Grammys Show No Love for "... Answer"
February 13 , 2011
When it came time to hand out this year's Grammys,
academy voters showed no
love for Barbra's latest
album, "Love Is The
Answer." During the
non-televised portion of
the awards this afternoon,
it was Michael Bublé who
came out the winner,
beating out serious
competition from Barbra,
Barry Manilow, Rod Stewart
and Johnny Mathis.
Michael Bublé has come a long way.
Back in 2002. he was
the opening act for
(fellow Grammy nominees) Barbra
and Barry Manilow when
they headlined at a
Democratic fundraiser in
Hollywood.
"Love Is The Answer" Receives Grammy
Nomination
December 1, 2010
The
Grammys announced their award nominations this evening, and we're
happy to see that Barbra's album "Love Is The Answer" is in the
running. The album, which came out over a year ago, is nominated in
the
Best
Traditional Pop Vocal Album
category.
|
Barbra
Streisand
(Love
Is
The
Answer)
Michael
Bublé
(Crazy
Love)
Barry
Manilow
(The
Greatest
Love
Songs
of
All
Time)
Johnny
Mathis
(Let
It
Be
Me: Mathis
in
Nashville)
Rod
Stewart
(Fly
Me
To
The
Moon: The
Great
American
Songbook
Vol.
V)
|
"GOLD" is the Answer
November 13, 2009
In just six short weeks, Barbra
Streisand's new album, "Love Is The Answer has been certified Gold
according to the Recording Industry Association of America.
"Love Is The Answer," which debuted at the top spot on the all
important Billboard 200 chart, becomes the 51st Streisand album to
have achieved the Gold Record milestone.
#1 Debut, and Music
Immortality
October 7, 2009
Barbra Streisand made music history today when
her new release, "Love Is The Answer" debuted at the #1 position on
the all important Billboard 200 sales chart.
With the end of the current decade
fast approaching, Barbra has achieved THE most impressive
milestone in the record industry. She now stands as the only recording
artist in history to have at least one top selling album in each of
the past five consecutive decades. Barbra's span of 45 years between
her first and most recent #1 albums is also one for the history books.
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2009
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1997
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1993
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1985
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1980
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1964 |
1974 |
1976
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1978
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We congratulate Barbra on this amazing accomplishment, proving once
and forever that she is indeed the greatest recording star of all
time.
Barbra Thanks her
Fans
(from
barbrastreisand.com):
"I
was
just
told
that
Love
Is
The
Answer
came
out
at
Number
One,
and
I
want
to
share
that
honor
with
all
of
you..
my
fans,
my
friends..
who
have
made
that
possible.
I
want
to
share
it
as
well
with
Diana
Krall
and
Tommy
LiPuma
and
everyone
who
worked
on
the
album...
with
Jay
Landers
and
especially
my
manager
Marty
Erlichman
and
my
team
at
Columbia
Records.
You'd
think
that
getting
the
news
that
you've
been
Number
One
in
five
consecutive
decades
would
make
you
feel
old,
but
this
makes
me
feel
young.
Thank
you
all.
Love,
Barbra"
The Reviews Are In
October 3, 2009
"Love Is The Answer"
has been released and the acclaim is pouring in:
Liz Smith:
"Barbra Streisand remains the real deal and pitch perfect."
The Independent (UK): "Streisand sings superbly in a
series of bravura vocal performances that more than make the album
her own. "
New York Daily News: "This time, Streisand's voice stands
without filters. And what a wondrous voice it remains."
The Baltimore Sun: "This recording is so intimate that
it's possible to imagine that you're in a lovely salon with just
the singer..."
The New York Times: "Her voice remains ... one of the
natural wonders of the age, an instrument of infinite diversity
and timbral resource.”
Read our review
here
|
Promotion In High Gear
September 23, 2009
This is
the big week. Promotion for the album "Love Is The Answer" hits full
speed as Barbra arrives in New York for a series of highly visible
events. Having just taped an interview with Oprah Winfrey in Chicago
yesterday, Barbra's next big event will be her much heralded
performance at the Village Vanguard this Saturday night, offering a
set of songs from the new album.
Barbra will be featured on several more television shows over the
coming week. With "Oprah" slated to air tomorrow, she'll next appear
on "CBS Sunday Morning" (Sep 27) and "The Today Show" (Sep 29).
British fans can catch her hour-long appearance on "Friday Night with
Jonathan Ross" (check your listings for date and time). U.S. fans will
have to wait a bit longer. The episode will air on BBC America a week
or two after it's shown in the UK.
"Love Is The Answer" arrives in stores on Tuesday.
|
Barbra appears on
"Oprah" Sep 24 |
BBC-2 Gets On Board
September 18, 2009
Terry Wogan, on his BBC-2 radio program this morning
auctioned off a pair of tickets to see Barbra Streisand's upcoming
performance at The Village Vanguard in New York. The winner, whose bid
of £26,000 (approx. $43,000) cinched the auction, will also receive
accommodations and round trip airfare from the UK. Proceeds from the
auction will go to benefit the Children In Need charity.
(Sep 15) - In what turned
out to be quite the promotional effort by Britain's BBC-2 radio
network, "Love Is The Answer" received an enormous amount of publicity
over the past few weeks. Several DJs have debuted various tracks from
the album, six in all, which gave fans all around the world a chance
to hear them through internet streams provided by the network. We
thank BBC-2 for giving us some pretty cool listening experiences.
Village Vanguard Gig to Be Streamed
September 11, 2009
The news
this morning is good, especially if you were one of the hundreds
(thousands?) of people who won't be there in person to see Barbra
Streisand perform at the Village Vanguard. Her performance will stream
right on her web site about a week after the show. There is no word
yet as to whether it will be an audio or video stream. Either way,
it's a great consolation prize.
First Track
Premieres at Parade Magazine Web Site
August 23, 2009
Over at
parade magazine,
the first released track from Barbra's new album "Love Is The Answer"
is being streamed. The exclusive first listen of "Here's To Life" is
being offered in conjunction with Barbra's in-depth cover article in
the current issue of their Sunday supplement.
QVC to Offer "Love Is The Answer" and
"Special Bonus"
August 17, 2009
QVC, that marketing phenomenon of cable television, will
devote a full hour on August 28th to sales of Barbra's new album.
Streisand collaborator Richard Jay Alexander will be on hand during
the show. According to the QVC web site,
callers who order the new album during the broadcast will receive a
"special bonus created especially for QVC." No word on what that bonus
might be, or whether any of the album's tracks will be played.
Be sure to check for the correct broadcast time in your area.
The Music of Barbra Streisand -Introducing "Love is the Answer"
Friday, August 28, 2009 on QVC
10:00 - 11:00 PM Eastern
7:00 - 8:00 PM Pacific
Up Your Chances: Amazon Offers
Additional Sweepstakes
August 10, 2009
Amazon.com is running its own contest (separate from
Columbia) to win a pair of tickets to see Streisand at The Village
Vanguard. Just go over to their
Barbra Streisand store
to enter. The winner will receive a pair of tickets along with
roundtrip airfare to New York and hotel accommodations. Incidentally,
the official title of amazon's contest is "Back to New York: A
Happening in the West Village."
Clever.
Promotion
Begins with New Interview & Audio Clips
 August 10, 2009
The buzz is beginning as sales of Barbra's new album are
beginning to chart at amazon.com. Barbra provides firsthand insight
into the making of "Love Is The Answer" in a new promotional video
currently streaming at
amazon.com.
Barbra reveals how Diana Krall first came to be attached to the
project as the album's producer. Several of the album's tracks are
discussed at length as Barbra shares their significance. Her
inspiration for recording a the jazz style album is featured in the
interview.
The first images of Barbra and producer Diana Krall together
in-studio are part of the video, which comes in at just over four
minutes. Brief audio samples accompany Barbra's narration. And over at
Barbra's website,
you can hear a new clip from the CD every day.
Barbra Returns to Greenwich Village
Sep. 26
August 6, 2009
As part of the promotion for her new album, Columbia Records
has announced that Barbra Streisand will give a live performance at
New York's Village Vanguard jazz club on Sep. 26.
Surely, this will be Barbra's most extraordinary singing
engagement in decades. Not since her earliest night club days has
Barbra performed in such a cozy room. Her one-night only show at The
Village Vanguard (seating capacity: 123), will recreate the intimacy
and ambience of those earliest Streisand performances in Greenwich
Village.
Barbra began her singing career in the same neighborhood
when she performed at The Lion and The Bon Soir in the early 1960s.
Details on Barbra's upcoming performance at The Village Vanguard can
be found on
her web site.
Artist Interpretations
July 28, 2009
Get
an early flavor of Barbra's next album by sampling interpretations by
other artists (YouTube):
Official Track
List Released
July 27, 2009
Columbia Records has just released the official track
listing for "Love Is The Answer":
1. "Here's To
Life" (Artie Butler/Phyllis Molinary)
2. "In The Wee Small Hours" (Bob Hilliard/David Mann)
3. "Gentle Rain" (Luiz Bonfa/Matt Dubey)
4. "If You Go Away" (Jacques Brel/Rod McKuen)
5. "Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most" (Tommy
Wolf/Fran Landesman)
6. "Make Someone Happy" (Jule Styne/Betty Comden/Adolph
Green)
7. "Where Do You Start?" (Johnny Mandel/Alan
Bergman/Marilyn Bergman)
8. "A Time For Love" (Johnny Mandel/Paul Francis Webster)
9. "Here's That Rainy Day" (Johnny Burke/Jimmy Van Heusen)
10. "Love Dance" (Ivan Lins/Gilson Peranzzetta with
English lyrics by Paul Williams)
11. "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" (Jerome Kern/Otto Harbach)
12. "Some Other Time" (Leonard Bernstein/Betty Comden/Adolph
Green)
13. Bonus Track - "You Must Believe In Spring" (Michel
Legrand/Alan & Marilyn Bergman)
Columbia announces that a two-disc deluxe package will also
be available. Disc one will include Barbra's version of each
selection with full orchestra arrangements. Disc two will
feature Barbra accompanied by a simple piano, bass, guitar
and drums combo (selections 1 - 12 only).
JFTR Liner Notes Give Insight
February 1, 2009
Here's what Barbra had to say on the liner notes for "Just for the
Record" about two of her new track releases:
Barbra on "Spring Can
Really Hang You Up The Most"
Barbra first performed
this number on Johnny Carson's "The Tonight Show" sometime between
November 1962 and February 1963. The audio from that performance was
released on Barbra's "Just for the Record" box-set. In the JFTR liner
notes, here's what Barbra has to say about the song:
"Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most" is one of
those songs that never became a hit, but found an enduring niche in
many singers' repertoires. The lyrics were written by Fran Landesman,
whose husband, Jay, owned the Crystal Palace in St. Louis. Fran played
it for me one night in 1961, when I was working at the club.
Barbra on "In The Wee Small
Hours"
This particular number,
first introduced by Frank Sinatra in 1955, was a staple of Barbra's
Las Vegas performances of the late '60s. If you go back to "Just for
the Record," you'll hear Barbra's 1969 version as she performed it on
July 30, 1969 at The International Hotel. In the JFTR liner notes,
Barbra talks about the song and why she chose to perform it in Las
Vegas:
"When I headlined my own show at The International Hotel
... I was less enthralled. I really didn't enjoy performing live
anymore. However, on a positive note, it did encourage me to explore
material outside my usual repertoire. "In The Wee Small Hours of the
Morning" and ""When You Gotta Go" are two songs which I only performed
during this engagement. The lyrics, with their "Auld Lang Syne"
sentiment, seemed like a fitting way to bid farewell to a decade full
of dreams, challenges and adventures."
On April 7, 1973, Barbra did indeed perform the song
again. The event was an ACLU fundraiser for Daniel Ellsberg in Beverly
Hills. For a donation to his legal defense, Barbra took requests from
audience members and call-ins. One such request was "In The Wee Small
Hours." Barbra was glad to comply.
Barbra Discusses New Album - Two Tracks Revealed
February 1, 2009
Barbra Streisand gave to USA Today (on stands Feb 2) provided a
brief update on the new album she and Diana Krall have been working on.
According to reporter Elysa Gardner, here's what Barbra had to say:
"This is (Krall's)
first time producing ... She's so good at what she does, and I
like her so much as a person. We're working with a small group,
like I did when I was a young performer."
Gardner also
revealed the album will contain two standards Barbra performed
quite early in her career: "Spring Can Really Hang You Up the
Most" and "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning."
There has also been previous mention of Barbra possibly including
the number "Make Someone Happy" on the new album as well. She
performed this Jule Styne show tune for Barack Obama at a
fundraiser last September. |
