Neil Diamond; Celine Dion; Donna Summer; Barry Gibb
Label
Legacy
Dimensions
12.4 x 1 x 14.2 centimeters (0.04 kg)
Performer Notes
Personnel includes: Barbra Streisand, Neil Diamond, Celine Dion, Donna Summer, Bryan Adams, Barry Gibb.
Producers include: Barbra Streisand, Barry Gibb, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Richard Baskin, Richard Perry.
All tracks have been digitally remastered.
Arrangers: Mort Lindsey; Don Costa; Gene Page; Ian Freebairn-Smith; Alan Lindgren; Marty Paich; Michel Legrand; Nelson Riddle; Nick DeCaro; Patrick Williams; Robert John "Mutt" Lange; Rupert Holmes; Walter Scharf; William Ross ; Peter Matz; Barbra Streisand; Jonathan Tunick; Bob Esty; Greg Mathieson; David Foster; Walter Afanasieff; Charles Calello.
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
Professional Reviews
Q (May 2002, p.136) - 3 out of 5 stars - "...Blessed with a voice that can tenderise like an eight-pound sledgehammer....a good career overview..."
A great selection of Streisand songs, sure to satisfy her fans (others beware!). Of particular interest are Bab's renditions of Sondheim favourites "Putting it Together" and "Children Will Listen", but again, these will likely not appeal to those people not infatuated with this diva star. Also contains Bab's previously unreleased "Some Day My Prince Will Come" from the Snow White anniversary re-release.
