The Essential Barbra Streisand
Although Barbra Streisand has recorded for the same company, Columbia Records throughout her career, her work has not been particularly well represented on compilations. Four single-disc best-ofs dot her discography, but the listener who wanted to do something as simple as purchase an album containing the original studio recordings of both her first Top Ten hit, "People," and her first number one, "The Way We Were," without plumping for the four-CD box set Just for the Record was out of luck. Complicating the compiling of her career highlights is her position as essentially an album artist, despite having scattered 11 Top Ten pop hits across 32 years. The ideal collection would have to do justice to her popular early albums of the '60s, her mid-career singles hits of the '70s, and her renewed album success in the '80s and '90s. Here it is. At a CD-busting length of over two and a half hours, this 40-track double-disc set encapsulates Streisand s recording career in chronological order from her 1963 debut album to 1999. (Two previously unreleased tracks sound like outtakes from her later album projects. "Someday My Prince Will Come" probably got left off of A Love Like Ours while the gospel tinged "You'll Never Walk Alone" must have been intended for Higher Ground ) Intelligently picking signature performances from her best and most popular albums, it largely eschews a raft of singles that got into the bottom half of the Top 40, but leaves out only one Top Ten hit, "What Kind of Fool." The singer's versatility and her ability to impose her immediately identifiable vocal style on a variety of material are emphasized in recordings that range from Broadway show tunes to disco A collection like this has been needed for a long time as a gateway to Streisand s bountiful, indeed overwhelming, catalog. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
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Credits »
Andrew Lloyd Webber - Producer
Andrew Lloyd Webber - Orchestration
Barbra Streisand - Arranger
Barbra Streisand - Producer
Barbra Streisand - Main Performer
Barbra Streisand - Executive Producer
Bryan Adams - Arranger
Neil Diamond - Performer
Celine Dion - Performer
Donna Summer - Performer
Michel Legrand - Arranger
Michel Legrand - Conductor
Michel Legrand - Producer
Jeremy Lubbock - Conductor
Jeremy Lubbock - Orchestration
Greg Mathieson - Arranger
Greg Mathieson - Conductor
Patrick Williams - Arranger
Patrick Williams - Conductor
Paul Jabara - Vocal Arrangement
David Foster - Arranger
David Foster - Producer
Rupert Holmes - Arranger
Rupert Holmes - Conductor
Rupert Holmes - Producer
Peter Matz - Arranger
Peter Matz - Conductor
Peter Matz - Producer
Peter Matz - Executive Producer
Peter Matz - Orchestration
Gene Page - Arranger
Bruce Roberts - Vocal Arrangement
Barry Gibb - Producer
Albhy Galuten - Producer
Richard Baskin - Producer
Alan Bergman - Producer
Marilyn Bergman - Producer
Mike Berniker - Producer
David Caddick - Conductor
Charles Calello - Arranger
Charles Calello - Producer
John Cameron - Orchestration
Don Costa - Arranger
Don Costa - Conductor
David Cullen - Orchestration
Nick DeCaro - Arranger
Bob Esty - Arranger
Bob Esty - Conductor
Bob Esty - Producer
Bob Gaudio - Producer
Jack Gold - Producer
Wally Gold - Producer
Jack Hayes - String Arrangements
Gary Klein - Producer
Charles Koppelman - Executive Producer
Jay Landers - Executive Producer
Robert John "Mutt" Lange - Arranger
Jeffrey Lesser - Producer
Tommy LiPuma - Producer
Alan Lindgren - Arranger
Alan Lindgren - Conductor
Mort Lindsey - Arranger
Mort Lindsey - Conductor
Stephen Marcussen - Mastering
Marty Paich - Arranger
Marty Paich - Producer
Robert Mersey - Producer
Nelson Riddle - Arranger
Nelson Riddle - Conductor
Richard Perry - Producer
Phil Ramone - Producer
Karl Richardson - Producer
Walter Scharf - Arranger
Walter Scharf - Conductor
Jonathan Tunick - Arranger
Jonathan Tunick - Conductor
Luther Waters - Vocal Arrangement
Nigel Wright - Producer
Ian Freebairn-Smith - Arranger
Peter Fletcher - Product Manager
Stewart Whitmore - Digital Editing
Walter Afanasieff - Arranger
Walter Afanasieff - Producer
William James Ross - Arranger
William James Ross - Conductor
William James Ross - Producer
William James Ross - Orchestral Arrangements
Gabrielle Raumberger - Art Direction
Alan Stein - A&R
Cliff Singontiko - Design
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