Tuesday, August 12, 2014

NEW RELEASES - BARBRA STREISAND - PARTNERS; JOYCE MORENO - RAIZ; THE STYLISTICS - FREE SOUL

BARBA STREISAND - PARTNERS

"Partners" is Barbra Streisand's new album, featuring 12 inimitable new Streisand duets with the world's greatest male vocalists. This is the legendary artist's first duets album in more than a decade, and debuts new studio recordings of Streisand classics and others songs. "Partners" is comprised of 12 songs, many of which are regarded as Streisand classics. Among the songs included are "New York State Of Mind," with Billy Joel, "Come Rain Or Come Shine," with John Mayer, "Love Me Tender," with Elvis Presley, "The Way We Were," with Lionel Richie, "What Kind Of Fool," with John Legend, "People," with Stevie Wonder, "I Can Still See Your Face," with Andrea Bocelli, “Evergreen," with Babyface, and Ms. Streisand's first studio-recorded duet with her son Jason Gould, on "How Deep Is The Ocean." Also included are “ It Had To Be You” with Michael BublĂ©, “”I'd Want It To Be You” with Blake Shelton, and “ Somewhere”  with Josh Groban.

JOYCE MORENO - RAIZ

The album's a recent one, but the legendary Joyce also returns to her roots a bit – hence the title – working here with a bit of help from the great Roberto Menescal, who brought the singer into the studio for her first bossa session 50 years ago! The format is laidback, warm, and wonderfully jazzy – with lots of strong piano lines from Helio Alves alongside Joyce's tight acoustic guitar – a combination that gives the record a great deal of musical warmth, which really helps match the beauty of the vocals! Tutty Moreno plays drums, and Menescal plays guitar on two tracks he arranged – and titles include "Meu Piao", "Tamba", "O Morro Nao Tem Vez", "Ceu E Mar", "Nos E O Mar", "Tristeza De Nos Dois", and "Canto De Yansan". ~ Dusty Groove

THE STYLISTICS - FREE SOUL

A really fresh look at The Stylistics – a set that includes some of their key harmony soul classics, but also mixes in some of their lesser-known gems from the 70s – all in the best spirit of the landmark Free Soul series! Some of the tracks here are mellower than you'll usually get with Free Soul – which can focus more on upbeat cuts – but with The Stylistics, even the laidback numbers have a sweet gentle groove – which is what makes them different than so many other harmony groups of the time. And mixing in the lesser-known tracks is a real strength – as it recasts the familiar numbers in a great new light – on a 21 track set list that's a delight all the way through! Titles include "Human Nature", "Easy Loving You", "This Christmas", "Love Comes Easy", "Ebony Eyes", "Let Them Work It Out", "If I Love You", "You'll Never Get To Heaven", "Hurry Up This Way Again", "People Make The World Go Round", "Found A Love You Couldn't Handle", "Country Living", "Shame & Scandal In The Family", and "You're As Right As Rain". ~ Dusty Groove



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