Nearly two years were needed for tough negotiations and discussions before the project could start at all. Barry Gibb wrote up on The Love Inside all songs of the album especially for Barbra Streisand. He had set out to make the best and also the most commercial Streisandalbum ever! (Barry Gibb: "We jumped at the idea She was my favorite singer ever since I heard people in Australia.") But for Barbra it was a very unusual project for the first time they had to do without a say on the entire production according to the contract , Also, there was no one of Streisand's favorite musicians or years Sound engineers (whom she could always trust), who were involved in the shooting somehow, and that could tweak the sound as they wanted it ..... Barry Gibb wrote the lyrics, composed, arranged, and produced the sound on his terms and without collusion with Barbra, in his own studio in Miami.
And Barbra, the avowedly prefer live takes with an orchestra, the most like each song durchsingt equal to 25 times, so that the selection of the best takes is as large as possible sang, miles away in LA on the playbacks. The shooting lasted from early morning until late into the night. In the time between the takes Barbra Yentl studied the screenplay, because their film version of Isaac Bashevis Singer's short story was under way, and certainly in many ways the more important and richer hurdle project.
Difficulties with Guilty Barbra had only with the slightly esoteric and ambiguous texts of songs. They appeared to her abstract, as they could tell a story clearly understandable, as they previously preferred it in their songs. She loved unmistakable, factual texts that expressed exactly what the story told. Their strength was indeed that ever such a thing as a truth sparks the listener jumped when she performed a specific text. That made a big part of her success as a singer. They did not know if she could sing these new texts so truthful with the same conviction that they produced a similarly strong impact with the audience, as in their previous songs.
Then Guilty was to her surprise and joy to a definite highlight of her pop era. There was a pop album of puristic pure culture. The American press called Guilty as a sensational mixture of two talents, Guilty is perfect. Within these many accolades Guilty was often defined as a pure ear candy, which was meant: wonderful sound, beautiful voice, beautiful melodies, pure listening pleasure .... and so on.
The well-known music critic Stephen Holden cheered completely without irony in Rolling Stone and The New York Times: Guilty is the most beautifully crafted piece of sugar for my ears, what I've heard in years! Because Barry Gibb will never compete with Streisand's voice, he is a much better duet partner as for example Donna Summer. Instead, he is a clever driver, who still lifts his partner like a princess skyward! Beautifully expressed!
In fact, Barry Gibb has even slightly reduced its characteristic falsetto vocals in the two duets with Barbra. This typical BeeGees Sound will still most likely be heard in the backround vocals on Promises. Richard Harrigton of the Washington Post wrote: From fans and journalists alike Guilty was received passionately and with great enthusiasm to the stormy ecstasy. Barbra Streisand, now the all-rounder of all Pop-trades, sings and sounds young as totally renewed and sometimes flirtatious.
The first single from the album, Woman In Love was the end of August 1980 published three weeks before the release of the album. The song stormed the charts and stayed there for three weeks on the first place of the US singles chart. Radio stations in the US or Europe played the song to each daily and nighttime. Then he became a worldwide hit and took also first place in Canada, England, Germany, Australia, Holland, Belgium, South Africa, Norway, Austria and Israel! Woman In Love begins well calculated with simple but highly distinctive Syntesizerklängen which already repeatedly reveal the song during these first few notes before Barbra's singing begins with enchantingly delicate voice. Although the song is a ballad, but a steady, slightly rocking rhythm prevents borne clumsiness that the reason for the falling interest of the listener are common in ballads. In the middle of Woman In Love there is an extra long drawn note of Barbra, who effectively, drives the song by switching from the softness of her voice to stronger tones, an increase that lasts until the end of the title!
The song has a magnetic pull of hardly anyone can escape. Unless one is completely immune to a harmonious melody and the light, always somewhere floating melancholy in his voice Barbra Streisand.
And this, already world-famous voice experienced a new, previously unprecedented in this confirmation upswing. That all Streisand fans bought the song was clear, but Woman In Love was also safe for millions of buyers first Streisandplatte ever and helped Barbra Streisand to its biggest popularity in the world market of pop music .. So was the outstanding success of Guilty predestined already by the no. 1 Single Woman In Love. When the album was released in September 1980, over 1 million copies were sold in the first ten days. Later reached Guilty five times platinum status in the US alone, and Streisand was the first singer in the history of pop music, which was able to record such success. The album was then still in fifteen countries, the number 1 on the charts. Guilty evolved into an international phenomenon with over 20 million copies sold worldwide and thereby helped the Columbia Records on the Recession depth of time. Columbia asked for a second Streisand / Barry Gibb album and agreed. Barbra but showed little open to this idea. Her label announced: Barbra does not like to repeat themselves!
What had happened, what makes the dimensions busting success? Then came along a lot. From their traditional song material and vocal style more and more away, Barbra Streisand appeared in recent years more and more frequently with pop songs in the charts, and their success duet with Donna Summer was still brand new. The BEE GEES have also been on the highest level of their success. So one could say that artists of popularity and the utmost professionalism as they have, simply did the right thing at the right time. And "right" in this context means: You have created a clean, glossy polished, easily consumable product, what the masses bought blind as "pure gold", because "gold" must not be checked or questioned. Although especially the American reviews were brilliant, I see it so that an album of just solid quality as Guilty was a simple reference to the broad average taste this time. By comparison, the five-year older album Lazy Afternoon is precisely the opposite: Sophisticated, unusual compositions, above-average quality of singing and arrangements. The total production corresponded in no way the average taste of pop music buyers.
Perhaps one could say that Guilty is a masterpiece of fascinating ease most beautiful and mediocrity. It is a particularly fitting melody album and just the wonderful relaxed, almost pleasing singing Barbra corresponds adequately these earrings popular melodies. These melodies, with its BEE GEES-identical recognition, as well as the continuous smooth high-tech sound ensure from one title to universal homogeneity of the entire album.
And although Barbra interpretations are smooth and up to Make It Like A Memory less emotionally charged than usual, dominated the hallmark Streisand, her voice very clearly the whole album. Although Barry Gibb and his colleagues provide their voices and Edelpop arrangements a striking background, but Streisand's voice stands out of competition over all the acoustic in the foreground. The Soundabmischung her voice is excellent and focus on her singing is striking how perfect it brings the tone changes from soft to hard in every song. If prosper from the softest tones starting their vocal cords to a maximum strained steel springs, this transition was natural, fluent, and almost pure, at least when she designed with far less dramatic expression otherwise. Another reason why these recordings remain for me only good easy listening!
Compared with other shots, Barbra Guilty rests on almost a little. You have to be deaf even if you do not hear the difference of their highly emotional interpretations of Everything Must Change (1997) or I Never Has Seen Snow (1973) in comparison to the Guilty recordings. US Critics noticed Guilty was a musical challenge for Streisand, they have mastered brilliantly. If that is so, then there is for me the challenge in the repression of their emotions, in the simplification and smoothing their diverse interpretations of art! Only the pure voice itself should unfold aesthetic. Her interpretations have on Guilty Of course a lot to do with the texts that criticized already in the first stage of this project. In the generally held texts of Guilty Barbra can not bring obsessive cravings or other passions expressed. They tried with vocal purity these songs breathe the Streisand-Aura, which manages apparently. But as nice as it sounds, and the more you listen the album, also evident: Much remains superficially on the surface. And that's generally not very unusual for the pop genre. Many do not want more than just a nice finish too! How else can it if it is convinced after the text, as in the Harold Arlen song The Man That Got Away. Here they interpreted the text carefully as an actress. They showed in '94 concert and the intensity is undisputed. So it looks like, so it sounds like when Barbra "everything" is.
Guilty was and still is for many Streisand fans the declared favorite album. That's easy to do research, if the Customer Reviews of the album at Amazon.com. reread. (Again and again is because: ... her best album by far.). I can well imagine how glorious it sounds album, if you sit in the car and traversed on endless highways the American Midwest. It is true that Guilty has a very effortless, good entertainment value. Also I hear the music once in a while, but it is not a dedicated listening as with Higher Ground, The Broadway Album or The máppelle Barbra.
The sweet sound (and the strings in waiver!) By Run Wild and Woman In Love; the bittersweet melancholy of The Love Inside and the duet What Kind Of Fool can sometimes be underwhelming. The tunes sound even after twenty years still light, beautiful and not corny. The two title Secrets and Carried Away were recorded, but never released until now. The same fate suffered by a hair the wonderful duet What Kind Of Fool. When the duet was recorded, said an engineer, there was a problem with the recording. Barbra's voice was so great, so pure, so dominant in her radiant beauty that Barry Gibbs voice, although she was taken from the equal presence here, next to listen to such a disorder. He acted just in this song, as one who imposes itself or meddling. One suggested Barbra, take this beautiful title alone; You do not need Barry or any other voice in this song. But Barbra said she wanted to sing with Barry. The song was written as a duet, and besides this, there was only one other duet with Barry (the theme song Guilty). The recording was then about twenty times revised until Barry's voice next to Barbra's reasonably acceptable sounded.
Life Story is remarkably compact arranged as the other songs, and certainly a highlight of the album. I can not explain why, but the song reminds me in melody, style, structure and pace of Life On Mars the Butterfly album (1974) With Make It Like A Memory Guilty receives by far the most memorable and most arresting piece of music. It's the only title in the Barbra Streisand is the music demanded. All other songs you might as blameless as in the studio, and when flushing or watering flowers sang. Anyway, I do not trust it to her. (But we know that Barbra sings by his own admission only in the studio or at events, and nowhere else is hard to imagine!) Barry Gibb once said about the production of Guilty, "I've worked six months because Barbra two weeks,"
With more than seven minutes offers Make It Like A Memory the opportunity to build the song and its dramatic slow. Here comes eight titles of the song, in which Barbra can show their real strengths. What constitutes its uniqueness, a "beyond themselves go", a permanent step of words and sounds, here it is finally felt. In dramatic increase, and with determination, they are also a certain theatricality back when cries out the words: 'Lie down on my flower bed, I got no controll, I would sell my soul (with the word "controll" extra accented with drawn down throughout scarce intervals notes)
The song seems real, less softened than the other tracks on the album .. This impression is reinforced especially by Pete Carr hard rehearsed guitar solo in the instrumental part of the piece. (As a listener, I wondered at first: Nanu Has since Carlos Santana sneaked into the studio?)
After five minutes and forty seconds Barbra has ausgesungen with all vocal effort and gleaming fire tones. The song will start to the finale: In exorbitant wholesale use trumpets, trombones, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, congas, maracas, cymbals, Kabassa, cowbells, many guitars and strings, bass, drums, piano come to the pompous use .. was Streisand's voice on all previous titles accompanied with more 'discreet high-tech sound, ends Make It Like A Memory to 7:26 suddenly like a gigantic symphony, written by a contemporary Tchaikovsky who has strayed into Popgefilde. With this end like resoundingly!
