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Barbra Joan Streisand (1971)

Catalog Number(s):

• PC 30792 (LP, 1971)
• CQ 30792 (Quadraphonic LP, 1972)
• CK 30792 (CD)

(Below: Scans of the original Barbra Joan Streisand LP, front cover, back cover, and inside the gatefold. Note on the front and back covers: Notice the symmetry between "Barbra" and "Barbara". This was not replicated for the CD.)

(Below: The Barbra Joan Streisand CD)

Tracks

1. Beautiful (Carole King) – 2:15
2. Love (John Lennon) – 3:06
3. Where You Lead (Carole King, Toni Stern) – 2:58
4. I Never Meant To Hurt You (Laura Nyro) – 3:51
5. Medley: One Less Bell to Answer/A House Is Not a Home (Burt Bacharach, Hal David) – 6:33
6. Space Captain (Matthew Moore) – 3:22
7. Since I Fell for You (Buddy Johnson) – 3:27
8. Mother (John Lennon) – 4:40
9. The Summer Knows (Michel LeGrand, Marilyn Bergman, Alan Bergman) – 3:43
10. I Mean to Shine (Donald Fagen, Walter Becker) – 2:55
11. You've Got a Friend (Carole King) – 4:54

Individual track credits:

(mouse and click on each song to reveal the credits...)

 

About the Album

• Released August 1971
• Produced by Richard Perry
• Album Design: Virginia Team
• Photography: Ed Thrasher
• Engineering: Sy Mitchell
• Remix Engineers: Bill Schnee, Sy Mitchell
• Recordists: Bill Schnee, George Beauregard, Willie “The Kid” Greer, John Fiore, Jack Andrews
• “A very special thanks to Doug Sachs”

As a follow up to Stoney End, Richard Perry produced Barbra’s second contemporary album, Barbra Joan Streisand. The eponymous album combined both standards and semi-rock/pop songs. Gene Page contributed many arrangements to the album. (Page arranged Motown albums before doing string arrangements on most of Barry White’s records in the 1970s).

Drummer Jim Keltner reminisced about working with Barbra when he said, “Back then, she was this major, major force, you know? Unbelievable voice. And that was in the days when the artist would record live with you. It was a tremendous thing, to hear a voice like that in your headphones.”

(Photo, right): Streisand in the studio recording “Since I Fell For You”.

Besides three Carole King songs and two John Lennon songs on the album, Streisand also sang the Kenny Welch arrangement of “One Less Bell To Answer” and “A House is Not a Home”, from the Burt Bacharach television special.

The beautiful Bergman/Legrand tune “The Summer Knows” felt a bit out of place on the album, but was an instant Streisand classic, nonetheless.

The all-girl rock group, Fanny (also represented by Richard Perry), arranged and played on two songs: “Where You Lead” and “Space Captain”.

“I Mean To Shine” was written by Donald Fagen and Walter Becker. Fagen recalled it was “the first song we ever had recorded. Not a good song, but at least she recorded it.” (Streisand did not record the song specifically for this album. She recorded “I Mean To Shine” during her Stoney End sessions in September 1970.)

Songs from the March, April, and May 1971 recording sessions for Barbra Joan Streisand which did not end up on the final album were “Talk About Your Troubles” by Harry Nillson and “We’ve Only Just Begun” by Roger Nichols and Paul Williams (which was later included on Just for the Record).

Billboard Charts

The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine.

Here's the numbers for this Streisand album:

• Debut Chart Date: 9-18-71
• No. Weeks on Billboard 200 Albums Chart: 26
• Peak Chart Position: #11
• Gold: 12/6/71

Gold: 500,000 units shipped

Note: The record company must submit an album to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) where it undergoes a certification process to become eligible for an award. The process entails an independent sales audit, which calculates the quantity of singles or albums shipped for sale, net after returns. The audit surveys shipments to the entire music marketplace, including retail, record clubs, television sales, Internet orders and other ancillary markets. Based on the certification of these shipments, a title is awarded Gold, Platinum, Multi-Platinum or Diamond status. The data here comes directly from official sources, mainly the RIAA online database.

CD Packaging Notes

Columbia, for the most part, replicated the original album art well. But there are some subtle design elements originally created by Virginia Team for the 1971 album which were ignored when preparing the CD.

The LP was designed with a different type face. It looks like the CD used the same type from the Stoney End album, which is not correct.

The art direction of the original album employed a nice symmetry that the CD lost. The cover of the album showed a "serious" Barbra (photo by Ed Thrasher) and spelled her name as she has spelled it since 1960—without the middle 'a'.

The back cover (see scans above) featured a photograph of Streisand smiling. On the vinyl album, Barbra's name was spelled the "old" way: Barbara—with the extra "a".

Although the CD utilized the smiling photograph, it did not include the alternate spelling of Barbra's name. The symmetry of the two opposing photographs and name-spellings, therefore, was lost.

Album Outtakes

The photos which adorn the cover, back cover, and inside of the album were taken by the late Ed Thrasher. “His covers were the best of their kind, for he defined the West Coast style of big-idea art direction,” said Paula Scher, who designed albums for Columbia Records. Thrasher shot Streisand in the studio with Richard Perry and the all-girl group Fanny (who did arrangements and served as session players for Barbra Joan Streisand).

Streisand wore a t-shirt, jeans and an oversized hat.

The original gatefold LP included a 22” x 33” poster by Ed Thrasher (photo, above).

End.

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Related: “Barbra Joan Streisand” — Quadraphonic Album

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