Barbra Streisand Celebrates The 50th Anniversary Of Two Of Her Most Outstanding Albums
The ever busy Barbra Streisand releases not one, but two albums this year! Not too surprising a fact considering she had consecutively released two albums a year for four years in a row by this point. She never runs short on material or performance either, you'd almost think she'd have sung it all by now with her resume, but she keeps the hits coming with new groundbreaking concepts. In March she starred in one of the first in color TV specials, turned album, "Color Me Barbra", followed by the French influenced "Je m'appelle Barbra" in October. For some amazing album highlights, please continue on...
Full of camp with a mix a vamp, unashamedly loud and proud, the always classy, often sassy Barbra Streisand is a 4 Decade Diva this year. This incredible accolade is attributed to her musical output in 1966, 1976, 1986, 1996. Her voice is as smooth as cream, and at the same time as bold as salt, two ingredients necessary to make a perfect butter. The Queens Collective has just solved the mystery behind the long standing rumors of Barbra having a voice like butter.
"Where Am I Going" was the first single released to radio from the TV special turned album "Color Me Barbra". The song saunters along nicely, until bursting at the seems about half way through. A full voiced Barbra finishes the rest of the song never coming up for air once. Her range and power is beyond impressive, and is showcased throughout the entire album, let alone her entire career. Songs like "Starting Here, Starting Now", "Where Or When" and "Yesterdays" are sang with the same conviction, most convincingly so is the newly revamped "Gotta Move". Check out Barbra, loud and proud.
"Color Me Barbra" is classy in it's entirety, but never runs short on Barbra's signature sass, ever apparent on her smooth jazzy versions of "C'est Si Bon (It's So Good)", "One Kiss" and "Non C'est Rien". It wouldn't be a true Barbra album without a campy number or two as well, and her epic nine minute long "Medley" manages to perfectly cram over 10 of them into one song! Don't be intimated by it's size, it's easier to take it all in than it looks. How, you might ask? Why it's her perfectly balanced delivery of keeping it playful, and taking it slow. Before you know it you're fully submersed and the song is coming to it's extremely powerful climax. Why do i feel like taking a nap right now? Huh, where was I, another adorably impressive ditty is "The Minute Waltz", which is two minutes in length with ten minutes of dialogue somehow packed into it. It's quite the mouthful, and Barbra blows us away with it, as always! "Sam You Made The Pants Too Long" was a big hit for her this year, although technically not titled on this album, it was featured almost in full during her "Medley", then later added to a Greatest Hits album.
Her second album of the 1966, "Je m'appelle Barbra" is a beautiful ballad heavy album that plays wonderfully along side a Sunday afternoon. Despite it's title, the album only has a few songs sung in french, making it an easier listen for a newcomer than perhaps originally though. It's only single, and first track on the album, is the stellar "Free Again". It's big, it's bold, it's Barbra!
If you liked that track, than you are sure to enjoy the rest of the album. All of it's songs play similarly, gorgeously orchestrated, well produced and carried along the way by Barbra's one of a kind voice. She packs the album full of passion and drama, song after song, until it's final track "I've Been Here", where she ends the album the same way she started it, big and bold!
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