Barbra Streisand slowed down the torrid pace that resulted in ten albums in just five years, waiting two years before her next release.
Unfortunately, she closed out the 60s with her first real flop — 1969’s What About Today?. She took the advice of record exec Clive Davis and released a collection of contemporary songs, including tracks popularized by Simon & Garfunkel and The Beatles.
Barbra Streisand continued to churn out albums in the mid-60s, releasing four between 1966 and 1967.
First came Color Me Barbra, another record that accompanied a television special. As the title suggests, it was Streisand’s first TV production not shot in black and white.
Then came Je m’appelle Barbra, which found her singing most of its tracks in French.
I was hoping for a little change of pace after Barbra Streisand’s first four albums and I got it with her fifth, 1965’s My Name is Barbra.
Released in conjunction with a TV special of the same name, this album is split between a song cycle about childhood and a lineup of Broadway standards more in line with her earlier work. The TV special, which was a big hit, featured these songs as well as a third act of more mature material. Streisand would release My Name is Barbra, Two… later the same year to finish out the tie-in.
Barbra Streisand kept the music coming once she released her debut in February of 1963. She dropped The Second Barbra Streisand Album in August of that same year, then The Third Album in February of 1964.
These records were similar to her first, featuring her takes on Broadway show tunes. Rather than mining more obscure songs as she did on the debut, her third album found her tackling standards such as ‘It Had to Be You,’ ‘As Time Goes By,’ and ‘Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered.’
One of the most rewarding projects on this blog — for me, anyway — has been the Deep Dive. I love digging through an artist’s discography, album by album, to understand the historical context and explore all the connective tissue.
So far I’ve given the Deep Dive treatment to Joni Mitchell, Jackson Browne, Madonna, Bob Marley, Lana Del Rey, The Rolling Stones, and Jim Croce.
Meet Me In Montauk 