Barbra Streisand - Release Me
Artist: Barbra Streisand
Album: Release Me
Label: Columbia Records
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Rating: 3/5
Barbra Streisand has enjoyed a music career that has spanned nearly fifty years and seen her release some iconic tracks and fantastic albums.
This week sees her return with her new record Release Me - which is a collection or eleven previously unreleased songs that she has gathered over the years.
The album opens with Being Good Isn’t Good Enough and it demonstrates Streisand’s fantastic voice - a voice that has never really been affected by time.
One of the early highlights on the album is Didn’t We and it was written by Jimmy Webb and recorded back in 1970.
Didn’t We is a rousing track that shows Streisand on vocal form once again as her powerful and emotional voice is supported by beautiful strings.
Willow Weep For Me is another track that is packed with emotion as Streisand sings about lost love.
The track was recorded back in 1967 and the delicate instrumentation really allows Streisand to show off the power of her voice.
I Think it’s Gonna Rain Today is a cover of the Randy Newman track and it was recorded back in 1971 with Newman himself on the piano.
This is one of the most stripped back songs on the album as the piano is the only instrumentation on the track.
Streisand shows a delicate side to her vocal with this track and while it is one of the more recent recordings her voice hasn’t deserted her during her later years.
The album closes in style with a rendition of Home from Wiz and while it starts off acoustically the beat does kick in to make it a rousing track - the perfect end.
Release Me is a collection of tracks that could have made it on to any Streisand record over the years - it is hard to believe that some of them have not be released until now.
All but two of the songs on the album were transferred from first generation master tapes and this allows the listener to see the development and the consistency of one of the greatest solo artists over the years.
Barbra Streisand - Release Me is out now
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