Barbra Joan Streisand came out the same year as Stoney End and found Streisand continuing her shift into pop music.
The album is an interesting one that helps define both her strengths and limitations. Covers of songs by John Lennon and Carole King fall rather flat. The beauty of King’s Tapestry tracks, for example, is how simply and earnestly she sings them. The same songs delivered with theatrical bombast are somehow lessened.
But Streisand’s delivery of work by Burt Bacharach and Lara Nyro on the same record is transcendent.
Two years later, Streisand released her worst-selling album, Barbra Streisand…and Other Musical Instruments, a tie-in with a TV special of the same name. The record found her dabbling in world music and performing skits between tracks.
In 1974, she was back on top again with The Way We Were, an album capitalizing on the success of the film the year before. While an official soundtrack was released, it featured only the title song and Marvin Hamlisch instrumental tracks. Streisand’s album had no other tie-in to the film beyond its title track, but became her biggest hit since A Christmas Album.
Most of The Way We Were was cobbled together from songs she’d left off of other albums plus a few new recordings. Among the new songs were covers of Paul Simon’s ‘Something So Right’ and Stevie Wonder’s ‘All in Love is Fair,’ both highlights.
My childhood memory of this album is centered on the striking cover art, which I recall from my sister’s record collection.
You’ve got the cool water when the fever runs high
You’ve got the look of lovelight in your eyes
And I was in crazy motion ’til you calmed me down
It took a little time but you calmed me down
[Chorus]
When something goes wrong
I’m the first to admit it
I’m the first to admit it
But the last one to know
When something goes right
Oh, it’s likely to lose me
It’s apt to confuse me
It’s such an unusual sight
Oh, I can’t, I can’t get used to something so right
Something so right
[Verse 2]
They’ve got a wall in China, it’s a thousand miles long
To keep out the foreigners they made it strong
And I’ve got a wall around me that you can’t even see
It took a little time to get next to me
[Chorus]
When something goes wrong
I’m the first to admit it
I’m the first to admit it
But the last one to know
Oh, it’s likely to lose me
It’s apt to confuse me
Because it’s such an unusual sight
Oh, I swear, I can’t get used to something so right
Something so right
[Bridge]
Some people never say the words “I love you”
It’s not their style to be so bold
Some people never say those words “I love you”
But like a child they’re longing to be told
[Chorus]
When something goes wrong
I’m the first to admit it
The first to admit it
And the last one to know
When something goes right
Oh, it’s likely to lose me
It’s apt to confuse me
Because it’s such an unusual sight
I swear I can’t, I can’t get used to something so right
Something so right
Meet Me In Montauk 
I remember those nails! đź’… I do like this song too
The two highlights you mention are my favorite on the album. Her delivery is unsurpassed… the curiosity, emotion, humor, tenderness comes through each word.
and then there’s the actual voice! This was the album, first discovered in our parents reel to reel collection before I bought an album of my own, that hooked me on Barbra. Loving this shallow dive.
and also “ What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life” is a standout.
Barbra’s covers don’t always land, but when they do, they are lovely.