''Guilty'' is the twenty-second

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records c ...

by American singer

Barbra Streisand Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand (; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success in multiple fields of entertainment, and is among the few performers awar ...

released on September 23, 1980, by

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. It was founded on January 15, 1889, evolving from the A ...

. It was produced by

Barry Gibb Sir Barry Alan Crompton Gibb (born 1 September 1946) is a British musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. He rose to worldwide fame as a member of the Bee Gees, one of the most commercially successful groups in the history of popula ...

of the

Bee Gees The Bee Gees were a musical group formed in 1958 by brothers Barry Gibb, Barry, Robin Gibb, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio were especially successful in popular music in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later as prominent performers in ...

and his group's regular production team of Albhy Galuten and Karl Richardson. Streisand released a sequel to this album, '' Guilty Pleasures'', in 2005, also produced and largely written by Gibb. Both albums can also be considered partial- collaboration albums, since Streisand not only did two duets with Gibb, but Gibb could also be heard as a background vocalist in a few other songs solely by the artist herself, along with the fact that both singers were on the cover for both albums issued. The album sold over 12 million copies worldwide.

Background and production

After the huge success of the Bee Gees in the late 1970s, Gibb began to focus on writing and producing songs. Streisand approached Gibb to write songs for her new album—initially he was going to write or co-write only half the album, but the process went so well he ended up doing the entire album. All the songs were written expressly for Streisand except "The Love Inside", which Gibb wrote over a year before. Two songs ("Secrets" and "Carried Away") were written for the album but not used. Both appear on ''

The Guilty Demos ''The Guilty Demos'' is a demo version of the Barbra Streisand album '' Guilty'' by Barry Gibb. Not intended for release tapes of these had been circulating among fans before bootleg CDs started emerging. In October 2006 Gibb made these available ...

'', which features Gibb singing the songs he wrote for Streisand. The outtake songs would later be recorded and released by

Elaine Paige Elaine Jill Paige (née Bickerstaff; born 5 March 1948) is an English singer and actress, best known for her work in musical theatre. Raised in Barnet, Hertfordshire, Paige attended the Aida Foster Theatre School, making her first professiona ...

and

Olivia Newton-John Dame Olivia Newton-John (26 September 1948 – 8 August 2022) was a British-Australian singer, actress and activist. She was a four-time Grammy Awards, Grammy Award winner whose music career included 15 top-ten singles, including 5 number-one s ...

respectively.

Singles

The lead single " Woman in Love" became one of the most successful songs of Streisand's music career and spent a total of three weeks at number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. Two other singles were released, which also peaked within the top ten on Billboard Hot 100: 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, released as a second single for the album, and became an instant hit, peaking at number three, and " What Kind of Fool", another duet with Gibb, reached number ten for three weeks. The fourth single, "

Promises A promise is a transaction whereby a person makes a vow or the suggestion of a guarantee. Promise(s) may also refer to: Places * Promise, Oregon * Promise, South Dakota * Promise City, Iowa * Promise Land, Tennessee or Promise Film and TV * '' ...

", a more disco-oriented track released in May 1981, reached as high as number 48 in both the U.S. and Canada. It was a much bigger Adult Contemporary hit in both nations, reaching number eight and number five, respectively. This song was also released on Streisand's first commercially released 12" single as a solo artist following her 1979 duet with

Donna Summer LaDonna Adrian Gaines (December 31, 1948May 17, 2012), known professionally as Donna Summer, was an American singer and songwriter. She gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s and became known as the " Queen of Disco", while her musi ...

, " No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)", and two promotional singles released for " Shake Me, Wake Me (When It's Over)" in 1975, and " The Main Event/Fight" in 1979.

Critical reception

The album received favorable reviews from

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...

. William Ruhlmann from ''

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Music ...

'' gave the album four and a half stars out of five and wrote that the album is one of the singer's "least characteristic" album and that "it sounds like a post-''Saturday Night Fever'' Bee Gees album with vocals by Streisand."

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

gave the album a C+ and criticized Streisand's vocals ("most of the time she oversings") and that "when she dramatizes a soap like "Life Story," the mismatch is ridiculous".

Stephen Holden Stephen Holden (born July 18, 1941) is an American writer, poet, and music and film critic. Biography Holden earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Yale University in 1963. He worked as a photo editor, staff writer, and eventually be ...

from ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' gave the album a favorable review and wrote that "while Guilty is a romantic entertainment with no ambitions beyond making billions of hearts flutter and earning millions of dollars, it's also as beautifully crafted a piece of ear candy as I've heard in years". He also wrote that "Barbra Streisand and Barry Gibb's album may not be particularly nutritious, but it sure is tasty."

Commercial performance

''Guilty'' became Streisand's best-selling album to date internationally, with sales of 12 million copies worldwide as well as spawning several hit singles. According to the liner notes of Barbra's

retrospective A retrospective (from Latin ''retrospectare'', "look back"), generally, is a look back at events that took place, or works that were produced, in the past. As a noun, ''retrospective'' has specific meanings in medicine, software development, popu ...

box set A box set or (its original name) boxed set is a set of items (for example, a compilation of books, musical recordings, films or television programs) traditionally packaged in a box and offered for sale as a single unit. Music Artists and bands ...

: Just for the Record, the album also received a record certification in

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

, the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of th ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

Re-release

''Guilty'' was re-released on DualDisc on 30 August 2005 by

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

Legacy Recordings Legacy Recordings is an American record label that is a division of Sony Music. Formed in 1990 after Sony's acquisition of CBS Records, Legacy originally handled the archives of Sony Music-owned labels Columbia Records and Epic Records. In 2 ...

in advance of its sequel project, '' Guilty Pleasures'' and also commemorated its 25th anniversary. The re-release featured

remaster Remaster refers to changing the quality of the sound or of the image, or both, of previously created recordings, either audiophonic, cinematic, or videographic. The terms digital remastering and digitally remastered are also used. Mastering A ...

ed 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.

Track listing

Credits

Personnel *

– lead vocals * George Bitzer – grand piano (1, 4, 6, 7), electric piano (1), synthesizers (5, 7, 8) *

Richard Tee Richard Edward Tee (born Richard Edward Ten Ryk; November 24, 1943 – July 21, 1993) was an American pianist, studio musician, singer and arranger, who had several hundred studio credits and played on such notable hits as "In Your Eyes", " Sl ...

– electric piano (1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8), grand piano (2, 9),

clavinet The Clavinet is an electrically amplified clavichord invented by Ernst Zacharias and manufactured by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany, from 1964 to 1982. The instrument produces sounds by a rubber pad striking a point on a tens ...

(8) * Albhy Galuten – synthesizers (4-7), horn and string arrangements *

– acoustic guitar (1, 2, 3, 6, 7), backing vocals (1, 3, 4, 6, 7), lead vocals (1, 6), horn and string arrangements *

Cornell Dupree Cornell Luther Dupree (December 19, 1942 – May 8, 2011) was an American jazz and R&B guitarist. He worked at various times with Aretha Franklin, Bill Withers, Donny Hathaway, King Curtis and Steve Gadd, appeared on David Letterman,

– guitar (1, 8, 9) * George Terry – guitar (1, 5, 8, 9), slide guitar (3), gut-string guitar (9) * Pete Carr – guitar (2, 6, 9), acoustic guitar (6) *

Lee Ritenour Lee Mack Ritenour ( ; born January 11, 1952) is an American jazz guitarist who has been active since the late 1960s. Biography Ritenour was born on January 11, 1952, in Los Angeles, California, United States. At the age of eight he started play ...

– guitar (4, 7) * Harold Cowart – bass guitar (1-4, 6, 8, 9) *

David Hungate William David Hungate (born August 5, 1948) is an American bass guitarist noted as a member of the Los Angeles pop-rock band Toto from 1976 to 1982 and again from 2014 to 2015, and the son of judge William L. Hungate. Along with most of his T ...

– bass guitar (7) *

Steve Gadd Stephen Kendall Gadd (born April 9, 1945) is an American drummer, percussionist, and session musician. Gadd is one of the best-known and highly regarded session and studio drummers in the industry, recognized by his induction into the '' Modern ...

– drums (1-4, 6, 8, 9) * Bernard Lupe – drums (2, 6, 7) * Dennis Bryon – drums (7) * Joe Lala – percussion (1, 2, 4, 7, 9) * Jerry Peel – French horn (2, 3) * Whit Sidener – baritone saxophone (4, 9) * Dan Bonsanti – tenor saxophone (4, 9) * Neal Bonsanti – tenor saxophone (4, 9) * Peter Graves – trombone (4, 6, 7, 9), horn arrangements * Russ Freeland – trombone (6, 7) * Mike Katz – trombone (6, 7) * Ken Faulk – trumpet (4, 6, 7, 9) * Brett Murphy – trumpet (4, 6, 7, 9) * Gene Orloff – string contractor * Myrna Matthews – backing vocals (2, 5) * Denise Maynelli – backing vocals (2, 5) * Marti McCall – backing vocals (2, 5) Production * Charles Koppelman – executive producer * Barry Gibb – producer * Albhy Galuten – producer * Karl Richardson – producer, engineer, mixing *

Don Gehman Don Gehman is an American record producer, engineer, and executive, best known for his work with John Mellencamp and Hootie & the Blowfish. He was one of "the most successful producers of the 1980s and 1990s." As a sound engineer, he also helped ...

– engineer, mixing * Carl Beatty – assistant engineer * Michael Guerra – assistant engineer * Dennis Hertzendorfer – assistant engineer * Dale Peterson – assistant engineer * Sam Taylor – assistant engineer * Robert Shames – assistant engineer * Patrick Von Wiegandt – assistant engineer * Bob Carbone – mastering at A&M Mastering Studios (Hollywood, California). * Linda Garrity – production coordinator * Nan Leone – studio coordinator *

Tony Lane Anthony Samuel Lane (May 2, 1944 – January 1, 2016) began his career as an assistant to Alexey Brodovitch at Harper's Bazaar, and became an early art director for Rolling Stone magazine. He was the designer of iconic album covers for Simon & Garf ...

– visual coordinator * Mario Casilli – photography

Accolades

American Music Awards The American Music Awards (AMAs) is an annual American music awards show, generally held in the fall, created by Dick Clark in 1973 for ABC when the network's contract to air the Grammy Awards expired, and currently produced by Dick Clark Pro ...

Grammy Awards The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

National Association of Recording Merchandisers (

NARM NARM was the National Association of Recording Merchandisers, now renamed as the Music Business Association. NARM may also refer to: *North American Reciprocal Museums *North American Registry of Midwives, a certifying organization for midwives *N ...

)

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

References in popular culture

In October 2010, American DJ duo Duck Sauce released a single titled "

", the cover of which is modeled directly after ''Guilty''. Neither the song nor the artist are associated in any way with Barbra Streisand.

''The Guilty Demos''

''The Guilty Demos'' is a demo version of the album by Barry Gibb. Not intended for release tapes of these had been circulating among fans before bootleg CDs started emerging. In October 2006 Gibb made these available through

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mu ...

. Recorded in 1979 all of the songs were written that same year except "The Love Inside" which was written in 1978 during work on '' Spirits Having Flown''. All songs feature Barry Gibb's falsetto voice, except "What Kind of Fool" where he used his natural voice. The songs "Carried Away" and "Secrets" were not used by Streisand but instead recorded by

with only "Secrets" being issued on her 1981 self-titled album. Olivia Newton-John recorded and released "Carried Away" on her ''

Physical Physical may refer to: * Physical examination, a regular overall check-up with a doctor * ''Physical'' (Olivia Newton-John album), 1981 ** "Physical" (Olivia Newton-John song) * ''Physical'' (Gabe Gurnsey album) * "Physical" (Alcazar song) (2004) * ...

'' album, also in 1981. The demo version of "Never Give Up" remains unreleased.

Track listing

Personnel

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

* Albhy Galuten -

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

, drum machine * Blue Weaver -

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Mu ...

References

External links

The Barbra Streisand Music Guide – Guilty
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20060627062431/http://www.columbia.edu/~brennan/beegees/80.guilty.html Gibb Songs: Guilty (1980) {{Authority control Album infoboxes lacking a cover Barbra Streisand albums 1980 albums Columbia Records albums Albums arranged by Barry Gibb Albums produced by Barry Gibb Soft rock albums by American artists

Background and production

Singles

Critical reception

Commercial performance

Re-release

Track listing

Credits

Accolades

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

References in popular culture

''The Guilty Demos''

Track listing

Personnel

See also

References

External links