Album Review: What Matters Most Barbra Streisand Sings the Lyrics of Alan & Marilyn Bergman by Barbra Streisand

At the peak of her powers it could easily be argued that Barbra Streisand had the best voice, ever.  On top of that she was an incredible singer.  She has performed quite a few of the Bergman's songs over the years and has made big hits with a few like "The Way We Were" for instance.  Listening to her performing songs like the opener on this album "The Windmills of Your Mind" it is impossible not to hear the limitations of her voice, and that is honestly the biggest problem with this album. 

The arrangements are strong and Streisand does a good job, but it is hard not to listen to these songs and think how much better they could have been if she had performed these songs 20 or more years ago.  Streisand has always used her tremendous vocal talents to express the emotion in her performances.  You listen to a song like "The Way We Were" and it's incredible how she pushes her voice to bring out the full emotions of the song.  Her voice was so flexible and strong that she could push it and bend it and it would never sound anything but perfect.  With these new recordings you hear the fraility of her voice as she still tries to use her voice in that same expressive manner and it detracts from the enjoyment of the album.

I usually give a pass to age and focus more on the arrangements and performances for aging big named artists, but in this case you really can't.  If you really like Streisand it will be hard to listen to this album, and honestly the material just isn't strong enough to make it worth your while.  There is probably a good reason why she never recorded these ten particular songs before now. 

Following the Rhapsody rating method I give it 1 out of 5 stars for Just OK.