Duets (2002)

Catalog Numbers: 

• CK 86126 (CD)
• T 86126 S1 (Cassette)
• CM 86126 (MiniDisc)

ABOUT THE ALBUM:

• Released November 26, 2002
• Executive Producers: Barbra Streisand & Jay Landers
• Product Manager: Peter Fletcher
• A&R Coordinator: Allan Stein
• Cover photos: Bert Stern (left) + Steve Schapiro (right)
• All tracks newly remastered by Stephen Marcussen
• Digitally Edited by: Stewart Whitmore for Marcussen Mastering, Hollywood, CA.
• Art Direction: Gabrielle Raumberger, EPOS, Santa Monica, CA
• Design: George McWilliams, EPOS

Executive Producers Barbra Streisand and Jay Landers gave fans previously released tracks on 2002's Duets album.

Of note on this CD:

• This is the first appearance of Track #6 on a Barbra Streisand CD; it originally appeared only on Frank Sinatra's album, Duets (1993).
• This is also the first appearance of Track #13 on a Barbra Streisand CD album; This is the “radio edit” and was originally released as a U.S. radio promo CD-single and a U.K. 7-inch single (1988).
• Two tracks are newly recorded: the duets with Barry Manilow and Josh Groban.
• The 14-page insert booklet contains rare photos of Barbra and duet partners, plus a brief word from Barbra: " Thanks to all my wonderful singing partners for sharing the gift of your time and talent with me... and to the memory of someone who meant a lot to me, Peter Matz. "
• Columbia ran a U.S. mail order TV commercial. If you bought from the commercial, you received an 11 x 14-inch "lithograph" poster included with CD.

1. I Won't Be The One To Let Go (with Barry Manilow) {previously unreleased} [4:41] (R. Marx / B. Manilow)
2. Guilty (with Barry Gibb) [4:24] (B. Gibb / R. Gibb / M. Gibb)
3. You Don't Bring Me Flowers (with Neil Diamond) [3:24] (M. Bergman / A. Bergman / N. Diamond)
4. I Finally Found Someone (with Bryan Adams) [3:42] (B. Streisand / M. Hamlisch / R.J. Lange / B. Adams)
5. Cryin' Time (with Ray Charles) [2:18] (B. Owens)
6. I've Got A Crush On You (with Frank Sinatra) [3:22] (G. Gershwin / I. Gershwin)
7. Tell Him (with Celine Dion) [4:53] (D. Foster / L. Thompson / W. Afanasieff)
8. No More Tears (Enough Is Enough) (with Donna Summer) [4:43](P. Jabara / B. Roberts)
9. What Kind Of Fool (with Barry Gibb) [4:05] (B. Gibb / A. Galuten)
10. I Have A Love/One Hand, One Heart (with Johnny Mathis) [4:44](L. Bernstein / S. Sondheim)
11. One Less Bell To Answer/A House Is Not A Home (with Barbra Streisand) [6:29] (H. David / B. Bacharach)
12. Lost Inside Of You (with Kris Kristofferson) [2:54] (B. Streisand / L. Russell)
13. Till I Loved You (with Don Johnson) {radio edit} [4:16](M. Yeston)
14. Make No Mistake, He's Mine (with Kim Carnes) [4:09] (K. Carnes)
15. If You Ever Leave Me (with Vince Gill) [4:36] (R. Marx)
16. The Music Of The Night (with Michael Crawford) [5:35] (A. Lloyd Webber / C. Hart / R. Stilgoe)
17. Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead (with Harold Arlen) [1:54] (H. Arlen / E.Y. Harburg)
18. Get Happy/Happy Days Are Here Again (with Judy Garland) [2:20] ("Happy Days" - M. Ager / J. Yellen; "Get Happy" - H. Arlen / T. Koehler)
19. All I Know Of Love (with Josh Groban) {previously unreleased} [4:29] (D. Foster / L. Thompson)

Credits:

• Written by Richard Marx & Barry Manilow
• Produced & Arranged by Walter Afansieff & Richard Marx
• Orchestra Arranged & Conducted by William Ross
• Engineered by David Retinas & Humberto Gatica
• Mixed by Mick Guzauski

In Barry Manilow's early career, he served the same function for Bette Midler that Peter Daniels served for Barbra Streisand: He was an accompanist and music arranger.  Later, of course, his own solo career took off and he had a string of hit songs in the 1970s and 1980s:Mandy, Weekend in New England, This One's For You, Memory, Copacapana , and more.

Yet Barry Manilow had never worked with Streisand before. “You can't imagine what it's like to hear a song you've written sung by that voice. It's amazing!” he said. 

For Duets, Manilow contributed the song “I Won't Be the One To Let Go,” co-written with Richard Marx.

“Duets are tricky,” Barry Manilow wrote in the Winter 2002 BarryGRAMfan magazine. When asked about recording with other artists, Manilow elaborated: “[Duets have] to be written so that the performers can relate to each other and they've got to have melodies that can hold up individually. The trick to a good duet, in my opinion, is relating honestly to your duet partner. The song I wrote with the talented Richard Marx is called ‘I Won't Be the One To Let Go’. I've just recorded it with the brilliant Barbra Streisand ... we sound like we like each other and mean what we're singing because we worked on it together, in the same room, for days and days before we went into the studio. I think that there's an obvious connection between the two of us (we actually come from the same neighborhood in Brooklyn) and I think you will be able to feel that when you hear the song. It's a wonderful duet and I'm very proud of the song.”