Partners (Barbra Streisand album)

Partners is the thirty-fourth studio album by American singer Barbra Streisand, released on September 16, 2014, by Columbia Records. The album features Streisand singing duets with an all-male lineup including Stevie Wonder, Michael Bublé, Billy Joel, John Legend, John Mayer, Andrea Bocelli, Lionel Richie, and from an earlier recording, Elvis Presley (who died in 1977). The collection also features Streisand's first studio-recorded duet with her now 47-year-old son, Jason Gould.[1] The album release was promoted on The Tonight Show, where Streisand was the evening's sole guest and sang a medley with host Jimmy Fallon.[2]

Partners
Studio album by
ReleasedSeptember 16, 2014
Recorded2013–2014
Studio
  • Brandon's Way (Hollywood, California)
  • Capitol Recording Studios (Hollywood, California)
  • Crescent Moon Studios (Miami, Florida)
  • Grandma's House (Malibu, California)
  • SoulFuel Studios (Brentwood, Tennessee)
  • The Eastwood Scoring Stage, Warner Brothers Studios (Burbank, California)
  • The Newman Scoring Stage, Fox Studios (Los Angeles, California)
  • The Streisand Scoring Stage, Sony Pictures (Culver City, California)
  • Verve Studio (Santa Monica, California)
  • WallyWorld Studios (Los Angeles, California)
  • Woodshed Recording Studios (Malibu, California)
Genre
Length50:27
LabelColumbia
Producer
Barbra Streisand chronology
Back to Brooklyn
(2013)
Partners
(2014)
Encore: Movie Partners Sing Broadway
(2016)
Singles from Partners
  1. "It Had to Be You"
    Released: 2014
  2. "What Kind of Fool"
    Released: 2014

While the recordings are new, most of the songs have a previous history as Streisand releases. Two classic Streisand duets are updated with new partners: "What Kind of Fool", newly performed with John Legend (originally with Barry Gibb) and "Lost Inside of You", newly performed with Kenny Edmonds (originally with Kris Kristofferson). The deluxe edition features an additional duet with Edmonds along with previously released material featuring Frank Sinatra (who died in 1998), Bryan Adams, Barry Manilow, and Barry Gibb (from The Bee Gees).

Partners is one of 2014's best-selling albums in the US, having sold 856,000 copies.[3] Partners topped the Billboard 200 with sales of 196,000 copies in the first week, making Streisand the only recording artist to have a number-one album in six different decades (1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s.)[4] It was also certified gold in November 2014 and platinum in January 2015, thus becoming Streisand's 52nd gold and 31st Platinum album (she also has 7 Gold-certified singles to her credit), more than any other female artist in history.[5] The album was nominated for Best Traditional Pop Vocal album at the 57th Grammy Awards.

Commercial performance

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In its debut week, the album topped US Billboard 200 sales charts, selling over 196,000 copies.[6] It fell to number three the following week, selling 127,000 copies, the lowest second-week decline for a number one-debuting non-compilation album in nearly four years.[7] After just six weeks on sale, the album crossed half a million in US sales, having sold 526,000 copies total in the country.[8] Partners was 2014's seventh best-selling album in the US, having sold 856,000 copies.[3] As of September 2015, the album has sold 955,000 copies in the US.[9] It tops 1 million in traditional album sales in the week of August 14, 2017.[10]

In Canada and Australia the album also reached number one, selling 13,000 copies in each country.[11][12] In the Netherlands, New Zealand, and UK the album reached the number two spot on national sales charts, becoming Streisand's highest-charting album in the Netherlands since One Voice peaked at the same position in 1987.[13] In Ireland the album reached the number six position, becoming Streisand's highest-charting album since Guilty Pleasures in 2005.[14] The album debuted in the Top 10 in Austria, Germany, Spain and Poland, and reached Top 40 positions in Belgium (both regions), Denmark, Italy and Switzerland.

Critical reception

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Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic55/100[15]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic     [16]
New York Daily News     [17]
Los Angeles Times    [18]
The New York TimesNegative[19]
The Telegraph (UK)     [20]

The album received mixed reviews from music critics. Matt Collar from AllMusic website praised the album and wrote that Partners "works as guided tour down Streisand's memory lane, and with her resonant voice still in supple shape, any excuse to hear her sing is a welcome invitation." Jim Farber from New York Daily News gave the album three out of five stars and wrote that "only four of the 12 cuts establish a real relationship between the singers, and most of those successes are crowded together at the start." Mikael Wood from Los Angeles Times wrote that while Streisand claimed that her goal with the album was not simply to remake some of her biggest hits but to provide "a whole other way of looking at the song", most of the dozen tracks on Partners "offer no such vantage", he also elected Streisand's duet with Babyface "Evergreen" the best moment of the album thanks to the vocals in "which she modulates her gale-force singing to suit his sumptuous quiet-storm groove". Stephen Holden, Nate Chinen and Ben Ratliff from the New York Times criticized the album and wrote that the "instrumentation and the vocal tracks are so processed in pursuit of a high-gloss perfection that any sense of two people standing side by side and singing their hearts out is lost", they also claimed that while Streisand's "voice has noticeably diminished in size" it pulls "its signature quality, ingrained sob" the duets "lack conversational or narrative flow, and you have an uncomfortable sense that the parts were spliced together after the fact". Helen Brown from The Telegraph gave the album two out of five stars and wrote that "while Streisand's voice still soars this lackluster collection falls into the icky celebrity duet traps".

Track listing

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Deluxe edition bonus tracks[24]
No.TitleWriter(s)Duet partnerLength
13."Lost Inside of You" (2014, previously unreleased)Barbra Streisand, Leon RussellKenny Edmonds4:18
14."I've Got a Crush on You" (1993, Duets)Ira Gershwin, George GershwinFrank Sinatra3:22
15."I Finally Found Someone" (1996, The Mirror Has Two Faces soundtrack)Barbra Streisand, Marvin Hamlisch, Bryan Adams, Robert John "Mutt" LangeBryan Adams3:41
16."I Won't Be the One to Let Go" (2002, Duets)Barry Manilow, Richard MarxBarry Manilow4:40
17."Guilty" (1980, Guilty)Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice GibbBarry Gibb4:28
Total length:70:37
Note

Personnel

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Information is based on the Album's Liner Notes[21]

  • Walter Afanasieff - piano (2–7, 10–11), guitar, mandolin played by, concertina programmed by (12), bass played by (4–7, 10), synths played by, rhythm programmed by (2, 4–7, 10–11), orchestra arranged by (1–7, 9–12)
  • Kenny Edmonds - background vocals (4, 7, 10), lead vocals (4)
  • Chuck Berghofer - bass played by (1, 3)
  • Teddy Campbell - drums (2)
  • Peter Erskine - drums (1, 3)
  • Bernie Herms - piano, synth played by, rhythm programmed by, orchestra arranged by (8)
  • John Mayer - guitar solo, vocals (3)
  • Rickey Minor - bass played by (2)
  • Dean Parks - guitar (1, additional on 3), pedal steel guitar (6)
  • Michael Ripoll - guitars (2, 4–5, 7, 10, additional on 6, 12)
  • William Ross - orchestra arranged by (1–7, 9–12), orchestra conducted by (All tracks)
  • Randy Waldman - piano (1)
  • Stevie Wonder - harmonica, vocals (2)

Chart positions

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Certifications and sales

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Region Certification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[60] Platinum 70,000^
Canada (Music Canada)[61] Gold 40,000^
Hungary (MAHASZ)[62] Gold 1,000^
New Zealand (RMNZ)[63] Gold 7,500^
Poland (ZPAV)[64] Platinum 20,000
United Kingdom (BPI)[66] Platinum 371,252[65]
United States (RIAA)[67] Platinum 1,000,000[10]

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.
Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References

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  1. ^ "Barbra Streisand, a Voice to Be Reckoned With" by Jacob Bernstein, New York Times September 12, 2014.
  2. ^ "Barbra Streisand returns to late night with Jimmy Fallon" by Lisa Respers France, CNN September 16, 2014.
  3. ^ a b Caulfield, Keith (December 31, 2014). "Taylor Swift's '1989' Beats 'Frozen' As Top Selling Album of 2014". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved January 1, 2015.
  4. ^ Caulfield, Keith (September 23, 2014). "Barbra Streisand Makes History at No. 1 on Billboard 200 Chart". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved November 8, 2014.
  5. ^ "Gay icon Barbra Streisand makes more history with latest album". Gay Star News. November 7, 2014. Retrieved November 8, 2014.
  6. ^ Caulfield, Keith (September 24, 2014). "Barbra Streisand Debuts at No. 1 on Billboard 200, Chris Brown at No. 2". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved October 29, 2014.
  7. ^ Caulfield, Keith (October 1, 2014). "Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga's 'Cheek To Cheek' Debuts at No. 1". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved October 29, 2014.
  8. ^ Caulfield, Keith (October 29, 2014). "Slipknot Scores Second No. 1 Album on Billboard 200 Chart". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved October 29, 2014.
  9. ^ Caulfield, Keith (September 10, 2015). "Billboard 200 Chart Moves: Jimi Hendrix Earns 46th Charting Album With New Live Set". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved September 11, 2015.
  10. ^ a b Grein, Paul (August 14, 2017). "Chart Watch: 'Despacito' ties 'Macarena' record, but gets no VMAs love". Yahoo!. Verizon Communications. Archived from the original on August 16, 2017. Retrieved August 16, 2017.
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  12. ^ "Barbra Streisand Scores First ARIA No 1 Album Since 1980". Music News - Noise11.com. September 27, 2014. Retrieved November 8, 2014.
  13. ^ a b "Dutchcharts.nl – Barbra Streisand – Partners" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved November 8, 2014.
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  15. ^ "Reviews for 'Partners'by Barbra Streisand". Metacritic. Retrieved September 26, 2014.
  16. ^ Allmusic review
  17. ^ Jim Farber (September 16, 2014). "'Partners': Album review". Daily News. Retrieved September 26, 2014.
  18. ^ Mikael Wood (September 18, 2014). "Review: Barbra Streisand stays mostly the way she was on 'Partners'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 26, 2014.
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  62. ^ "Adatbázis – Arany- és platinalemezek – 2014" (in Hungarian). MAHASZ. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
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  64. ^ "Wyróżnienia – Platynowe płyty CD - Archiwum - Przyznane w 2016 roku" (in Polish). Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
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