, Bryan Adams, Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, Celine Dion, Donna Summer, Johnny Mathis, Kris Kristofferson, Kim Carnes, Don Johnson, Vince Gill, Michael Crawford, Judy Garland, Harold Arlen, Josh Groban. Producers include: Walter Afanasieff, Richard Marx, Barry Gibb, Albhy Galuten, David Foster. Recorded between 1966 & 2002. In her lengthy career, Barbra Streisand has never shown much inclination to share the spotlight. In the movies, she must endure a leading man, but in her recordings, she has gone it alone for the most part. In 1978, however, a disc jockey edited together her and Neil Diamond's recordings of "You Don't Bring Me Flowers," and she and Diamond quickly cut a real duet, resulting in a number one hit. Thereafter, she cannily coaxed others into sharing the microphone, resulting in chart singles with Donna Summer, Barry Gibb, Kim Carnes, former boyfriend Don Johnson, Bryan Adams, and Celine Dion, and album tracks with Johnny Mathis, Michael Crawford, and Vince Gill. The material mostly consisted of mediocre adult contemporary ballads that were outshone by the star power of the singers. This album collects all those duets, plus a couple of newly recorded mediocre adult contemporary ballads sung with Barry Manilow and Josh Groban, and a few stray tracks from the 1960s and early '70s when Streisand joined another singer. Her unsuitability to the duet format is repeatedly evidenced, as she seems virtually incapable of shutting up when her partner is trying to take a solo, invariably humming in the background to draw attention back to herself. The only real exception to this rule is the version of "I've Got a Crush on You" recorded for Frank Sinatra's own Duets album, a track Streisand did not control. Naturally, the best performances occur when she is paired with a singer who is more than just a cipher -- Sinatra, Ray Charles, or Judy Garland, the latter two in TV performances. Then, of course, there's the medley of "One Less Bell to Answer" and "A House Is Not a Home" on which she finally finds the perfect duet partner, her overdubbed self! ~ William Ruhlmann Barbra Streisand's long and varied career is the stuff of legend, as the actress/director/songstress consistently takes chances, never content to rest on her laurels. DUETS, a collection of her collaborations, reflects this wide-sweeping talent, amassing tracks from every facet of Streisand's career. DUETS includes partnerships with stars of pop, country, soul, disco, rock, songwriters of a bygone era, and stars of Broadway and opera. It boasts a track from probably the most famous record to bear the same title (Frank Sinatra's DUETS), a live duet with Dorothy herself culled from a 1963 episode of the Judy Garland Show, and the underappreciated mellow-cool "Guilty" with Bee Gee Barry Gibb. Number One hits with Neil Diamond and Donna Summer sit alongside less remembered alliances with Celine Dion and Kim Carnes. There's even a track on which Barbra doubles up with herself. Most importantly to fans and collectors alike, DUETS features two new tracks, a fetching, modern Disney-esque torch song with Barry Manilow ("I Won't Be The One To Let Go") and a pitch perfect pairing with rising opera-pop star Josh Groban (the inspirational "All I Know Of Love").

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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