Barbra Streisand can go back to buying expensive art and antiques. Her “Partners” album will hit number 1 on Monday with between 170-180,000 copies sold. Wow. She will become the only artist, male, female or intersex, to score number 1 albums in six consecutive decades. Not even Paul McCartney can make that claim. (The real shocker is that such a thing is possible at all since I thought it was still 1992. But that’s another story.)
“Partners” will easily best sales for Chris Brown’s “X” album, which is quite a feat since Barbra could be Chris’s, ahem, older sister. This is interesting news since the Conventional Wisdom is that older people do not buy CDs or down load them. But we are about to have Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga, followed by Annie Lennox, and then Aretha Franklin all releasing topnotch work in the next week or so. Dolly Parton has already had a bit hit this summer.
Of course, we also have Jennifer Hudson, who, like all of the above– is a real musician with a real voice.
What does it all mean? People are starved for quality. There’s just so much pre-fabbed junk written and produced by the same “teams” that anyone can take. Real songs by real singers with real musicians can’t be underestimated. And if you like all this stuff, I suggest you check out Julia Fordham ASAP. Her fans have known about her all along.
