The Barbra Streisand Album

Did you ever hear Helen Morgan sing? Were you ever at the theatre when Fanny Brice clowned in her classic comedic way-- or when Beatrice Lillie poked fun at all sham and pomp? Have you ever heard our top vocalists "belt," "whisper" or sing with that steady and urgent beat behind them? Have you ever seen a painting by Modigliani? If you have, do not think the above has been ballooned out of proportion. I advise you to watch Barbra Streisand's career. This young lady (a mere twenty) has a stunning future. Keep listening, keep watching. And please remember, I told you so... - Harold Arlen

This album introduced to the rest of the world what Broadway already knew, this young lady was going to be a huge star. Monumental ego aside, this debut album displays Barbra's amazing ability to live in the lines of a song, to act out the lyric, to bring the meaning to the surface. Barbra's searing take of Julie London's "Cry Me A River" is a terrific opener and Truman Capote's "A Sleepin' Bee" a perfect closer. She tackles a big band arrangement on "My Honey's Loving Arms" quite effortlessly and instructs the band at final coda in a yiddish accent "One more time" before repeating the first verse. "Happy Days Are Here Again" makes it's first recorded appearance here, the more popular live take featuring a bit more of a mature vocal would find a home on Barbra's "Greatest Hits" lp at the end of her first decade. The almost obligatory Cole Porter song is not one of his most popular, Barbra chose the comic "Come To The Supermarket (In Old Peking)" with it's reference to "poodle soup" no doubt to display her kooky sense of humor. Like most of her 1960's contemporaries Barbra released a collection of standards and Broadway show tunes and this repertoire would dominate her releases, soundtracks notwithstanding, for the first decade of her career. The difference with Barbra and the rest is Barbra re-invented most of the standards she tackles, her version of "When The Sun Comes Out," featured on her second album, is considered the definitive. This album was released in 1963 and was remastered along with other landmark albums in 1993.

For anyone who has fallen in love for the first time, this album did it for me. A taste of Honey was ours alone.

Her first. The best. If you like her, get this. If you don't like her, you will when you hear ths!