Guilty Displeasures
Last month I preordered Barbra Streisand's new album, and second collaborative effort with Barry Gibb, Guilty Pleasures (Guilty Too in the UK). After 25 years of waiting for Barbra and Barry to re-team the expectations for this release were very high and I'm sad to say that mine weren't met. To be honest, I am very disappointed.
The original Guilty album was pure magic. From the first track to the last the listener was transfixed and carried along, in short an instant classic. With Guilty Pleasures that instant, mesmerizing magic is not present. Which is a shame, because the album is close to Barbra and Barry's original brilliance, but really does falls short of meeting the platinum standard they created with the original.
Part of the problem with Guilty Pleasures is that it tries too hard to be too many things musically: Pop, Ballads, Dance, New Age, etc. It lacks the consistent mood and unified sound the original Guilty had. With the original, while the general musical style was the same throughout, each song was bombastic, expressive, and unique. No two tracks sounded the same. The songs on Guilty were written and arranged so that each one told a story while at the same time flowing together naturally. The style was such that you could either fully engage the songs or just let them fill the background and passively carry you along.
This is not the case with Guilty Pleasures. Many of the orchestrations feel too slick and some even sound the same. This is most notable evident in two of the albums strongest songs, "Hideaway" and "Golden Dawn", which while unique and beautiful, instrumentally sound almost identical. Almost every track on this album attempts to tell an entire epic novel in a 4-minute span (approximately), completely demanding the listener's attention. The transitions from one song to the next are sometimes jarring and clunky and over all aren't natural feeling. As a listener it is like being on a musical roller coaster. You only just start getting settled into the ambiance of one track before you are thrown into another one and have to readjust all over again.
The songs themselves are a mixed bag of weak and strong. The lead single from the album, "Stranger In A Strange Land", is a rousing ballad about those currently serving in the War on Iraq (though that is not stated in the lyrics which are written to apply to anyone serving in a war). The song is powerful and features some great orchestration, but unfortunately suffers from a vocal take that feels a little less than genuine. The song is good but could be better.
The duet "Come Tomorrow", which is the opening track, is a saccharine-sweet pop ballad that immediately highlights some of the many vocal and orchestral weaknesses on the album. Obviously Barbra and Barry aren't kids anymore, but there is something to be said for nixing the cheesy melodies accentuated with synthesizers and singing in vocal ranges that are comfortable. Barbra Streisand's deep, husky voice sounds strained whenever she tries to hit booming high notes and after 40 years Barry Gibb's testicles have finally dropped. His signature falsetto isn't working for him anymore, though his background harmonies still sound incredible.
"It's Up To You" is another song that is pure treacle in a can. Barbra's vocals on this one are very slick and contrived and even the beat is carefully controlled for perfect plastic symmetry. The lyrics are not very inspiring and leave the listener bored and ready to hit the skip button on the CD player.
But these tracks are nothing compared the abysmal dance song "Night of My Life". By dance music standards, which are not known for extreme quality or depth, this is a BAD song and the worst on the album. Britney Spears and Madonna wouldn't record it, and that is REALLY saying something seeing as how both of them are queens of bad dance music these days. Barbra really doesn't have the vocals for dance music anymore and Barry seems to have taken a major stumble with this one lyrically. Lines such as "...love has a colour and colours are many, Blue is for lonely and red is for danger" make one seriously question the usually prolific songwriter's frame of mind. Seriously, was Barry Gibb high when he wrote this song?
As sad as it is to say, Barbra Streisand's last truly great dance song was her 1979 duet with Donna Summer, "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)". "Night of My Life" just feels like sell out garbage to get the club kids interested and this is further evidenced by the multitude of remixed versions Sony has released of it in the form of singles. The play of this album could have been improved immensely had "Come Tomorrow", "It's Up To You", and "Night of My Life" been left off entirely.
Fortunately, there are some stronger pieces on Guilty Pleasures that help to salvage the album. The song "Hideaway" for example is a soft ballad about a taboo love affair. Barbra's vocals are strong and lush and the orchestration is very organic and reminiscent of the tropical paradise the song is set in. The mood is bittersweet and leaves the listener feeling both warm and wistfully nostalgic.
"All The Children" is another very strong piece. It has a New Age meets Southwestern-Rock feel to it. The song booms and sweeps the listener away and Streisand sounds powerful and radiant. Unlike songs like "Night of My Life" Barbra sings in a deeper, more comfortable key enabling her to belt out the notes in her signature style without causing her voice to sound strained and raspy. Why these two songs weren't used as singles is a complete mystery, especially since a music video was created for "Hideaway".
By far though the best track, and the most overlooked, is "Golden Dawn". It is classic Streisand at her finest. The melody and lyrics are slow, melancholy, romantic, and deeply sensuous. Barbra puts her heart and soul into every note and it shows. Not only should "Golden Dawn" have been placed farther up on the track list, it also should have been released as a lead single with corresponding music video. Instead the song was relegated to being placed near the end of the album and completely ignored commercially.
In addition to the mixed quality of the music, the album length is also a problem. The original Guilty was short (9 tracks) and each song, even the weaker ones, were written and performed for maximum impact. The album play had a very full quality to it that at the same time left the listener hungry to listen to it again and again. You could literally just keep playing it over and over again it was that good and addictive. Guilty Pleasures on the other hand is 11 tracks in length and drags in places, making you wish the album would end sooner rather than later. It is definitely not an album you listen to from start to finish, there is a lot here that can be skipped.
I understand that Barbra and Barry were not trying to remake the original Guilty, nor should they have tried. It is a classic that stands timeless. However part of its timelessness comes from its compositions and musical textures and the techniques used to bring all the tracks together. Guilty Pleasures simply lacks those same elements and could have been stronger and more balanced sounding had better vocal takes and orchestrations been used. When listening to the album as a whole it sounds as if Barbra and Barry were trying too hard at times to make another "hit/classic" instead of just being natural. Guilty Pleasures is close to being brilliant but still needs work.
That said, let me say that I like this album and despite its weaknesses. Guilty Pleasures is not a bad album, it's just not a love at first listen like some of Barbra's other albums such as The Way We Were, Lazy Afternoon, Wet, Guilty, and The Broadway Album.
