Here we are. My last Barbra Streisand album to push through. The journey started out okay with 1980's Guilty, dipped a bit with 1984's Emotion, then came crashing down on all sides with 1985's The Broadway Album. Needless to say, I have zero expectations that this is going to end on a high note with 1988's Till I Loved You. At this point, I'm mentally checked out on the Streister.
I think William Ruhlmann from AllMusic really captures my own personal opinion of the album perfectly. He says it's, "Like a movie with a great star, great production values, and a mediocre script, so how much you liked it depended on how much you liked Streisand." Well, not being personally invested in her, yeah, mediocre really sums it up.
Till I Loved You is very slow paced, very drab, and frankly, boring. Despite the uniqueness of the title track being a debut with Don Johnson, even he's not enough to save it. Not that he was necessarily a big draw in the music world beyond his hit Heartbeat. I'll only reserve from calling him a one hit wonder out of respect for his second single, Heartache Away, which peaked at 56. Suffice to say, he wasn't exactly selling albums himself. But, I digress. This is not a post about Johnson.
Much like Paul Grein from the Los Angeles Times, I also agree that it's good that Barbra went back to a style of music that works for her, versus her very pop heavy Emotion. Till I Loved You caters to "her" audience, and like Grein says, "Streisand is no longer trying to compete with singers half her age for the hearts and minds of the teenagers who buy singles and watch MTV". That's not a bad thing. Know your audience, and give them what they want.
As for me, I'm not her audience. I was the teenager who buys singles and watches MTV. Even at a dollar, I don't think I need the majority of Barbra Streisand's albums in my life. They're just taking up prime real estate on my limited shelf space.
I'm not going to call this album bad. Barbra gives her all, and leaves it at the microphone. I'm sure her fans really loved it, and I respect that. It's just not for me.
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| THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS September 23, 1989 |
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