The biggest selling album of Barbra Streisand's career is also one of her least characteristic. The album was written and produced by Barry Gibb in association with his brothers and the producers of the Bee Gees, and in essence it sounds like a post-Saturday Night Fever Bee Gees album with vocals by Streisand. Gibb adapted his usual style somewhat, especially in slowing the tempos and leaving more room for the vocal, but his melodic style and the backup vocals, even when they are not sung by the Bee Gees, are typical of them. Still, the record was more hybrid than compromise, and the chart-topping single "Woman in Love" has a sinuous feel that is both right for Streisand and new for her. Other hits were the title song and "What Kind of Fool," both duets with Gibb. (The song "Guilty" won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal by Duo or Group.) ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
Barbra Streisand (Vocals), Barbra Streisand (Main Performer), Pete Carr (Guitar (Acoustic)), Pete Carr (Guitar), Barry Gibb (Guitar (Acoustic)), Barry Gibb (Vocals), Barry Gibb (Vocals (Background)), Barry Gibb (Producer), Barry Gibb (Performer), Peter Graves (Trombone), Peter Graves (Trombone (Bass)), Albhy Galuten (Synthesizer), Albhy Galuten (Producer), George Bitzer (Synthesizer), George Bitzer (Piano), George Bitzer (Piano (Electric)), George Bitzer (Piano (Grand)), Dan Bonsanti (Sax (Tenor)), Neal Bonsanti (Sax (Tenor)), Dennis Bryon (Drums), Bud Burridge (Trumpet), Cornell Dupree (Guitar), Kenneth Faulk (Trumpet), Russ Freeland (Trombone), Steve Gadd (Drums), Don Gehman (Engineer), David Hungate (Bass), Mike Katz (Trombone), Steve Klein (Engineer), Charles Koppelman (Executive Producer), Joe Lala (Percussion), Joe Lala (Conga), Joe Lala (Cymbals), Joe Lala (Maracas), Joe Lala (Tambourine), Joe Lala (Timbales), Joe Lala (Triangle), Joe Lala (?), Joe Lala (Shaker), Joe Lala (Cowbell), Joe Lala (Guido), Joe Lala (kabassa), Myrna Matthews (Vocals (Background)), Marti McCall (Vocals (Background)), Brett Murphey (Trumpet), Gene Orloff (String Contractor), Jerry Peel (French Horn), Karl Richardson (Producer), Karl Richardson (Engineer), Lee Ritenour (Guitar), Richard Tee (Piano), Richard Tee (Guitar (Electric)), Richard Tee (Piano (Electric)), Richard Tee (Clavinet), Richard Tee (Piano (Grand)), George Terry (Guitar), George Terry (Slide Guitar), George Terry (Gut String Guitar), Bob Carbone (Mastering), Myrna Mathews (Vocals (Background)), Whitt Sidner (Sax (Baritone)), Harold Cowart (Bass), Bernard Lupe (Drums), Denise Maynelli (Vocals (Background)), Linda Gerrity (Production Coordination), Sam Taylor (Assistant)
Guilty is an album released by Barbra Streisand in 1980. After the success of the Bee Gees in 1977/1978 there was some time to perform songwriting for other artists and Barbra Streisand asked Barry Gibb to write an album for her.[1] It became her best-selling album to date with sales (according to Streisand's official website) of over 20 million copies[2] and was produced by the Bee Gees' Barry Gibb and the Bee Gees' regular production team of Albhy Galuten and Karl Richardson.
The title track, a duet between Streisand and Gibb, won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal in 1981, and was a #3 Billboard Hot 100 hit. The first single "Woman in Love" became one of the most successful songs of Streisand's music career and spent a total of three weeks at the #1 position in the Billboard chart. "What Kind of Fool", another duet with Gibb, reached #10. The fourth single, "Promises", a more disco-oriented track released in May 1981, reached as high as #48. This song was also released on Streisand's first commercially-released 12" disco single as a solo artist following her 1979 duet with Donna Summer and two "promotional" 12" singles released for "Shake Me, Wake Me (When It's Over) in 1975, and "The Main Event/Fight" in 1979.
Streisand released a sequel to this album, Guilty Pleasures, in 2005, also produced and largely written by Gibb.
Guilty was re-released on DualDisc on 30 August 2005 in advance of its sequel project, Guilty Pleasures. The re-release featured remastered audio, new interviews with Streisand and Gibb, two live performances from 1986 and a photo gallery of the original photo session for Guilty by Mario Casilli.
References
^ Stichting Nederlandse Top 40, 500 nr.1 hits uit de Top 40, 9023009444 (Book in Dutch)
