So, in 1979 “The Rainbow Connection” was quite the popular tune. I remember hearing Kermit The Frog sing it on AM radio in-between The Spinners and The Doobie Brothers.
Others recorded the song back then, including Barbra Streisand. But she didn’t release it.
Now, as part of an album of unreleased material, Streisand is unleashing a duet of “Rainbow Connection” between herself and Kermit-1979 Kermit. Jim Henson’s Kermit. The real Kermit.
Except.
Well, here. Listen to this.
There’s a lot to unpack here.
First of all, I’m not sure why Kermit sounds like he’s three studios down the hall piping in on some janky 70’s intercom. I mean, if it’s an artistic choice it’s a crappy one.
Second, the frog’s vocals are suffering from near-fatal AutoTune abuse. For starters, I think Kermit’s key has been changed to match the star. Which makes him sound like somebody put a valium in his coffee.
If that was all, I could probably tolerate it. But there’s more. Since this is a duet, someone has to sing harmony. Streisand, one assumes, didn’t want to go into the studio and do anything since this was supposed to be a “unreleased material” album. So instead they autotuned Jim Henson to sing harmony. It’s really, really off-putting. Kermit is singing notes he never came within the same zip code of in the original recording. Now, it’s one thing if you get the current Kermit, Matt Vogel, to do that. But to take the original 1979 audio and do this stuff to it….no sir, I don’t like it.
I think part of the problem is that even though Barbra’s performance is, like Kermit’s, from 1979, they’ve produced this to sound “contemporary”-ish, so the harmony is filled with the kind of histrionics one expects of an “American Idol” contestant, not the dean of musical-variety-entertainment amphibians.
If you don’t hear what I’m hearing, listen to this. Then listen to the duet again. I apologize in advance for the second half of that request.