RECORD REVIEWS

Barbra Streisand

Album: “Walls”

Grade: C

It’s no surprise that fervent Hillary Clinton supporter and longtime Democratic Party fundraiser Barbra Streisand doesn’t think much of Donald Trump. The surprise is that the legendary singer chose to devote much of her new album, “Walls,” to a series of laments about the U.S. president’s policies.

Streisand never mentions the president by name, but she doesn’t have to. Opening track “What’s on My Mind” speaks of her dashed hopes in the current era and asks, “How did we come to this divide?” The next one, “Don’t Lie to Me,” is even more direct, beginning with, “Why can’t you just tell me the truth? Hard to believe the things you say.”

The title track complains about the divisive nature of building walls – a familiar Trump campaign promise – and even picks up Clinton’s campaign theme that it is better to build bridges instead.

As a counterpoint to this gloom, she combines John Lennon’s wistful “Imagine” with the Louis Armstrong classic “What a Wonderful World” and also covers “What the World Needs Now” in a paean to the redemptive power of love.

But those more hopeful tunes don’t really save this offering from its lugubrious tone. Streisand’s vocal range and control are still extraordinary, but the lyrics often fall flat, as in “Lady Liberty,” which calls for the Statue of Liberty to “show us how to stand and feel a little prouder.”

Her magnificent voice, at times quivering with deeply felt emotion, may not be the perfect instrument for expressing pointed political anger, and the soft string accompaniment becomes a bit predictable.

–Gregory Katz, Associated Press

Rosanne Cash

Album: “She Remembers Everything”

Grade: B

Rosanne Cash brings in a fair share of collaborators on her latest album, both for songwriting and singing. T Bone Burnett, Elvis Costello, Kris Kristofferson, Sam Phillips, Lera Lynn and Colin Meloy of the Decemberists all make their presence felt.

There’s no mistaking whose show it is. “She Remembers Everything” is the sort of lovely, literate work we’ve come to expect from Cash for more than 30 years. Her past three albums have largely looked back, at musical and family history, and this is a return to a more personal songwriting style.

The project was bicoastal for Cash, who recorded half at home in New York with husband John Leventhal, her usual producer, and half in Oregon with producer Tucker Martine. Leventhal’s production can often seem too mannered, so a listener appreciates the kick of someone new. Truth is, there’s more consistency than one would expect with a divided creative process.

In fact, the best song here (”Not Many Miles to Go”), produced by Martine, is a love song to Leventhal. As the title suggests, it’s about a couple that knows it has more days behind them than ahead. Yet it’s celebratory, not morbid, and rocks hard.

–David Bauder, Associated Press

Marianne Faithful

Album: “Negative Capability”

Grade: A

Marianne Faithfull is a great musical survivor. She went from pure-voiced chanteuse of “As Tears Go By” to emblem of 1960s drug excess before re-emerging in 1979 with “Broken English,” a soul-baring blast of an album that still packs a punch.

Since then, Faithfull has matured into a diva of melancholy, her expressive voice roughened and deepened by time and life. “Negative Capability,” the 71-year-old singer’s 21st album, is a moving, quietly majestic collection of songs dwelling on aging, pain, loss and loneliness – hardly the usual rock ’ n’ roll fare.

–Jill Lawless, Associated Press