What Matters Most—Barbra Streisand Sings The Lyrics of Alan And Marilyn Bergman (2011)

Catalog Number:

[Below: Deluxe Edition CD cover and back cover are shown.]

What Matters Most cover

Regular CD:

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Deluxe CD:

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BELOW: Starbucks Version (in store)

Starbucks cover and back cover

Tracks

  1. The Windmills Of Your Mind (M. Legrand)
  2. Something New In My Life (M. Legrand)
  3. Solitary Moon (J. Mandel)
  4. Nice n Easy (L. Spence)
  5. Alone In The World (J. Goldsmith)
  6. So Many Stars (S. Mendes) *
  7. The Same Hello, The Same Goodbye (J. Williams)
  8. That Face (L. Spence & A. Bergman)
  9. I'll Never Say Goodbye (D. Shire)
  10. What Matters Most (D. Grusin)

* “Thanks to Claudia Brandt and Dory Caymmi for their help with the Portuguese translation.”

The Deluxe Edition contains a second CD of previously-released Streisand/Bergman songs:

  1. The Way We Were
  2. What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life?
  3. You Don't Bring Me Flowers
  4. Papa, Can You Hear Me?
  5. Pieces Of Dreams
  6. The Island
  7. The Summer Knows
  8. How Do You Keep The Music Playing?
  9. After The Rain
  10. A Piece Of Sky

About the Album

QVC DVD cover

The incomparable Barbra Streisand's long-cherished desire to release an album of music with lyrics exclusively written by her collaborators and friends, Alan and Marilyn Bergman, will be achieved with her latest release What Matters Most- Barbra Streisand Sings the Lyrics of Alan and Marilyn Bergman for Columbia Records.

Reflecting on her long-held desire to devote an entire album to the amazingly varied and consistently inspired music of the Bergmans, Streisand noted, “Alan and Marilyn Bergman have a remarkable gift for expressing affairs of the heart.”

The affection and respect between lyricists and artist is quite wonderful. “When we write a song, we hear Barbra,” said lyricists Alan and Marilyn Bergman. “She makes the connection from the heart to the mind, and it emerges through her voice.”

The new album, which Streisand personally produced, is comprised of ten Bergman songs which Streisand has never previously recorded. The CD will be packaged in a jewel box with a 24-page color booklet.

About The Songs ...

“The Windmills of Your Mind,” originally performed by Noel Harrison for the 1968 film The Thomas Crown Affair, has music by Michel Legrand and English lyrics by Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman.

Michel Legrand also wrote the music for “Something New In My Life,” which is the theme song from the 1984 movie Micki and Maude which starred Dudley Moore, Micki Salinger and Amy Irving. Stephen Bishop sang the song for the film, and Johnny Mathis has previously recorded it, too.

Streisand reunites with composer Johnny Mandel for “Solitary Moon,” previously recorded by Shirley Horn and Mathis.

Frank Sinatra was the first to record the Lew Spence/Bergman tune, “Nice n Easy” on his 1960 same-titled album. This song was one of the Bergman's first hits.

Film composer Jerry Goldsmith wrote the song “Alone In The World ” for the 1990 film, The Russia House with Sean Connery and Michelle Pfeiffer. Patti Austin sang the song on the film's soundtrack album.

“So Many Stars” appeared on Sergio Mendes' 1968 album Look Around. It was sung by Lani Hall with a lush arrangement by Dave Grusin.

The Bergmans and composer John Williams wrote the song “The Same Hello, The Same Goodbye” for Frank Sinatra, who intended to record it but did not.

Streisand fans have heard her sing an excerpt of “That Face” on her 1966 television special, Color Me Barbra. Here, she turns in an amazing, uptempo performance of the song that Alan Bergman wrote as an engagement song for Marilyn. Bergman and Lew Spence took the song to Fred Astaire. Alan Bergman recalled, “He listened and said, ‘I’m going to record this song!’ He owned a record label, Ava, named for his daughter. And he recorded it! So, I took the dub home to Marilyn, and said, ‘Will you marry me?’ Luckily she did.”

David Shire (“Starting Here, Starting Now”) was nominated for an Oscar for “The Promise (I'll Never Say Goodbye)” from the 1979 motion picture The Promise. Streisand sang this live at the 2011 MusiCares Person of the Year concert.

The final and title song, “What Matters Most,” comes from another 1979 movie starring Jon Voight and Ricky Schroder—the boxing tear-jerker, The Champ.

Billboard Charts

The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine.

Here's the numbers for this Streisand album:

Note: The record company must submit an album to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) where it undergoes a certification process to become eligible for an award. The process entails an independent sales audit, which calculates the quantity of singles or albums shipped for sale, net after returns. The audit surveys shipments to the entire music marketplace, including retail, record clubs, television sales, Internet orders and other ancillary markets. Based on the certification of these shipments, a title is awarded Gold, Platinum, Multi-Platinum or Diamond status. The data here comes directly from official sources, mainly the RIAA online database.

Grammy Nominations

What Matters Most was nominated for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album. Bill Ross's arrangement of “The Windmills of My Mind” was nominated for Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s).

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