Review: “Christmas Memories” by Barbra Streisand (CD, 2001)

Today’s Christmas Pop Rescue from an unknown festive fate is 2001’s album Christmas Memories – the 29th album by the legandary American singer and actress Barbra Streisand. Will this album stir fond memories, or should you be hope for amnesia after hearing it? Read on…

Barbra Streisand - Christmas Memories (2001) album — Barbra Streisand – Christmas Memories (2001) album.

This 12 track CD opens with a tinglingly magical opening of I’ll Be Home For Christmas, and Barbra’s straight onto the microphone, and her voice is so rich and delicate – it’s a feast in itself. She delivers this old war-time classic with seemingly great ease. She’s flanked by a string section, and this sits perfectly alongside her voice. About halfway through, there’s a harmonica solo, which gives us a nice contrasting sound, which arrives with a gentle beat, helping to lift the song into it’s next gear in the second half. We’re off to a great start.

Chime bars similarly lead us into A Christmas Love Song – the first of a handful of original tracks here. It sounds atmospheric in its brushed snare jazzy style. The track gives Barbra plenty of time and space to show off her vocal range throughout. At times she sounds a little reminiscent of Shirley Bassey, but she manages to hold on to this new song and claim it perfectly as her own.

That’s followed by a cover of the 1947 song What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?, and once again, this lets Barbra’s vocals to soar upon the updraft of the swell of the underlying orchestra, and gives her plenty of time to showcase that rich and warm range.

I Remember is next, an early Stephen Sondheim number, with a modern re-write from him too. Here, Barbra sings with an almost sad reflective vocal, set against some downbeat strings and occasional woodwind flourishes, and tiny xylophones.

Then for a moment it sounds like we’re off to visit the baddie in a Disney film, in the intro of Snowbound. However, it soon switches to a lounge singer sound, and Barbra makes light work of it, giving us a gentle jazzy little 3 minute song.

Following that is the album’s sole single It Must Have Been The Mistletoe – a cover of Barbara Mandrell’s 1980s song. The CD booklet, containing Streisand’s notes on each song states; “A friend played me this song one night in a car. I couldn’t get the tune out of my head” and to be honest, she’s pretty much got a good point – it’s a great tune, and Barbra’s version gives us a nice contrasting upbeat pop feel to it that makes it stand out here amongst the tracks so far, whilst being loaded with catchiness.

Pianos and strings leading us into a Christmas Lullaby. This is another original song, and the beauty in it is partly in its simplicity and the lullaby element ensures it’s wonderfully unhurried – giving Barbra the perfect foundation from which to show these tender vocals.

Then we’re on to the titular track Christmas Mem’ries – and once again, it’s another new song, but it sounds very much like a sentimental old classic that Frank Sinatra of Bing Crosby might have once sung on one of their Christmas albums. Barbra sounds wonderful here, showing off that vocal power as she’s accompanied by the orchestra. Excellent stuff!

A Grown-Up Christmas List is next, but no, it’s not about an ‘adult’ list of toys, but about wishing for love. The track pitches Barbara against a piano for the most part, before a beat drops in, and whilst the song is great up until this point, the beat takes a few moments to feel at home – aided by the return of the orchestra. Soon though, Barbra’s vocals distract you enough to help forget the sudden arrival and departure of the beats.

Naturally, Barbra tackles Ave Maria next, and it’s pretty much as you’d expect Barbra to perform, and Ave Maria doesn’t really have much space in which to wriggle or re-interpret, but here the choir works wonderfully, adding extra harmonies and depth to the song. The choir also helps the track to build up, whilst Barbra tackles the lyrics. Magnificent!

That leads on to the penultimate track, and another new song, Closer. Here, Barbra and piano delicately waft into and through the first verse, and its her delicate tiny vocals here that work so well against the piano, although it does give her some opportunities to show off her bigger vocal range. It’s small and intimate feeling suits the song’s theme.

The album closes with One God, a song that Barbra writes “I first heard this song when I was 16 years old – on a spiritual album by Johnny Mathis”. It’s a song that I’ve heard somewhere before (Sister Act?), but this version sees the return of the vocal harmonies from the choir, and that really adds a heavenly sound to it, but also gives Barbra a pedestal from where she can really aim high for the big notes. It’s the perfect ending to this sentimental album.

Barbra’s lead single ‘It Must Have Been The Mistletoe’ (2001).

Verdict

Over all, this Christmas album is a mixture of atmospheric sounding classics, and modern songs made in their style.

This being our first Streisand listen and review, this album really shows off Barbra’s vocal power, emotion, and skill – her warm and rich vocals make light work of most of the songs here whether old classics, intricate favourites (like Ave Maria!), or modern tracks.

Highlights here are It Must Have Been The Mistletoe, Christmas Mem’ries, Ave Maria, and One God, mostly all for different reasons aside from the excellent vocals from Streisand. A few of the more modern tracks cost the album a star, perhaps simply due to the choice of modern instruments and beats – but in 2001 this probably felt absolutely fine, but Closer and I Remember are amongst the weakest here.

This is essentially a great Christmas journey, and whilst it dodges the usual fromage of a festive album, and offers very little stuffing, the album is an aural feast for Christmas.