Rating:
Genre:
Vocal Music
Release Date: 09/19/2000
Timeless: Live in Concert, recorded at her Las Vegas show on New Year's Eve 1999, takes as its subject the star herself. It opens with a dramatization of her first, amateur recording session, with young
Lauren Frost playing a part described in the credits as "Young Girl," though
Streisand later refers to her as "mini-me."
Frost doesn't get too far before being joined by
Streisand herself on a stirring version of
"Something's Coming" from
West Side Story. The rest of "Act One" traces
Streisand's career from her club days to her movie performances. "Act Two" has less of a narrative structure, though it is equally autobiographical, with
Streisand displaying and commenting on videos of herself performing with other stars and building up to the stroke of midnight with a combination of old, recent, and new specially written songs. At 57 that night,
Streisand remains in good voice, and the old warhorses, among them inevitable hits like
"People," "Evergreen," and
"The Way We Were," sound, well, like they always do. More interesting are songs that, while previously recorded, have not been heard live before, especially
"Alfie," which the singer confesses to having forgotten she ever did. But unless you are a big
Streisand fan, you may want to stick to the studio albums on which she just sings. The extensive stage remarks here include comic interludes such as a dialogue with
Shirley MacLaine and negative opinions about new technology, but for the most part they center on the singer herself.
Timeless was issued a week before what were said to be her final concerts in September 2000.
~William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
;)
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