11 Songs, 47 Minutes
Walls Barbra Streisand
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3.5, 660 Ratings - $10.99
EDITORS’ NOTES
When they go low, Barbra Streisand goes to her songwriting room. The political climate fostered by the 45th President of the United States inspired seven of the 11 songs here, Streisand's first set of originals since 2005. The triumphant call-to-arms “The Rain Will Fall” takes on the spin cycle fueled by the White House (“Facts are fake/And friends are foes/And how the story ends, nobody knows”). “What’s On My Mind” and “Walls” find Barbra lost in worry, searching for answers in that singular bloodied-but-unbowed voice. Despite her state of mind, she sounds peerless and ageless, elegant and delicate as fine silk. Go ahead and tack “Take Care of This House” onto her all-time great vocal performances, while “Don’t Lie to Me” beats with an EDM spine, ripping the clothes off the back of a "fictional" emperor: “You can build towers of bronze and gold/You can paint castles in the sky/You can use smoke and mirrors, old clichés/Not today, not today.”
She also resurrects classic protest anthems on Walls. The Burt Bacharach/Hal David chestnut “What the World Needs Now” gets a “hip” replacement with guests Michael McDonald and Babyface. John Lennon’s “Imagine” and Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World” are combined into a joyous medley (the coda “Just...imagine” could be interpreted as either pained or hopeful, depending on your mood). The album’s last song, “Happy Days Are Here Again,” reprises her first commercial single, from 1962, when she performed it ironically as a millionaire who lost it all.
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What's On My Mind
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Don't Lie to Me
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Imagine / What a Wonderful World
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Walls
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Lady Liberty
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What the World Needs Now
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Better Angels
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Love's Never Wrong
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The Rain Will Fall
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Take Care of This House
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Happy Days Are Here Again
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Ratings and Reviews
Peace, Love & Understanding
Note; all reviews here are based on two pre-released songs, 1. Don't Lie To Me & 2. Imagine/Wonderful World. There are about fifteen, maybe twenty one star ratings with anti-free speech reviews skewing the should be five star ratingfor 'the soon to be released full album, Walls. I love what I'm hearing. Imagine is my theme song. Wonderful World was Louis song as a racist world spun around & bit him from his own people (Ken Burns - Jazz, reference). Barbara didn't just wake up & decide to be political here, yougsters who don't vote - but love to complain. Barbara's been an active participant in our nation's democracy speaking out, contributing & working towards a free Republic all her life. Naturally an album like Walls would be her passion of compassion & so well done.... After all, those who choose to build walls & isolate at a time of technology being cyber-spacing in global ways... well not only are those fools hypocrites, they're just irrational. But hey(!) it's better to know who they are, then to have them creeping around holding it all in waiting to go bizerk! Thank you Barbara for staying as incredible as you are. We love your first two releases. I'm going to use Imagine/Wonderful World in my ThanksGiving, Christmas & New Years Playlists. & We just got of Ballaots. We'll be Remembering in November in October. It's time to BOOT some Nazi Mentalities out of Office. & yes, I did say that. So tired of the 'so-called' 'Right" Whites infringing on our First Amendment while misinterpreting the 2nd & using God's name in Vain to Terrorize anythingh that isn't White Privalaged & doesn't agree with their mistaken Beliefs. Tear Down These Walls! Sing Out! When Fake is Real & Bigotry is a Bully Cowards way of jeopardizing our Constitution.... Screaming JUST VOTE! & Listen to some Barbara. The balance of life..... & if you rerad all of that - ok, it's more a Rant against the one star reviews, then a review of Barbara's new two song pre-release... But I 'didn't Lie to you... Nope, I Imagined a Wonderful World... minus hatred, greed & rapist who still like beer. Enjoy
Right Wing is Wrong, As Usual
Great song! Artists have been sharing their political views in song since the 60s! Don’t listen if you don’t want to listen. I enjoyed the song and look forward to the rest of the album.
Simply incredible
“Don’t Lie To Me” is amazing. I love her message and her intended target will get his one day. The orange man in the White House will soon get a big dose of karma.
