Customer Reviews

Wet

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I like the concept, the album cover and all the love ballads included. The song "Wet" has some of her best word play: playful, poetic and intelligent. At the point where her voice soars you can't help but get goose bumps. I originally purchased the album for "Niagra" and "Kiss Me In Rain" (two of her best performances with inviting lyrics). I wish she would do more Carole Bayer Sager material after hearing "Niagra". But to my surprise the two songs that really caught my attention were "On Rainy Afternoons" and "After The Rain". "On Rainy Afternoons" has become my favorite Streisand song. The lyrics, the voice, the arrangements entangle me into a painful and wonderful past romance. I find no escape when I'm listening to this piece. "After The Rain" offers a wonderful counterbalance to the previous song: once again romance has wings and wonderment. These are two of the Bergman's best efforts. "Come Rain or Come Shine" is a nice ballad but the other five are truly five of Streisand's very best. "Splish Splash", "I Ain't Gonna Cry Tonight" and "No More Tears" should have been on a different collection. This would have been a perfect album had she only included love ballads. Still, I give this album five stars because of the incredible love ballads.

As some other readers have mentioned, recording "Splish-splash" may have been a mistake, but the rest of the album is so great, you'll easily forgive that one poor song. From the opening "Wet" to the closing "Kiss Me In the Rain," each of the ballads are performed with the skill and class that we have come to expect from Streisand. And be sure to catch her #1 duet with Donna Summer "No More Tears," as well as her jazzy take on "Come Rain Or Come Shine." Not to be missed!

Ok, this may not live down as a PEOPLE or THE WAY WE WERE, but it does contain some of the best material Barbra has ever recorded, however, there is one exception. The album begins with two beautiful ballads, "Wet" and "Come Rain or Come Shine", but the current is interupted with "Splish Splash", which honestly dosen't belong on this album, not any other. However, the material on this album is so fantastic, that that one flaw is easily looked over. Beautiful ballads like "On Rainy Afternoons", "Niagra", and "After the Rain" are true Streisand treasures. Up-tempo numbers, "Enough is Enough" and "I Ain't Gonna Cry Tonight" are very enjoyable to listen to. The highlight of this entire album is the closing track, "Kiss Me in the Rain". The same passion and fervor delivered on "The Way We Were", "A Piece of Sky" and "On holy Ground" is delivered in this beautiful ballad.

Wet is a somewhat underrated Barbra Streisand album with the theme of water in all of the songs. It's actually a fine concept album that stands the test of time; people still buy this on CD today and that's grand. Barbra is in excellent form here; her voice is as clear as a bell and she can hit any note she desires. The duet she performs with Donna Summer, "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)," made the airwaves sizzle back when it was originally released and it was played in clubs everywhere! In addition, the quality of the sound is excellent and the artwork incorporates the artwork from the original record album release.

The album starts with the title song, "Wet." Barbra sings this passionately and it comes off sounding great. She handles complex tempo and key changes like the pro she always is! "Come Rain or Come Shine" has a 70's flavor to the arrangement and it all holds its own very well. Barbra never skips a beat and I love it! "Splish Splash" uses the guitars to great advantage and I would like to think that Bobby Darin would have liked this version of this number. True, "Splish Splash" may not be the strongest number on the album but it is done very, very well.

"On Rainy Afternoons" is another tune that gets a most sensitive treatment from Barbra Streisand and she delivers it faultlessly. The arrangement for the piano enhances the natural beauty of this ballad, too. "After the Rain" has a similar feel to "On Rainy Afternoons;" and so I can see why some people would say that perhaps the very aggressive number "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)" with Donna Summer doesn't quite fit in. I, however, think it works well not just independently but also within the other songs on this CD; there's nothing wrong with occasionally changing gears and Barbra does this in style. Donna Summer is very good as well.

"Niagara" is a beautiful ballad that Barbra performs without a flaw; and the music fits in perfectly with her vocals. Wisely, however, the musicians never even try to steal the show from Streisand; she remains squarely front and center which is right where she belongs! "I Ain't Gonna Cry Tonight" is energetic and dynamic; I really like this number. The CD ends very well with Barbra Streisand performing "Kiss Me in the Rain;" this leaves me wanting to push the reply button on my CD player to hear the entire album all over again--and I often do just that!

Wet is an amazing Barbra Streisand album and it's clearly a must-have for her fans. It also has a terrific `70s flavor to it that I enjoy so much; and people who like concept albums from the world's greatest entertainers like Streisand would do well to get this for their collections.

Thank God for CDs. I give this work a rating of 5 due to the fact that I am able to delete both
"Splish Splash", and "I Ain't Gonna Cry Tonight"(Hey! An artist of Streisand's caliber, and the length of her career and high quality of her recorded output...well, everyone is entitled to a bad decision and a lousy song selection once in awhile!), and concentrate on the beautiful ballads and the simply stunning performances she delivers with them. As for the infamous duet, "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)", I love it....No Discussion Necessary. Pay particular attention to the lovely "On Rainy Afternoons". Streisand's voice was at its apex during this time and this song, along with the other ballads contained here, prove, once again, that she has no equal in the field of living Popular vocalists.

Wet is a very underrated album of Ms. Streisand's. There are very strong ballads throughout but the album is almost ruined by the "Splish Splash" cut that sounds like it's from another album (a bad one). It really jolts you out of the beautiful spell of the other ballads. Still, it's quite a wonderful album.

Barbra has wowed us all with her performances for years now. "Wet" is possibly one of her best albums to date. She has a voice and a style that is timeless. Every song in this collection is awsome. The only exception, I would say, would be "Splish Splash". The song doesn't fit her voice or style. No one could fault this album just for the one song,though. The other songs, with the exception of the hot duet with Donna Summer, Enough Is Enough, are beautiful ballads that Ms Streisand performs stunningly. My personal high points of the Cd are "Come Rain Or Come Shine" and "Niagara".

Wet is one of Barbra's many great albums, this one was released in 1979, hot off the heels of her Star is Born soundtrack. She was having hit after hit and its no surprise this album did as good as it did. The songs are remarkable. The album has an aquatic theme throughout, as each song encorporates water themes into each song. The title track is a really tender ballad, quite beautiful. On Rainy Afternoons and After The Rain are also beautiful songs you will love. The highlight though is the album closer, Kiss Me In The Rain, one of her best songs. No More Tears (Enough is Enough) is also on here, the duet with Donna Summer which was a huge hit. This is a must for Barbra fans.

From the opening lyrics of the album's title cut, Barbra sings "Wet is rain, rain is clean and new" to the closing lyrics of the closing track "Kiss Me In The Rain," Barbra sings "I don't even mind if I get wet," and all of the songs in between, Barbra clearly has her first aquatic-themed album. Is this an unusual theme? Yes. Most artists have themed albums such as songbooks made famous by other artists, or a mix of ethnic material that other singers have made so popular in the past, but not our Barbra. Barbra stands alone. Her unique voice has found a unique theme and the results are saturated with her glorious voice.

When this album arrived in the fall of 1979, Barbra already had so many fine accomplishments; it's no wonder that her vocal was so confident. She was still riding high on the success of her newly found home, radio, and her singles, which hardly moved in the previous decade, were now flying off the shelves and becoming favorites of a new audience - teenagers! From the time she delivered her first album 16 years prior, she was THE premier female vocalist.

"Wet" is an interesting mix of songs that range from lush ballads, such as the aforementioned title cut which Streisand co-wrote, to pop to rock and disco. This album covered each musical genre flawlessly. Not just because of Streisand's impeccable voice, but because the song choices and arrangements were top-notch.

Following "Wet," Barbra took on the Harold Arlen-Johnny Mercer standard "Come Rain Or Come Shine" with a jazz-oriented arrangement and an electric guitar, and brought the gorgeous ballad that was written decades before and gave it a sound that was "clean and new." The arrangement and vocal is one of the best versions of this song I have ever heard. It is still my favorite, and this song has been covered by the best. Judy, Frank and Ella's are the most familiar.

Other lush ballads include "On Rainy Afternoons" and "After The Rain" both written by the ever-present Bergmans, with Lalo Schifrin and Michel Legrand composing the music on each of the songs, respectively. The placing of the two songs back-to-back is also a stroke of genius, the two songs act as companion pieces to close out side 1 of the album. The piano on "On Rainy Afternoons" is reminiscent of the piano solo of "Nadia's Theme" that was written a few years before and adds the delicate quality to Barbra's polished delivery.

My favorite ballad on the album, hands-down, is the Marvin Hamlisch, Carol Bayer-Sager, Bruce Roberts collaboration of "Niagara." This song has Streisand in her most dramatic, yearning for a love that is faltering all too fast. Streisand sings of her disdain of the present and longs for the time the couple was care-free and beautiful and "crazy" living out their fantasies on a vacation in Niagara Falls. She longs to be "crazy" again. The sax solo by veteran Tom Scott is magic and adds fire and emotion to compliment Streisand's outstanding vocal.

For a nice balance to the ballads, the Bobby Darin pop rocker "Splish Splash" was added to the roster with additional lyrics by Streisand herself. The song and its choice was the only song on the album that the critics found flaws with. But then again, they have always found flaws when Barbra attempted anything rock-oriented. I have to disagree with the critics on this. The arrangement of this song by David Foster was meant to be delivered as a party song, serving up nothing but fun, and fun is what we got. Tom Scott and his sax are key to giving this song that extra oomph. How many rock songs can you name where you can understand all of the lyrics? Even Streisand's delivery is perfection. Some say she went overboard with a minute or so of uncontrollable laughter that close out the song. I say she added the spirit in which the song was intended. "It's gettin' hot." Party on!

The big single release of the album was the highly-touted duet with none other than the queen of disco herself, Donna Summer. Barbra had to actually be talked into including this jewel on the album because it originally didn't contain lyrics that included water. The original title of this song by Paul (Last Dance, The Main Event) Jabara and Bruce Roberts was "Enough Is Enough." The trio went back and within days returned with a gorgeous opening ballad that contained the lyrics "It's raining, it's pouring" and throughout the most demanding disco beat, Streisand sang, and adapted "No More Tears" as the dueling divas belted their lousy lovers out the door and declared their state of independence. Thus, the name of the song was renamed "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)" and was MORE than good enough to be included on the album. It was so good, the 8 minute plus version, and not the edit, was included on the album. When the album was first delivered to retail, it included a sticker of the famous Francesco Scavullo photo of Barbra and Donna "Featuring the hit single" slapped right on the cover. No doubt, Barbra had a successful foray into disco ("The Main Event/Fight") just a few months prior, but this duet just exploded and went to Number 1 within weeks of its release. It was also the first "12" club single to reach platinum status. Streisand, being a woman of "firsts" added this to her long list.

The album's two closing numbers are a fluffy disco-tinged number "I Ain't Gonna Cry Tonight" and the second single to be released, the ballad "Kiss Me In The Rain." While I found the lyrics to be sentimental and sometimes a bit silly on "Kiss Me In The Rain," Streisand's refined opening to her powerhouse vocal and back to graceful closing made the song work. How many times have you heard people say, she could sing the phonebook and make it important? That was my feeling, more or less, with the final track.

All in all, "Wet" is one of the finest pop albums in Barbra Streisand's catalogue. The orchestrations are lush, the songs are fun, and the vocal is superb. Were you expecting anything less from the world's greatest pop singer? "Wet" still stands as one of my all-time favorite Streisand recordings. This is an album for all kinds of weather, "Rain or Shine..."

The water theme of this album was an unfortunate choice; it seems Streisand was at a loss for songs appropriate to her range and simply chose some based on their titles alone. If you doubt that, try and endure repeated listenings of 'Splish-Splash' and 'I Ain't Gonna Cry Tonight'. Still the lovely ballads 'Wet', 'After The Rain', 'On Rainy Afternoons' and 'Kiss Me in the Rain' feature some of her most delicate, exquisitely phrased vocals and spotlight the matchless voice at the height of its purity. Worth purchasing, but only after 'Stoney End', 'Superman', and 'Barbra Joan Streisand', her quintessential 1970s recordings.