Amazon.com essential recording
Barbra Streisand seemed an "overnight" superstar when she released this debut LP in 1963; two weeks after its release, Streisand was America's best-selling female singer. Within several months,
Funny Girl would debut on Broadway... and the rest, as they say, is history. The truth, however, is that Streisand was already a singing sensation in Greenwich Village clubs like Bon Soir and the Blue Angel. Most of the material on this Grammy winner (for Album of the Year) comes from that club act--part of her deal with Columbia was total control over song choices--and it reveals a singer who wasn't about to kowtow to the rock & roll craze; instead, the early Streisand concentrated on standards... and, well, just about anything. The selections range from "A Taste of Honey" to the beautiful "Soon It's Gonna Rain" from
The Fantasticks to a song from Disney's
Three Little Pigs. It took guts to open with "Cry Me a River," a song already owned by another torch singer (Julie London)--but if the LP proved anything, it was that this Brooklyn gal sure could sing, a fact driven home by her mournful-yet-glorious take on "Happy Days Are Here Again," which soon became a pop standard classic recording of its own.
--Bill Holdship
