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Barbra Streisand - Love Is The Answer
| Allmusic |
| 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....full text |
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| Ew |
| Barbra Streisand, the grande dame at 67, has no use for future-disco and NC-17 rappers. Her album of languid, impeccably arranged standards, Love Is the Answer, seems swathed in champagne bubbles and black velvet, be it a sluicing, string-laden bossa nova (''Gentle Rain'') or a Sinatra standby (''In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning''). Not exactly galvanizing stuff, but the woman still sings like buttah. B+...full text |
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| Boston |
| At this point in her career, Barbra Streisand has nothing to prove. She’s the best, everyone knows it, and all that’s required is a dozen or so great songs, a few talented collaborators, and voila. But over the years Streisand has released a remarkable string of duds, schmaltzy or misguided collections that pit her bountiful gifts against her questionable taste and make tomorrow’s arrival of “Love Is the Answer’’ a happy event. The disc is a return to basics, which in traditional pop parlance means jazz standards and theater gems: “In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning,’’ “Spring Can Really Hang You Up,’’ “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes,’’ “Here’s That Rainy Day,’’ and the like. At 67, Streisand’s gorgeous tones and powers of interpretation are utterly intact, and also front-and-center thanks to producer Diana Krall’s class-conscious pairing of her own understated quartet with Johnny Mandel’s velvety orchestrations. The album’s deluxe edition comes with a second disc of quartet-only tracks, which will please fans (including this one) who prefer their love songs unsweetened. Refined as they are, all those placid strings and feathery flutes seem to mock, rather than embellish, Streisand’s pointed, bittersweet reflections. (Out tomorrow) JOAN ANDERMAN...full text |
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