Here are a selection of fan reviews for Barbra's new album...

***

Sublime, divine, sexy, heartbreaking, uplifting, moving, stunning, swinging, romantic, superb and one for the ages in a voice that is so defiant of time that it now borders on the supernatural. Every brilliant track exudes a timeless quality that sounds both vintage and brand new at the same time. Oh baby she's done it again. Damn!
- Chris Nickens.

***

This morning I bought Barbra's CD in my local record store and have been listening to it for the last 2 hours and I have been crying for the last 2 hours!
Barbra's voice is amazing, the songs are amazing, the orchestrations are beautiful. Sorry, I need to get more Kleenex!
- Rutkernl

***

Since this is an album of lyrics written by the Bergmans, there is a unique way in which the words and their stories are front and center.
It has great variety and, I think, more heart than Love Is The Answer.
If some aspect of her vocal power has diminished, it is more than supplimented by a mature intelligence and knowledge about both life and her art. Plus, whatever she can't do vocally, just highlights all she can do. She's a wonder of nature.
And she can be very sexy on some of these cuts. (It reminded me that she is the woman who, on Inside The Actor's Studio, said "orgasm" was her favorite sound.)
Plus she swings! I love this album.
- Rafe Chase

***

My copy arrived today (2 days ahead of it's official UK release) thanks to HMV. I sat down and played it through and can honestly say that I have never been more moved by the song selection, arrangements and most of all Barbra's singing. I went from feeling thrilled, having a big smile on my face to eventual tears. This album just has it all. Do I have a fav track, well in all truth I have 10 as every one on this album offers the listener an experience and a new journey. I was especially taken by Barbra's heart felt singing on this new album. Her voice is just amazing and when she goes for the bigger notes you really feel the effort behind them and it just carries you with her. I have always been amazed by her voice but on this album even more so. There is a new truth to her voice and one that I am simply in love with.

The songs are wonderful, her version of Nice'n'Easy is spell binding and the arrangement takes you back in time, in all truth every song takes you somewhere different and this is such a strong collection of songs. Alone In The World is stunning and her singing on this track is absolutely gorgeous.

Do I have anything negative to say...well yes....and that is I wish there were more songs As a fan I am totally beyond happy and never expected Barbra to surpass LITA (which I adore) but with this album I feel she has. I find the arrangements spot on and her voice is very much upfront and not drowned out at all.

So thank you Barbra for this beautiful new album where for me each and every track is a gem offering the listener a new experience and journey.
- BJSC

***
Gorgeous! I cried all through it. Just beautiful.
- Hunter1246

***

Alone In The World is astounding!!! The arrangements are gorgeous and Barbra sounds so damn good that words can not describe the feelings when listening to her sing on this track and indeed the whole album. Barbra is back to her amazing best!!!! Been playing this CD on and off all day and still my heart is being pulled by Barbra's voice and these superb songs. The songs are theatrical, the words are moving and Barbra's vocals are heart felt. I sat late last night just before bed with my hubby (he is not a die hard fan) and we listened to Nice 'N'Easy, Alone In The World and then to send us on our way to bed What Matters Most. He has enjoyed this album and even took time to look at the cover. He knows she can sing like no other but I think the songs and the way Barbra sings them have really got him this time.
-Bronx

***

I just can't describe the feeling... I've listened to it just once, and I don't mind saying to you all this is my favorite Barbra Streisand album, I really don't mind at all...
Here we don't have just a bunch of songs... here we have excellence in its best... the music... the lyrics!!!... the voice... the feelings... and why am I so sure... cause after Barbra finished her last "all..." in the last song "What Matters Most" I started crying my heart out, and after many many minutes of non-stop crying I can write to you all, this small review... and this is the first time in my life it happens to me... I am moved all the time by music, by maybe one song, but an entire album? this is a first...
I can't say which song I like best, cause I love them all, every song tells a story, and all together tells another one... it was like listening to a movie!!! don't you think? It was like that album that we all talked about "Life cycles of a woman", it was that experience of completeness but from a relationship, not only a romantic one, a friendship too... it evoked me another time, another place, lots of memories and scattered pictures... timeless...
I am thankful for this work, I am thankful for the possibility to be able to listen to it and to appreciate it like I do... like we all do... with all the love that lies inside us...
We are lucky... we are... and we are lucky to express this mutual feeling here all together...
- Reymer

***

Got the album. I never liked Stephen Bishop's "Something New in My Life", but Barbra has just changed "the feelings I never knew" for this song. The words, her interpretaion--this is the one singular highlight in the album for me.

One of the things that bonded me with my widowed father in the final years of his life was Barbra. We'd both spend late nights at his bedroom, listening quietly to CD after CD after CD of Barbra's. He would have loved this album with all its orchestrations and the sweetness of Barbra's vocal. He would have replayed "That Face" and spoken about his grandchildren, all of them blest with lovely faces. And then, he would have spoken about my mother, who passed on four years before he did, as "Solitary Moon"and "What Matters Most" played on. Then I'd leave him, asking if I need to turn off the light on the hallway outside his room.

I've been remembering both of them as I sat in my den appreciating this album. Barbra, once again, all over again, is holding my hand in this time of my life
-Paul Ancheta

***

I have now listened to the album several times over the weekend, and my first impression wasn't wrong. The album IS sublime, and I now prefer it to LITA which was also a fantastic album. But WMM has more variety in tempo and musical styles, and also better orchestrations than the (orchestrated version) of LITA, IMO.

By the time the album got to the last track - the title song - I cried......something that rarely happens to me with new music these days. I also think the voice has been better recorded, compared to other recent releases such as THE MOVIE ALBUM, where the orchestra at times tended to drown out Barbra's voice. Not here, the voice is front and center all the time, so kudos to the sound engineers as well. It's so great that Barbra's "belt" is back, something also missing on the last album. There are a few scratchy notes here and there, but I didn't really mind those (nothing compared to the "controversial" SGIYI, lol). Overall, Barbra's voice is in fantastic shape that bodes well for the GYPSY soundtrack. I also think she sings with more feeling than on her last album. This was clearly a labor of love and it shows.

Favorite songs? "Windmills", of course, which somehow reminds me of "Autumn Leaves" from JE M'APPELLE BARBRA because of its sparse string arrangement and the purity of Barbra's vocal. Barbra's acapella voice sounds angelic and I get chills from hearing it right at the very beginning of the album. The 2 "swingers" are wonderful, but more mid-tempo than up-tempo. Barbra hasn't sounded this relaxed since she did "Down With Love" during her last tour. That delicious vibrato that hasn't changed much since I first heard it in the late 60's when she used it on similar, "lighter-than-air" numbers such as these 2. Of the 2 bossa novas, I prefer "Solitary Moon" with its more complex and moody melody. Of the slow ballads, my favorite 2 are probably "Alone in the World" and the title song. My least favorite is the John Williams tune "The Same Hello, the Same Goodbye", which isn't bad by any means. His music is just not my cup of tea.
- Curious33

***

This album reminded me why I am a Barbra fan.
- TheGreatestStar4

***

OMG! Just finished my first listen. And yes, this album completely reminded me why I am a HUGE Barbra Streisand fan. To think at 69 she is working at this level is a miracle. We are so blessed to have an artist like her sharing all that beauty. I loved every song and as a whole piece it took me on a journey.

I think this album works even better than LITA because the songs are more cinematic and gives Barbra something to act. Trust me, the windows were steamed over after "nice and easy."!

In a word: Unbelievable! Her best album in decades! Congratulations Barbra!
-BillyBoyLB

***

I just finished listening to the entire album. All I can say is, thankfully, she will never say goodbye. What an artist, what a voice. I love how her voice changes (not weakens) with age. I look forward to hearing new music from Barbra for many years to come.
-LostInside

***

Dear Barbra,

I love your new album and I agree with the Bergmans: "Do you know how wonderful you are?".

There is so much feeling in these songs, and the lyrics are sublime too. I LOVE this new album. How lucky you are having such a pair of good friends and collaborators.

I would add: "Dear Bergmans, do you know how wonderful you are?".

Barbra and the Bergmans, what a beautiful combination.
-Visur

***

Boy was I thrilled after listening to this album. It has the STREISAND MAGIC, the magic that I fell in love with as a little, little boy. These songs are stories and Barbra portrays each and every one in a way that only she can do.

The voice is still the best voice out there. She sings so effortlessly to my ears. I get chills, I feel the emotions. C'est ma Barbra Streisand a moi. Barbra Streisand still sing better than everyone else. There are belts in this album, much more than I even expected.

I'm a huge fan of "A Love Like Ours." It came out in 1999 during my "growing years." I was a tween and feeling certain feelings for the first time in my whole life. I had Barbra's music to guide me through that. I don't compare this album to only ALLO. To me, like the last album LITA, it's more of a return to roots meets late 1990's Streisand. To me that's the perfect mix.

I cannot get enough of Barbra's music. After nearly 3 decades of being a huge fan, I can honestly say that I can't get enough.
-BJSC

***

I've listened to the new CD a few times now. I have to say I'm "in love" with Alone In The World. Barbra's rendering is just so sublime!!!! The Chris Botti trumpet solos compliment her voice so brilliantly, too. The other track that surprised me is Nice And Easy. I absolutely love, love, love it!!! The big band sound is awesome and I love her ba, ba, ba to the beat!
-Linda E.

***

Just had my first full listen. Wow! The stars really lined up for this one. Spectacular. She is so engaged and passionate and intelligent and full and sensual. She needs it again.

Can't wait to hear the Gypsy score. It's gonna be legendary....as this will be too. This CD has will gather an entire new generation of fans who will work their way backwards (as I did during the A Star is Born era) Very exciting. Talk about a renaissance.
-RabbitStrapper

***

I love this CD as much as The Broadway Album!
-Number2Moth

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