What are the critics saying today

About Grandma Streisand's performance and Dame Shirley, who really did it? The ones under 80.

Bassey was pretty good given her age. Streisand sounded tentative and breathy throughout - sad.
Bassey was fantastic! Streisand made me sad.
Barbra called me personally this morning - twice - about doing a duets album. I think I'll do it!
Glenn%20Close
Where's Rex Reed's review of Adele?
Yeah, Babs upset me too. I'm 42 and I remember hearing my dad playing one of her albums as a kid and just flipping out over her voice. I think it was Yentl and I couldn't believe that she could hold a note as long as she did in A Piece of Sky. I've been a big fan ever since . . . but last night was sad. Bassey tore that shit up though. Even so, her pronunciation (Gold-FINGUH!!!!!) was a little irritating.
Ive always said, Shirley Bassey has the best voice - evar ! No 76 year old should be able to hit that last note - she's a REAL singer....BeYAWNce. She stands there, and sings. Doesn't spastically shake her ass & arms all over the place, to get us to forget she can't sing well.
Bond
And don't call me Shirley (retread)
Bored2
Barbra's lazy........most 70 year old Jewish women are
Issac%20Singer
I was so embarrassed for Shirley Bassey. She just screeched and hollered off key and didn't seem to be able to hear herself. The old broad is almost 80, but she can no longer carry a note in a bucket. Babs was a disappointment too. She stayed on key most of the time, but her voice now has a limited range compared to what she had in her heyday. I think it's largely due to all the cigarettes. Be honest folks, poor Shirley was no better than any loser at pig hollering contest. She looked fairly good for 76 or 77, better than Bad does at 71, but neither possesses a tenth of the voice that made them famous.
Of course R9 is correct.
Cigarettes? Barbra? I don't believe it.
R9 is wrong. I just listened to Bassey again and she was guarded at first but thrilling. Babs was sad.
Bassey owned that stage.
Honey, Barbra was amazing in 1963 and she's just as divine now, girlfriend, maybe better. She has given the world her blood, heart and soul for 50 years and, at 70, the woman could not be more fabulous. Her first album was released a year before The Beatles hit. They've been nothing but a bad memory for 45 years and she's still going strong. When she sang Sunday night I felt like I was touched by the angels. Every gay man beamed with pride for our Queen, Barbra, that night. Tears filled my eyes and streamed down my face. I cried for over half an hour from the sheer beauty of the event. Barbra looked radiant and spectatular. Honey, hearing Barbra sing is the closest most of us may ever get to heaven, and that's good enough for me. The angels in heaven could not come close to the song of Ms. Streisand. She is Brooklyn, New York's pride and joy. I am so proud to breathe the same air as she. Though, in no way do I think I am deserving to. Sweethearts, it's the conservative homophobic bigots who are tearing down her performance. They hate anything we love. It's just another stab at us, the gay community. They are so jealous of our special relationship with Barbra. I am proud to be a gay man, and I am proud to be a lifelong Barbra worshipper. I will savour her music until the day I leave this world. Hopefully, I can share a cloud with her in heaven, so I can hear her beautiful songs for eternity. Long live Barbra!
MM, Brooklyn, NYC
Bassey owned the stage, but she wailed off key. She did a lot of over the top belting, very dramatic. Barbra was Barbra. She couldn't have just come out and sung her song. No, she had to make a little speech, make the whole thing specific to Marvin Hamlisch instead of an elegant, classy tribute to the whole bunch. So mannered, always always so much about her. She looked like she was trying to hard, too.
Barbra did not make an ass of herself, but it is time to quit. And you know what? She bitched and bitched in the 1960s and 70s how much she hated singing, now she loves it enough to carry on in her 70s??? QUIT ALREADY. Make this the last time. Shirley was amazing for her age -- 75 or 77 -- depending on which bio. Babs should be jealous.
R16 Barbra was wonderful, honey. You make my soul cry.
Sassy Miss Bassey was fabulous. She remarked in an interview thirty years ago that her voice deepened so she sang it differently even at that time. She looked gorgeous and was in fine form.I can see where Liza stole her vocal act from.....;) Barbara(her real name)though. She was boring.She thought she could coast BUT she was staid.
"She has given the world her blood, heart and soul for 50 years..." Mary! She's Barbra Streisand, not Mother Theresa, you fossilized old queen.
R5 When did your father come out?
I wanted to love Shirley-and I still do, but she WAS horribly off-key Sunday night. I never have been a big fan of Barbra's-just a little too dramatic in her songs and overly produced, but will admit she had a hell of a voice. HAD. Neither one was that good though Shirley wins in the battle of the old farts that night.
[quote]When she sang Sunday night I felt like I was touched by the angels. Every gay man beamed with pride for our Queen, Barbra, that night. Tears filled my eyes and streamed down my face. I cried for over half an hour from the sheer beauty of the event. Barbra looked radiant and spectatular. My God, that's a MARY! for the ages!
Both of their voices have obviously declined as would be expected of people in their 70s-80's. I think it's a bad idea for people to sing their trademark songs when that happens. It's depressing for the audience. It reminds us of our own decline. And shouldn't 70-year-old women give up the long straight blonde hairstyle? That's also sad.
R14 scares me. Seriously.
They both were divine. Good lord, you gotta make a few concessions for age. You know any OTHER 70 something women who could get out there and do what they did? Think about the blue hairs that you know in your own lives. Grandmas and bingo. Shirley Bassey and Barbra Streisand? They are the gold standard, bitches.
I think you can sing a song like The Way We Were at any age. Gawd, some of you are so subjective and petty - can't you just appreciate the performances for what they were? It's not exactly breaking news that two elderly ladies no longer sound as they did in their prime but they have nothing to be ashamed about. I'd rather listen to them than the cast of Les Mis.
Barbra was singing better than ever back in October on her tour.
http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DsqMlhkKujPU%26list%3DFLp4srByrY6uj6RWK_0PgRRQ%26index%3D7
The one who was a wreck was Adele. She sounds like she's heading toward serious vocal distress again. She got off every high note and the one she finally did sustain at the end almost shattered. She barely pulled it out of her ass. Poor girl has zero technique. She'll be done in a year.
[quote]Sweethearts, it's the conservative homophobic bigots who are tearing down her performance. They hate anything we love. It's just another stab at us, the gay community. You're a loony tune, Mary Jane.
[quote]Hopefully, I can share a cloud with her in heaven, so I can hear her beautiful songs for eternity If there's one thing that could disrupt the serenity of the hereafter, it would be the mob of caterwauling queens fighting to share a cloud with Barbra.
"[R14] scares me. Seriously." Don't be afraid. R14's name is Milton T. Simmons and nowadays he does his 'Sweatin' to the Oldies' at a keyboard, professing his maniacal love for Barbra here.
r14 - MIRIAM!!
I thought they were both very strong and wonderful! Barbra was just fine, what are you nags going on about? She's almost 70 for Christ's sake, there is going to be a huskiness and smaller range in the woman's voice of course! She was emotionally connected and had perfect pitch. You people are nuts.
Streisand not only looked terrible - bad, bad choice of gown, hair hideously too long for her age, and sounded like shit. Shirley, on the other hand, was perfection. Looked fabulous, great how, and despite a pitchy start, she was brilliant at the end. Babs was just sad, all the way through.
[quote]She was emotionally connected and had perfect pitch. You people are nuts. If you think that was perfect pitch, YOU'RE nuts. And deaf to boot.
She%20was%20FLAT%21%21%21
I watched Barbra a second and third time. It wasn't 1973, but she was still pretty damn fabulous. I liked her. And she looked gorgeous.
Chris Matthew loved Barbra. He said he was sort of a friend of Marvin. Okay, Chris.
I didn't think she was awful... I didn't think she was awesome. I might chalk up some of the performance to a) the audio problems that dogged the singers all night and b) personal emotion, singing in tribute to someone who played a major role in her professional life. It's also established she isn't thrilled about live performance, at least at awards shows. So I cut her slack there (and I am not shipper. I love her voice, her orchestrations have always been so syrupy I've wondered she doesn't get stuck.) But that dress. She looked like Norma at the end of Sunset Boulevard. Total flop.
But she was flat. Flat, flat, flat.