Streisand's Unreleased Album:
“Live at the Bon Soir”
Unreleased Live Sessions
Recorded November 5, 6, 7, 1962
Bon Soir Nightclub
New York, New York
Columbia Records mailed out invitations to Streisand fans, Columbia executives and their guests. The invitation read: “Miss Marmelstein invites you to meet her best friend BARBRA STREISAND to hear her sing a few tunes which will be recorded (on the spot) by Columbia Records”. Al Hirschfeld's line drawing of Streisand as her I Can Get It For You Wholesale character adorned the invitation.
Barbra, a show-stopping hit in Wholesale, was appearing nightly at the Bon Soir. Columbia felt that a live recording would be the best (and least-expensive) way to capture the energy and talent of their new recording star. All that was needed was a remote recording crew and equipment.
At the Bon Soir, Streisand, wearing a herring-bone vest and skirt that she designed herself, posed beside a life-size blow up of Hirschfeld’s caricature of Miss Marmelstein.
Barbra sang with several musicians: Tiger Haynes on guitar, Avril Pollard on bass, John Cressi on drums, and Peter Daniels on piano.
Tiger Haynes recalled, “They brought in a paid audience. Streisand had the engineers and technicians come down and record her first show for the rest of the week, through Saturday. Same musicians, same songs, every night.”
On November 5, 1962 at 11:30 p.m. at the Bon Soir nightclub, Goddard Lieberson—president of Columbia Records—introduced Barbra himself. To the audience assembled he said, “For me and everyone at Columbia, she’s a singular artist. You can’t put her in any category.” Then Barbra sang. And after a couple of songs the microphone fuse blew!
“You’re kidding?” Barbra laughed. It was soon fixed and the performance continued.
The next two nights were recorded, too.
Ultimately, the live tracks from the Bon Soir were not used as Streisand’s first album. Columbia Records sent Streisand into the recording studio to work on some 7-inch singles. Columbia released two 45 rpm singles in 1962 before releasing a full album of Streisand songs in February 1963—recorded in the studio.
The only thing that reached the public from the Bon Soir sessions was the photograph on the cover of Barbra's first studio album, The Barbra Streisand Album: It's Barbra at the microphone in her herring-bone vest.
Years later, Barbra released some of the live Bon Soir tracks on her 1991 retrospective Just For The Record. The rest remain unreleased by Columbia.
Here's a list of the songs which were recorded at the Bon Soir:
First Show
- Keepin Out of Mischief Now
- A Sleepin Bee
- Come to the Supermarket in Old Peking
- I Had Myself a True Love *
- Never Will I Marry
- Have I Stayed Too Long at the Fair?
- Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered
- Nobody's Heart Belongs to Me *
- Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad Wolf? * †
- Retake: Keepin Out of Mischief Now *
Second Show
- My Name is Barbara
- Much More
- My Honey's Lovin Arms
- Come to the Supermarket in Old Peking
- I Hate Music *
- I'll Tell the Man in the Street
- Cry Me A River *
- Value
- Lover, Come Back to Me *
- A Taste of Honey
- Napoleon
- Happy Days Are Here Again
- Soon It's Gonna Rain
* Tracks which were included on Just For The Record.
† Barbra's ad lib in the middle of the song (“Lord!”) was edited from Just For The Record.
End.
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