The Barbra Streisand Album

The Barbra Streisand Album is the debut album by Barbra Streisand, released in 1963 on Columbia Records, catalogue CL 2007 in mono and CS 8807 in stereo. It peaked at #8 on the Billboard pop albums chart, and has been certified a gold album by the RIAA.

Background

Initially, Columbia label president Goddard Lieberson resisted signing Streisand to a contract, finding her style too close to the cabaret singers he disliked and too far from the understated approach of Jo Stafford or Rosemary Clooney, having recorded for the label in the 1950s.^[2] After exposure to a television interview of Streisand by Mike Wallace on PM East/PM West and pressure from associates, Lieberson relented and agreed to sign her. In Just For the Record..., Streisand indicated that

The most important thing about that first contract - actually, the thing we held out for - was a unique clause giving me the right to choose my own material. It was the only thing I really cared about. I still received lots of pressure from the label to include some pop hits on my first album, but I held out for the songs that really meant something to me.^[3]

Streisand would spend her entire career to date recording for Columbia.

Streisand had made a name for herself performing at the Bon Soir nightclub in New York City, which attracted primarily a gay clientele.^[4] Her producer Mike Berniker brought a crew to the club to record Streisand accompanied only by the Bon Soir house pianist, Peter Daniels.^[5] These recordings were scrapped, although the cover shot for the album was taken during a performance at the Bon Soir.

Recording

Recording sessions took place 23 to 25 January 1963 at Columbia's Studio A in New York City with a budget of $18,000. Material mostly chosen from Broadway standards, many of which were fairly obscure.^[6] "I'll Tell the Man in the Street" was originally performed by Dennis King in the 1938 production of I Married An Angel, and "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?" was taken from the 1933 Disney cartoon Three Little Pigs. Not one of his well-known numbers, "Come to the Supermarket (in Old Peking)" appeared in a 1958 television special with music by Cole Porter, while "A Sleepin' Bee" came from the 1954 musical House of Flowers.

"Soon It's Gonna Rain" and "Much More" were both introduced in the 1960 off-Broadway musical The Fantasticks, and the 1930 film Chasing Rainbows provided "Happy Days Are Here Again," done in a notable version by Streisand. "Cry Me A River" was of course the signature song of Julie London, while "A Taste of Honey" had coincidentally just been recorded an ocean away by those other icons of the 1960s for their 1963 debut album.

"Happy Days Are Here Again" was released as Columbia single 42631 with "When the Sun Comes Out" on the b-side, but it did not chart.^[7] At the 1964 Grammy Awards, The Barbra Streisand Album won awards in the categories of Album of the Year, Best Female Vocal Performance, and Best Album Cover - Other Than Classical, the latter presented to art director John Berg.^[8][9] In January 2006, the album was a Grammy Hall of Fame selection.

Track listing

Side one

Side two

Personnel

• Barbra Streisand — vocals
• Mike Berniker — producer
• Peter Matz — arrangements
• Fred Plaut and Frank Lacio — recording engineers
• John Berg — design
• Hank Parker — photography
• Harold Arlen — liner notes

Chart performance