How is a Barbra Streisand/Bob Dylan duet possibly going to sound? This is not a question that I have ever pondered, but we're about to get an answer anyway. Streisand and Dylan both arrived at fame in early-'60s New York, but their career paths and voices are very, very different. Now, the two legends, both of whom are 83 years old, are about to join forces on a new version of "The Very Thought Of You," a pop standard that's older than either of them. It'll appear on Streisand's forthcoming duets album The Secret Of Life: Partners, Volume 2, which has all sorts of other fascinating collaborators as well.
Streisand has been singing duets for her entire career. She and Judy Garland sang together in 1963, and many of her biggest hits are collaborations -- like "You Don't Bring Me Flowers," with Neil Diamond, or "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)," with Donna Summer. The Secret Of Life is Streisand's first studio album since 2018's Walls, and it's also a sequel to Partners, the 2014 album where she sang with luminaries like Stevie Wonder, John Mayer, and Billy Joel.
On The Secret Of Life, Barbra Streisand goes head-to-head with Paul McCartney, James Taylor, Sting, Seal, Sam Smith, Laufey, Tim McGraw, and Josh Groban. Perhaps most intriguingly, Streisand will join forces with Mariah Carey and Ariana Grande on a new version of the patriotic song "One Heart, One Voice." (Streisand and fellow theater-kid superstar Grande sang "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)" together at a 2019 Streisand show in Chicago.) On the album's first single and opening track, Streisand and the so-hot-right-now Hozier take on "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face," the Ewan MacColl folk song that the late Roberta Flack made famous in 1972. Their version is fine, I guess? Listen to it and check out the new LP's tracklist below.
TRACKLIST:
01 "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" (with Hozier)
02 "My Valentine" (with Paul McCartney)
03 "To Lose You Again" (with Sam Smith)
04 "The Very Thought Of You" (with Bob Dylan)
05 "Letter To My 13-Year-Old Self" (with Laufey)
06 "One Heart, One Voice" (with Mariah Carey & Ariana Grande)
07 "I Love Us" (with Tim McGraw)
08 "Secret O' Life" (with James Taylor)
09 "Fragile" (with Sting)
10 "Where Do I Go From You?" (with Josh Groban)
11 "Love Will Survive" (with Seal)
The Secret Of Life: Partners, Volume 2 is out 6/27 on Columbia.
