A literary and musical celebration (and recognition) of Barbra!
Notable books on Barbra’s artistry
Barbra Streisand is a frequent subject of biographers whose intentions, sources, and execution are of varying quality. Those interested in knowing more about her might be better served by reviewing published efforts to assess her career as an artist which often reference details of her life but are far more interested in her art than her personal life.
Barbra Streisand has been a major public figure for over 60 years. The release of her 2023 memoir (reviewed in the Book review blog) makes it an opportune time to reflect on her unique career as an actress, vocalist, director, producer, activist, and philanthropist.
The Musical Artist
The two best assessments of Streisand’s musical career stem from a musicologist and a notable archivist of Streisand’s career, respectively.
The Barbra Streisand Companion: A Guide to Her Vocal Style and Repertoire (Greenwood Press, 2000)
By Linda Pohly
Professor Linda Pohly’s The Barbra Streisand Companion: A Guide to Her Vocal Style and Repertoire is the first academic study of Streisand’s recordings. After outlining basic biographical details and the overall arc of Streisand’s career through 1999, the Pohly explores her recordings in chronological order. Well-organized and highly readable it is a clear-eyed album-by-album, song-by-song assessment of the what defines and distinguishes the vocalist. Though its employs musical terms it is digestible for novices. Additionally, Pohly integrates insights from conductor David Shire, who worked with Streisand on Broadway and on several recordings. As a bonus it also features rare photos from Anthony Andrich of Barbrabilia Magazine. The only limitation is that it ends with her recordings through 1999. Fortunately, other than natural declines in her vocal range, Streisand’s core interpretive approach endures so Pohly’s study remains relevant.
Barbra Streisand: The Music, The Albums, The Singles (Fayetteville Mafia Press, 2023)
By Matt Howe
Howe, who has maintained the Barbra Streisand Archives website for decades, has written a comprehensive coffee table style overview of Streisand’s recordings spanning from her professional debut on 1962’s I Can Get it for You Wholesale cast album to her 2018 studio album Walls. Additionally, it includes 2021’s Release Me 2 compilation of rarities and the 2022 reissue of the historical album Live at the Bon Soir, which was originally intended as her debut but was supplanted by a studio album. Howe is a devoted and passionate fan who organizes the book by decades. Each entry is displayed catalog style featuring a reproduction of the album cover, the track listing, recording information, and details about the album’s recording accompanied by his personal impressions of the recording. Signature songs and collaborations are also highlighted within individual chapters. To mix up the reading experience the book features a special section on her various “hits” collections, movie scores and guest performances on other artists’ albums, as well as a discography. The text is surrounded by a wide range of high-resolution color photos. While Howe’s book lacks the critical distance of a more formal study it fulfills its goal to offer readers an inside scoop on Streisand’s music from a highly knowledgeable source.
Streisand the singing actress
Two worthwhile ways to learn more about Streisand are to engage with how cultural critics view her musical and dramatic talents.
On Streisand: An Opinionated Guide (Oxford University Press, 2019)
By Ethan Mordden
Mordden is a well-regarded scholar of popular culture who balances critical authority with a sense of play in his critical guide to Streisand’s career. Whether ruminating about Streisand’s career aspirations or recounting her creative process his footnotes, asides, and witticisms blend gossip and insider knowledge seamlessly. Mordden fulfills the Opinionated title articulating about the whats and whys of Streisand’s career with an intimacy beyond a fan or an armchair critic. Armed with formidable knowledge of musical theatre history, the television and film industry, and popular music he divides the book into section on Streisand’s early persona, her short stint on theatre, and her television specials and concerts. These lay the foundation for tour-de-force analyses of her recordings and film career. The result is actually more freewheeling and substantive than its 140 pages would suggest.
The Importance of Being Barbra (Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press, 2006)
By Tom Santopietro
An author focused on popular American cultural figures, like Doris Day and Frank Sinatra, and a seasoned Broadway manager, Santopietro’s The Importance of Being Barbra is a personal, somewhat idiosyncratic assessment of Streisand’s career from the early 1960s through the early 2000s. Santopietro organizes the book by genre devoting individual chapters to Streisand’s recordings, films, television specials, concerts, theater, and politics, and concluding with attention to her more recent activities up to that point including her 2004 performance in Ben Stiller’s Meet the Fockers and her 2005 collaboration with Barry Gibb, Guilty Pleasures. The book ends with the author’s “Career Scorecard” of her various creative endeavors from her cast albums to select television appearances to her albums. Santopietro mixes biographical details of her life and career with critical analysis very succinctly. He is clearly a knowledgeable fan who has paid close attention to her works and is interested in Streisand as a notable artist not just a celebrity. Unlike a lot of fans who have written about Streisand, however, he is unafraid to offer both praise and criticism with candor.
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Streisand on Record: A listening guide (1963-2023)
Barbra Streisand’s solo discography spans six decades including studio sets, live albums, soundtracks, and compilations. Fortunately, several key recordings can help both the newcomer and the seasoned fan access her essence as a vocal artist.
The Barbra Streisand Album (1963)
Prior to her studio debut Streisand had honed her unorthodox vocal approach, retro visual image, and quirky persona in New York’s nightclub circuit. Streisand’s debut is a classic for her brilliant interpretations of “Happy Days Are Here Again” and “Cry Me A River.” She transforms “Happy” from a seemingly giddy anthem to a melancholic ballad overflowing with emotion. Similarly, she tears into “Cry Me A River” reinventing it from a bittersweet lament to a confrontation. These are surrounded by a mix of novelties (“Who’s Afraid of the Big bad Wolf?”) and tender showtunes (“A Sleepin’ Bee”). Streisand bridged the gap between pre-rock material and a more contemporary post-rock approach to interpretive singing.
Side Note #1: Her debut introduced her core approach and she refined her style over time toning down the dramatics while maintaining an incisive approach to interpretation. If you want to hear Streisand singing showtunes and standard ballads with orchestral accompaniment The Second Barbra Streisand Album (1963), The Third Album (1964), and People (1964) are all excellent sets. 2022’s Live at the Bon Soir a live album recorded in 1962 was supposed to be her debut; the remastered reissue is a brilliant showcase for a fresh young talent.
Stoney End (1971)
After a seven-year string of studio albums, concept albums, soundtracks, and a compilation Streisand pivoted from the standards repertoire toward more contemporary singer-songwriter material on Stoney End. Though she has a natural tendency to dramatize her material she scales down and adapts well to the melodic and essence of songs by Carole King, Gordon Lightfoot, Joni Mitchell, Randy Newman, and Laura Nyro. It’s refreshing hearing Streisand in a different setting.
Side Note #2: 2012’s Release Me and 2019’s Release Me 2 are both worhtwhile compilations featuring unreleased material largely from the late 1960s-early 1970s, and beyond, that fans of this era will enjoy.
The Way We Were (1974)
One of the better blends of her love of standards and her newfound embrace of more contemporary songs. Highlights include the best-known version of the classic film theme, very satisfying versions of songs by Carole King, Paul Simon, and Stevie Wonder, and the definitive version of the Alan and Marilyn Bergman and Michel Legrand ballad “What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?”
Lazy Afternoon (1975)
A delightfully eclectic set co-produced by singer-songwriter Rupert Holmes and Jeffrey Lesser. Streisand radiates bliss on the title track, a classic standard, delivers a sultry rendition of the big band jazz tune “Moanin’ Low,” dives into proto disco on “Shake Me, Wake Me,” and showcases vocal and songwriting prowess on the original “By the Way.” She also interprets various Holmes originals with aplomb. Less commercial than some of her other projects it is one of her best.
Guilty (1980)
After flirting with disco on various singles and tracks Streisand’s pairing with Barry Gibb, and his regular production team, resulted in the sleek, silky, and disco-inflected Guilty. Unified by Gibbs’s plush production style and a nice range of ballads and mid-tempo songs, plus two duets with Gibb, it is her best straight up pop album. Songs like “Woman in Love,” “Promises” and “Make it Like a Memory” give her plenty of room to stretch out in this luscious setting.
The Broadway Album (1985)
Streisand triumphed in two Broadway shows in the 1960s but hadn’t concentrated on recording a theatrical repertoire in decades. On The Broadway Album she returns to her “roots” in a contemporary way. She interprets Sondheim (Westside Story, Sunday in the Park with George, A Little Night Music, Company, Sweeney Todd) Showboat, The King and I and other classics, deftly modernizing classics with contemporary production touches especially the dazzling opener “Putting it Together” and the sparkling closer “Somewhere.”
Back to Broadway (1993)
Streisand went Back to Broadway in 1993 interpreting songs from popular musicals (Westside Story, Guys and Dolls, Sunday in the Park with George, Phantom of Opera, Into the Woods) with a few selections from obscure gems (Anyone Can Whistle), and the then fresh show Sunset Boulevard. Though less stunning than Broadway it is a fine collection and her first set to debut at number one which illustrated her continued status as an icon and star interpreter.
Essential Barbra Streisand (2002)
An abundance of single-disc Streisand compilations exist including a set chronicling her 1960s hits (Greatest Hits), her 1970s hits (Greatest Hits Volume 2), and several retreads mixing 1970sand 1980s hits (Memories and Greatest Hits….and More). The best overall compromise is 2002’s Essential which spans from her first album to a set of recordings from the early 2000s. Since her “hit” phase had slowed by the mid-1990s this is a great introduction to her first 40 years, her most commercial period. The rest of her career is best explored by selecting albums of interest.
Love is the Answer (Deluxe Edition) (2009)
After years of releasing ambitious concept albums (The Movie Album), adult contemporary sets (Guilty Pleasures) and concert sets (Timeless, Live in Concert 2006) Barbra Streisand returned to her specialty: interpreting classic popular songs on the impressively understated and affecting Love is the Answer. Rather than attempting to record the singer in a “jazzy” style producer Diana Krall and Tommy LiPuma complement her natural gifts through recording the album’s ballads in a quartet and adapting these performances to strings. This approach seems to have encouraged a more relaxed and intimate environment for the vocalist who can easily lapse into excess. The result is a double-disc (the Deluxe Edition) featuring orchestral and quartet performances that represent some of Streisand’s finest interpretations.
No matter how frequently listeners have heard songs like “Here’s That Rainy Day,” “Smoke gets in Your Eyes,” or “Some Other Time” Streisand inevitably makes you listen to them. Beyond the enduringly lovely texture of her voice are choices in phrasing, emphasis and inflection that render these songs as unique vehicles for her neo-classical romanticism. She illuminates the wonderment of the opener “In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning” transforming it from a torch song to a yearning yet hope-filled cry for a lover to return. She treats “Make Someone Happy” (whose lyric is the source of the album’s title) as an intimate philosophy. Effort has also been made to place her voice in fresh settings such as the gentle samba rhythm of “Gentle Rain” and the Gallic tonality of “If You Go Away.” Elsewhere careful pacing and a gift for subtle melodic embellishment imbues “Where Do You Start” and “Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most” with new life. The sparseness of the arrangements, the consistent quality of material and Streisand’s nuanced performances make this one of the pinnacles of a formidable recording career.
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For a taste of her career please check out this playlist (“Babs 50”) of my 50 favorite recordings spanning her career: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5eKdTWnu8BqoCCEZGU0mBo?si=e1b93dd1ffc64338
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