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Barbra has always performed best when she believes in what she sings. This is why her songs with lyrics by her long time friends Alan and Marilyn Bergman ring so true and deep with feeling. It is no surprise that she has been drawn to her friends' songs since the late sixties. She owes them this tribute because it is their songs that have helped her to grow as a contemporary vocalist. Her earliest material was written by songwriters from the 20's through 50's which made her seem outdated by the late sixties. She did have much new material that was written for Broadway or was dramatic enough to be a scene from a show or revue and being an actress, Barbra delivered. However, Broadway-styled material could only go so far to sell records. She needed to become more contemporary and though it did not produce hits immediately, her recordings of the Bergmans' lyrics transformed her style making it less over-the-top and more introspective.
One of her earliest recordings of their songs is one of her finest ever, "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?" from 1969. The lyrics are typical of their exploration of love and commitment. A far cry from Barbra's earliest ironic songs "Cry Me a River", "Down with Love", and "Love is a Bore" but closer in spirit to her earlier hits "People" and "He Touched Me". So, she was on track when she chose to record their works. It made sense also because the Bergmans wrote so frequently for movies and Barbra always used her acting talents to interpret lyrics. When Barbra sang "The Way We Were" in the background of her movie, it became more than just a beautiful song but her character's inner thoughts and in the end the movie's message. This of course added up to big sales and a number one hit on Billboard. The same combination of meaningful lyrics with superb acting came together for "Yentl" but this time for an entire song score. Both projects brought the Bergmans Academy Awards for writing. So not only did the Bergmans help Barbra's career it was vice versa. "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" was a commercial and artistic triumph when she recorded it with Neil Diamond. The words so resonated with the public that sales of flowers went up as a result. The duet version makes one easily forget their seperate solo recordings.
Listening to What Matters Most, I wonder how did these songs by the Bergmans never get recorded by Barbra before? They are as well suited to Barbra's style as the 51 Bergman songs she previously recorded. At the length of 41:39 its the shortest album of her hers since "Wet" back in 1979 when albums were not much longer than 40 minutes. Barbra says in the liner notes that her total songs recorded by them now totaled 63 after this album which hints that she intended 12 songs originally. But this ten song collection seems the perfect length both in total and individual tracks. With Barbra the sole producer her increased confidence is evident in the choices made. The arrangements are similar to The Movie Album, which was glorious but sometimes a bit overdone, and some songs hard to get into. Every song on What Matters Most draws you in and keeps you there from one moment to the next. It helps to have a common theme of love which is reminiscent of her album A Love Like Ours. But unlike the 1999 release Barbra mixes up the tempos such as "Nice n Easy" which starts out slow and builds to a jazzy finish with arrangement by Patrick Williams. "That Face" which Barbra featured briefly during her Circus Medley on Color Me Barbra gets the full treatment here with a bright, joyful sound that fits with the adoring lyrics. Then there's "So Many Stars" with an exciting Brazilian arrangement by William Ross actually featuring lyrics sung in Portuguese! Barbra was also blessed to have excellent trumpet soloist Chris Botti and sax soloist Dan Higgins. As producer Barbra knows how to assemble the ideal team.
Even with the uptempo arrangements, nothing is more exciting than the first minute of the album when she sings "The Windmills of Your Mind" acapella. It is a risky move for any singer at her age, that is any singer except Barbra. She may have a few slight hoarse moments that would have never been allowed during her earlier perfectionist years. Yet she hits all the high notes and is still the best at conveying a lyricist's intentions. Especially when she has lyrics by the Bergmans who, as Barbra says in the liner notes, have found so many ways to say "I Love You." with lyrics that have a "poetic grace that's completely unique."
****While the deluxe edition does contain tracks that have all appeared on previous Barbra releases (I own all such releases on cd except for one--Barbra Joan Streisand) it is great to have this collection as a companion to the new tracks. It further helps to point out how perfect the Bergmans have been for Barbra and vice versa.
Recommended new tracks: "The Windmills of Your Mind", "The Same Hello, The Same Goodbye", "That Face", "Nice n Easy"
Recommended classic tracks: "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?", "Papa Can You Hear Me?", "You Don't Bring Me Flowers", "The Summer Knows"
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