The Barbra Streisand Album

1963 studio album by Barbra Streisand

The Barbra Streisand Album

Studio album by

Barbra Streisand

Released| February 25, 1963
Recorded| January 23–25, 1963
Studio| Columbia 7th Ave, New York City
Genre| Classic pop
Length| 32:52
Label| Columbia
Producer| Mike Berniker
Barbra Streisand chronology
|  | The Barbra Streisand Album
(1963)  | The Second Barbra Streisand Album
(1963)

|
|

Singles from  The Barbra Streisand Album

1. "Happy Days Are Here Again"
Released: November 1962

The Barbra Streisand Album is the debut album by American singer Barbra Streisand, released February 25, 1963, on Columbia Records, catalogue CL 2007 in mono and CS 8807 in stereo. It peaked at number 9 on the Billboard Top LPs, and has been certified a gold album by the RIAA. By 1966, the album had sold over one million copies worldwide.

The album was nominated for five Grammys at the 1963 Grammy Awards and won Album of the Year and Best Female Vocal Performance.[1] The album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 2006.[2]

## Background

[edit]

Columbia label president Goddard Lieberson initially resisted signing Streisand to a contract, finding her style too close to the cabaret singers he disliked and too far from the understated approach of Jo Stafford or Rosemary Clooney, who recorded for the label in the 1950s.[3] Lieberson relented and agreed to sign her. Nearly three decades later Streisand said:

> The most important thing about that first contract – actually, the thing we held out for – was a unique clause giving me the right to choose my own material. It was the only thing I really cared about. I still received lots of pressure from the label to include some pop hits on my first album, but I held out for the songs that really meant something to me.[4][5]

Streisand exercised her creative control and chose the straightforward album title, rejecting Columbia's choice of Sweet and Saucy Streisand.[6] Streisand said, "'What is the truth of it? It's the Barbra Streisand album.' If you saw me on TV, you could just go [to the record shop] and ask for the Barbra Streisand album. It's common sense."[5] Despite Lieberson's initial reservations, Streisand went on to become one of Columbia's most enduring artists.

The album was originally conceived as a live recording, since Streisand had made a name for herself performing at New York City nightclubs such as the Bon Soir and the Blue Angel. Her producer Mike Berniker brought a crew to the Bon Soir to record Streisand accompanied by the nightclub's house musicians and her pianist, Peter Daniels.[7] The live recordings were shelved in favor of studio recordings, although the photograph for the album cover was taken during the Bon Soir session.[citation needed] Some material from the Bon Soir sets would later appear on Streisand's Just for the Record... retrospective box set in 1991; and, coinciding with the sixtieth anniversary of those sessions, the full recordings were released as Live at the Bon Soir in 2022.[8]

## Recording

[edit]

Recording studio sessions took place January 23–25, 1963, at Columbia's Studio A in New York City with a budget of $18,000. Material was mostly chosen from Broadway standards, many of which were fairly obscure.[7] "I'll Tell the Man in the Street" was originally performed by Dennis King in the 1938 production of I Married An Angel, and "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?" was taken from the 1933 Disney cartoon Three Little Pigs. Streisand's rendition of the Disney song began with the quoting of the first 11 notes from the "Cat Theme" from Russian composer Serge Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf", which did result in a lawsuit against Columbia Records, from Prokofiev's estates, which was settled out of court, with Prokofiev's widow receiving half of the proceeds for the unapproved quote. The Disney song ended on a Spike Jones style of rhythm and slide whistles, heard at the end of the track, before the song's fade. Not one of Cole Porter's well-known numbers, "Come to the Supermarket (in Old Peking)" appeared in a 1958 television special with music by Cole Porter, while "A Sleepin' Bee" came from the 1954 musical House of Flowers.

"Soon It's Gonna Rain" and "Much More" were both introduced in the 1960 off-Broadway musical The Fantasticks, and the 1930 film Chasing Rainbows provided "Happy Days Are Here Again". "Cry Me A River" was a signature song of singer Julie London, while "A Taste of Honey" was coincidentally recorded less than three weeks later by the Beatles for their 1963 debut album, Please Please Me.

"Happy Days Are Here Again" was released as Columbia single 42631 with "When the Sun Comes Out" on the b-side, but it did not chart.[9] Notwithstanding, at the 1964 Grammy Awards, The Barbra Streisand Album won awards in the categories of Album of the Year, Best Female Vocal Performance, and Best Album Cover - Other Than Classical, the latter presented to art director John Berg.[10]

The only song recorded but not included on this album was "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered which Streisand and Mike Berniker recorded on two separate dates (including a later session on January 29). The song was included instead on Streisand's The Third Album using a Peter Daniels arrangement.[11]

Streisand chose Century Expanded Italic, the typeface for the album sleeve of her debut album, which would also be used on 19 other Streisand album covers.[11]

The album made its digital debut on CD in 1987 and was re-released in a remastered CD edition on October 19, 1993.

## Critical reception

[edit]

Professional ratingsReview scores

Source| Rating
AllMusic| [12]

AllMusic gave the album a retrospective five (out of five) stars, and called it "an essential recording in the field of pop vocals because it redefines that genre in contemporary terms," and "the first thing that strikes you listening to it, is that great voice. And it isn't just the sheer quality of the voice, its purity and its strength throughout its register, it's also the mastery of vocal effects that produce dramatic readings of the lyrics -- each song is like a one-act musical."

## Track listing

[edit]

Side oneNo.| Title| Writer(s)| Length

|
|
|

1.| "Cry Me a River"| Arthur Hamilton| 3:37
2.| "My Honey's Lovin' Arms"|

* Joseph Meyer
* Harry Ruby

| 2:14
3.| "I'll Tell the Man in the Street"|

* Lorenz Hart
* Richard Rodgers

| 3:09
4.| "A Taste of Honey"|

* Ric Marlow
* Bobby Scott

| 2:51
5.| "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?"|

* Frank Churchill
* Ann Ronell

| 2:35
6.| "Soon It's Gonna Rain"|

* Tom Jones
* Harvey Schmidt

| 3:44

Side twoNo.| Title| Writer(s)| Length

|
|
|

1.| "Happy Days Are Here Again"|

* Milton Ager
* Jack Yellen

| 3:04
2.| "Keepin' Out of Mischief Now"|

* Andy Razaf
* Thomas Waller

| 2:11
3.| "Much More"|

* Tom Jones
* Harvey Schmidt

| 3:02
4.| "Come to the Supermarket in Old Peking"| Cole Porter| 1:56
5.| "A Sleepin' Bee"|

* Harold Arlen
* Truman Capote

| 4:21

## Personnel

[edit]

* Barbra Streisand – vocals
* Mike Berniker – producer
* Peter Matz – arrangements
* Fred Plaut and Frank Laico – recording engineers
* John Berg – design
* Henry Parker – photography
* Harold Arlen – liner notes
* Mel Lewis – drums

## Charts

[edit]

### Weekly charts

[edit]

| Chart (1963)  | Peak
position

|

Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)[13] | 6
US Billboard 200[14] | 9

### Year-end charts

[edit]

| Chart (1963)  | Peak
position

|

US Billboard Top LPs[15] | 15
US Top 100 Albums (Cash Box)[16] | 10
Chart (1964)  | Peak
position

|

US Billboard Top LPs[17] | 4
US Top 100 Albums (Cash Box)[18] | 7

## Certifications and sales

[edit]

Region  | Certification | Certified units/sales

|
|

United States (RIAA)[19] | Gold  | 500,000^
Summaries
Worldwide  | —  | 1,000,000[20]

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "1963 Grammy Awards – 6th Annual Grammy Awards". Grammys. Retrieved January 18, 2023.
2. ^ "Grammy Hall of Fame Award". Grammys. Retrieved January 18, 2023.
3. ^ Gary Mamorstein. The Label: The Story of Columbia Records. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press, 2007. p. 321.
4. ^ Barbra Streisand. Just for the Record... Columbia C4K 44111, 1991, liner notes.
5. ^ a b Savage, Mark (4 August 2021). "Barbra Streisand: 'I've always had the right to sing what I want'". BBC News.
6. ^ Mann, William J. (2012). Hello Gorgeous: Becoming Barbra Streisand. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 306. ISBN 978-0-547-36892-4.
7. ^ a b Mamorstein, p. 322.
8. ^ Blistein, Jon (Sep 23, 2022). "Barbra Streisand Unearths 'Live at Bon Soir' Nightclub Recordings That Were Supposed to Be Her First Album". Rolling Stone.
9. ^ Barbra Archives website retrieved 10/02/11 Archived 2011-01-01 at the Wayback Machine The November release date for the single as stated in most histories conflicts with January recording sessions for the album of two months later, unless this track was recorded for single release earlier, or derived from the rejected club recordings.
10. ^ "Past Winners Search".
11. ^ a b "Barbra Streisand Archives - 1963 The Barbra Streisand Album - LP, CD".
12. ^ AllMusic review
13. ^ David Kent (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970 - 1992. Australian Chart Book, St Ives, N.S.W. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
14. ^ "Barbra Streisand Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved March 29, 2016.
15. ^ "Who's Who in the World of Music" (PDF). Billboard. December 28, 1963. p. 36. Retrieved January 18, 2023 - via World Radio History.
16. ^ "The CASH BOX Year-End Charts: 1963". Archived from the original on October 10, 2012.. Cash Box magazine.
17. ^ "The Billboard 200: 1964". Billboard. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved January 18, 2023.
18. ^ "The CASH BOX Year-End Charts: 1964". Archived from the original on August 26, 2012.. Cash Box magazine.
19. ^ "American album certifications – Barbra Streisand – The Barbra Streisand Album". Recording Industry Association of America.
20. ^ Lurie, Diana (18 March 1966). "Stricken with phenomenal success at 23, Barbra Streisand is more ridden than ever by self-doubts and fears". Life. Time Inc. pp. 93–. ISSN 0024-3019.

## External links

[edit]

* Barbra Archives: The Barbra Streisand Album (1963)

* v
* t
* e

Barbra Streisand

* Accolades
* Discography

Studio albums|

* The Barbra Streisand Album (1963)
* The Second Barbra Streisand Album (1963)
* The Third Album (1964)
* People (1964)
* My Name Is Barbra (1965)
* My Name Is Barbra, Two... (1965)
* Color Me Barbra (1966)
* Je m'appelle Barbra (1966)
* Simply Streisand (1967)
* A Christmas Album (1967)
* What About Today? (1969)
* Stoney End (1971)
* Barbra Joan Streisand (1971)
* Barbra Streisand...and Other Musical Instruments (1973)
* The Way We Were (1974)
* ButterFly (1974)
* Lazy Afternoon (1975)
* Classical Barbra (1976)
* Superman (1977)
* Songbird (1978)
* Wet (1979)
* Guilty (1980)
* Emotion (1984)
* The Broadway Album (1985)
* Till I Loved You (1988)
* Back to Broadway (1993)
* Higher Ground (1997)
* A Love Like Ours (1999)
* Christmas Memories (2001)
* The Movie Album (2003)
* Guilty Pleasures (2005)
* Love Is the Answer (2009)
* What Matters Most (2011)
* Partners (2014)
* Encore: Movie Partners Sing Broadway (2016)
* Walls (2018)

Live albums|

* A Happening in Central Park (1968)
* Live Concert at the Forum (1972)
* One Voice (1987)
* Barbra: The Concert (1994)
* Timeless: Live in Concert (2000)
* Live in Concert 2006 (2007)
* Back to Brooklyn (2013)
* The Music...The Mem'ries...The Magic! (2017)
* Live at the Bon Soir (2022)

Compilations|

* Barbra Streisand's Greatest Hits (1970)
* Barbra Streisand's Greatest Hits Volume 2 (1978)
* Memories (1981)
* A Collection: Greatest Hits...and More (1989)
* Just for the Record... (1991)
* The Essential Barbra Streisand (2002)
* Duets (2002)
* Barbra: The Ultimate Collection (2010)
* Release Me (2012)
* The Classic Christmas Album (2013)
* Release Me 2 (2021)
* Evergreens: Celebrating Six Decades on Columbia Records (2023)

Cast recordings
and soundtracks|

* I Can Get It for You Wholesale (1962)
* Funny Girl (1964)
* Funny Girl (1968)
* Hello, Dolly! (1969)
* The Owl and the Pussycat (1970)
* On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1970)
* The Way We Were (1974)
* Funny Lady (1975)
* A Star Is Born (1976)
* Yentl (1983)
* Nuts (1987)

Television specials
and videos|

* My Name Is Barbra (1965)
* Timeless: Live in Concert (2001)
* One Night Only: Barbra Streisand and Quartet at The Village Vanguard (2010)

Tours|

* Barbra Streisand in Concert
* Timeless
* Streisand
* Barbra Live
* Barbra: The Music, The Mem'ries, The Magic

Films directed|

* Yentl (1983)
* The Prince of Tides (1991)
* The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996)

Related articles|

* Streisand effect
* "Mecha-Streisand"
* Harold Sings Arlen (With Friend) (featuring album)
* Elliott Gould (first husband)
* Jason Gould (son)
* James Brolin (second husband)
* Roslyn Kind (half-sister)
* My Name Is Barbra (2023 memoir)

* Category

* v
* t
* e

Grammy Award for Album of the Year

1950s|

* The Music from Peter Gunn – Henry Mancini (1958)
* Come Dance with Me! – Frank Sinatra (1959)

1960s|

* The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart – Bob Newhart (1960)
* Judy at Carnegie Hall – Judy Garland (1961)
* The First Family – Vaughn Meader (1962)
* The Barbra Streisand Album – Barbra Streisand (1963)
* Getz/Gilberto – Stan Getz & João Gilberto (1964)
* September of My Years – Frank Sinatra (1965)
* A Man and His Music – Frank Sinatra (1966)
* Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band – The Beatles (1967)
* By the Time I Get to Phoenix – Glen Campbell (1968)
* Blood, Sweat & Tears – Blood, Sweat & Tears (1969)

1970s|

* Bridge over Troubled Water – Simon & Garfunkel (1970)
* Tapestry – Carole King (1971)
* The Concert for Bangladesh – George Harrison & Friends (1972)
* Innervisions – Stevie Wonder (1973)
* Fulfillingness' First Finale – Stevie Wonder (1974)
* Still Crazy After All These Years – Paul Simon (1975)
* Songs in the Key of Life – Stevie Wonder (1976)
* Rumours – Fleetwood Mac (1977)
* Saturday Night Fever – Various Artists (1978)
* 52nd Street – Billy Joel (1979)

1980s|

* Christopher Cross – Christopher Cross (1980)
* Double Fantasy – John Lennon & Yoko Ono (1981)
* Toto IV – Toto (1982)
* Thriller – Michael Jackson (1983)
* Can't Slow Down – Lionel Richie (1984)
* No Jacket Required – Phil Collins (1985)
* Graceland – Paul Simon (1986)
* The Joshua Tree – U2 (1987)
* Faith – George Michael (1988)
* Nick of Time – Bonnie Raitt (1989)

1990s|

* Back on the Block – Quincy Jones and Various Artists (1990)
* Unforgettable... with Love – Natalie Cole (1991)
* Unplugged – Eric Clapton (1992)
* The Bodyguard – Whitney Houston (1993)
* MTV Unplugged – Tony Bennett (1994)
* Jagged Little Pill – Alanis Morissette (1995)
* Falling into You – Celine Dion (1996)
* Time Out of Mind – Bob Dylan (1997)
* The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill – Lauryn Hill (1998)
* Supernatural – Santana (1999)

2000s|

* Two Against Nature – Steely Dan (2000)
* O Brother, Where Art Thou? – Various Artists (2001)
* Come Away with Me – Norah Jones (2002)
* Speakerboxxx/The Love Below – Outkast (2003)
* Genius Loves Company – Ray Charles & Various Artists (2004)
* How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb – U2 (2005)
* Taking the Long Way – Dixie Chicks (2006)
* River: The Joni Letters – Herbie Hancock (2007)
* Raising Sand – Robert Plant & Alison Krauss (2008)
* Fearless – Taylor Swift (2009)

2010s|

* The Suburbs – Arcade Fire (2010)
* 21 – Adele (2011)
* Babel – Mumford & Sons (2012)
* Random Access Memories – Daft Punk (2013)
* Morning Phase – Beck (2014)
* 1989 – Taylor Swift (2015)
* 25 – Adele (2016)
* 24K Magic – Bruno Mars (2017)
* Golden Hour – Kacey Musgraves (2018)
* When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? – Billie Eilish (2019)

2020s|

* Folklore – Taylor Swift (2020)
* We Are – Jon Batiste (2021)
* Harry's House – Harry Styles (2022)
* Midnights – Taylor Swift (2023)

Authority control databases |

* MusicBrainz release group

|

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