Barbra Streisand

Timeless is a double album which includes moments from Streisand's New Year's Eve, 1999 and New Year's Day, 2000 shows at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on the Las Vegas Strip, which were part of her Timeless concert tour. The release is set up like a play in two acts and even has a two-minute entr'acte featuring conductor, Marvin Hamlisch, who is also present throughout the performance. It opens with a dramatization of her first, amateur recording session, in which Lauren Frost plays a part described in the credits as "Young Girl" though Streisand later refers to her as "my little-girl self" and "mini me". The rest of Act One traces Streisand's career from her club days to Broadway and her movie performances.

Barbra Streisand is an undeniable pop icon, a walking summation of song. For her fans, she is the total, pure, triple-distilled essence of the human voice. The aptly named Timeless DVD attests to the staggering range and experience of this woman named Barbra, as she appeared in her now-mythic millennial two-night farewell stand at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas. All the big names Celine Dion and Neil Diamond were there; and even some departed legends Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra manage to take bows with the diva, via tape and film clips.

Even before their first session together, Barbra Streisand and collaborator Diana Krall designed Love Is the Answer as a deeply emotional record: "each song an exploration concerning matters of the heart." And with the arrangements of maestro Johnny Mandel simply drawing occasional shading around Streisand's expressive voice – and often leaving her voice as the only instrument – the album goes well beyond the usual saloon-song tropes to become a heart-wrenching experience with virtually every song. Additionally, although much was made of the collaboration, Krall's piano stays in the background, and Streisand's is the only voice heard.

My Name Is Barbra, Two… is the second of two studio album tie-ins to Barbra Streisand's debut television special, My Name Is Barbra, which first aired on April 28, 1965. The Medley (Track 11) is the only music from the show, and the other tracks newly recorded for the album. Barbra remembers in Just For The Record: "'Second Hand Rose' became part of a tongue-in-cheek fantasy sequence which was shot at Bergdorf Goodman's…And thanks to people I loved and loved working with—Joe Layton, Dwight Hemion, Peter Matz, Robert Emmett, Tom John, and, of course, Marty—I was able to realize my dream." The album was also certified Platinum and peaked at #2 on the US charts and #6 in the UK charts.

Over the course of 50 years, Barbra Streisand has enjoyed a special relationship with Alan and Marilyn Bergman. All three are Brooklyn-born (in the same hospital, no less) and, as Streisand writes in the liner notes, she describes their relationship not only as a friendship but as a love affair. Produced by Streisand herself, What Matters Most presents ten of the Bergmans' songs that she had never sung before – which makes this not just a set of re-recordings but a living document, and not just a tribute from a friend, but a set of great songs sung by a great singer.