On November 7, Barbra Streisand will release her long-awaited memoir. My Name Is Barbra shares its name with the superstar's fifth Columbia Records album, originally released in 1967, and promises to trace her life and career from her Brooklyn roots through her triumphs in Broadway, Hollywood, on the concert stage, and beyond. Before that, though, the EGOT winner and 46-time Grammy nominee (and eight-time winner!) is gifting fans with two new releases. On October 27, Streisand will look back on her remarkable recording career with Evergreens: Celebrating Six Decades on Columbia Records; on the same date, she will expand the original soundtrack album to her 1983 film Yentl in a deluxe 2CD edition.
The vocalist's 1963 debut The Barbra Streisand Album took home the Grammy Award for Album of the Year as well as Best Vocal Performance - Female, inaugurating a tenure on Columbia Records that has (so far!) encompassed 36 studio albums as well as live sets, collections, box sets, cast recordings, and soundtracks. The new retrospective Evergreens features 22 songs hand-picked by Streisand, almost entirely eschewing her hit singles in favor of songs which were chosen by the artist to "exemplify her emotional connection to these melodies and lyrics - each holding a special place in her heart and memory."
Spanning The Barbra Streisand Album through 2018's striking Walls, these songs add up to an alternate history of Streisand in the studio, taking listeners through each of her many eras. Classic standards are well-represented, including a quartet composed by Richard Rodgers ("I'll Tell the Man in the Street," "Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered," and "Where or When," with lyrics by Lorenz Hart; and Some Enchanted Evening" with Oscar Hammerstein II). Barbra further taps the Broadway songbook for "Isn't It a Pity?" from George and Ira Gershwin's score to Pardon My English, "Can't Help Lovin' That Man" from Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II's Show Boat; "Tomorrow" from Charles Strouse and Martin Charnin's Annie; and "Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me)" from The Roar of the Greasepaint - The Smell of the Crowd by Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse. The latter is a duet with the late Newley from 2016's Encore: Movie Partners Sing Broadway.
The collection also includes stunning pop gems from the 1970s singer-songwriter era (Joni Mitchell's "I Don't Know Where I Stand," Laura Nyro's "I Never Meant to Hurt You," and Rupert Holmes' "Letters That Cross in the Mail") as well as Academy Award-winning film classics ("The Shadow of Your Smile" from The Sandpiper, "The Windmills of Your Mind" from The Thomas Crown Affair, "Moon River" from Breakfast at Tiffany's) and a number of songs co-written by the artist, among them her first composition "Ma Premiere Chanson," "Answer Me," "Two People," and the final track, a 2023 remix of Streisand and Paul Williams' Oscar-winning "Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star Is Born)." The new version, which is now streaming, melds Streisand's original vocal to a new instrumental arrangement produced and arranged by Walter Afanasieff and Barbra, and co-produced by Jochem van der Saag. One previously unreleased track also makes its debut: the inspirational standard "I Believe," an outtake from 1997's Higher Ground.
Evergreens is joined by what's, unbelievably, the very first 2CD deluxe edition of a Streisand album. Yentl: 40th Anniversary Edition celebrates the Platinum-certified soundtrack to the film for which Barbra made history as the first woman to direct, write, produce, and star in a Hollywood studio movie. Based on Isaac Bashevis Singer's short story Yentl, The Yeshiva Boy, the big-screen musical drama was close to Streisand's heart. She enlisted three close collaborators, composer Michel Legrand and lyricists Alan and Marilyn Bergman (all of whom are represented on Evergreens), to pen the stirring and dramatic score including "Papa, Can You Hear Me?" and "The Way He Makes Me Feel." Yentl, co-starring Mandy Patinkin and Amy Irving, was a popular hit, grossing over $40 million in the United States. The film received an Academy Award for Best Original Song Score and Golden Globes for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy and Best Director. Streisand was the first woman to receive the latter honor.
The upcoming 40th Anniversary Edition features the original album on the first CD and a bonus disc of 15 tracks, nearly all previously unreleased. The centerpiece of this disc are nine demos recorded in Streisand's living room with composer Legrand on piano. These intimate performances were recorded on a cassette deck, with the star-writer-director providing narration to introduce each song. Other bonuses include previously unreleased studio versions of "Papa, Can You Hear Me?" and "Several Sins a Day," the single version of "Papa, Can You Hear Me?," the reprise of "This Is One of Those Moments," the performance with Rabbinical chorus of "Where Is It Written," and the original End Titles. The Phil Ramone-produced and Dave Grusin-arranged studio version of "Papa" will premiere October 6 on streaming services.
Both titles were supervised by Jay Landers, who also provides liner notes. They're due October 27 in digital and CD formats as well as on vinyl. The vinyl release of Evergreens will be released everywhere with a pink pressing exclusive to Target stores. Barnes and Noble will exclusively carry the expanded Yentl vinyl. You'll find the track listings and pre-order links for both releases below, with the memoir My Name Is Barbra following on November 7.
Evergreens: Celebrating Six Decades on Columbia Records (Columbia/Legacy, 2023)
CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Target (pink vinyl)
- I'll Tell the Man in the Street
- Bewitched (Bothered and Bewildered)
- Absent Minded Me
- The Shadow of Your Smile
- Where or When
- Ma Première Chanson
- I Don't Know Where I Stand
- I Never Meant to Hurt You
- Letters That Cross in the Mail
- Answer Me
- Tomorrow
- Can't Help Lovin' That Man
- Two People
- Some Enchanted Evening
- I Believe
- Isn't It a Pity?
- Moon River
- Here's to Life (Orchestra Version)
- The Windmills of Your Mind
- Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me) (with Anthony Newley)
- Lady Liberty
- Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star is Born) (2023)
Track 1 from The Barbra Streisand Album - Columbia CS 8807, 1963
Track 2 from The Third Album - Columbia CS 8954, 1964
Track 3 from People - Columbia CS 9015, 1964
Track 4 from My Name is Barbra, Two... - Columbia CS 9209, 1965
Track 5 from Color Me Barbra - Columbia CS 9278, 1966
Track 6 from Je m'appelle Barbra - Columbia CS 9347, 1966
Track 7 from Stoney End - Columbia KC 30378, 1971
Track 8 from Barbra Joan Streisand - Columbia KC 30792, 1971
Track 9 from Lazy Afternoon - Columbia PC 33815, 1975
Track 10 from Superman - Columbia JC 34830, 1977
Track 11 from Songbird - Columbia PC 35375, 1978
Track 12 from The Broadway Album - Columbia OC 40092, 1986
Track 13 from Till I Loved You - Columbia OC 40880, 1988
Track 14 from Back to Broadway - Columbia CK 44189, 1993
Track 15 from Higher Ground - Columbia CK 66181, 1997
Track 16 from A Love Like Ours - Columbia CK 69601, 1999
Track 17 from The Movie Album - Columbia CK 89018, 2003
Track 18 from Love is the Answer - Columbia 88697 43354-2, 2009
Track 19 from What Matters Most: Barbra Streisand Sings the Lyrics of Alan and Marilyn Bergman - Columbia 88697 86257-2, 2011
Track 20 from Encore: Movie Partners Sing Broadway - Columbia 88985 33975-2, 2016
Track 21 from Walls - Columbia 19075 89548-2, 2018
Original version of Track 22 from A Star is Born - Columbia JS 34403, 1976
Yentl: 40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition (Columbia/Legacy, 2023)
2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2LP: Barnes and Noble
Disc 1
- Where Is It Written?
- Papa, Can You Hear Me?
- This is One of Those Moments
- No Wonder
- The Way He Makes Me Feel
- No Wonder (Part Two)
- Tomorrow Night
- Will Someone Ever Look At Me That Way?
- No Matter What Happens
- No Wonder (reprise)
- A Piece of Sky
- The Way He Makes Me Feel (studio version)
- No Matter What Happens (studio version)
Disc 2: The Audition Tapes and More (Tracks 1-9 accompanied by Michel Legrand)
- Where Is It Written? (demo)
- Papa, Can You Hear Me? (demo)
- The Way He Makes Me Feel (demo)
- Several Sins a Day (demo)
- No Wonder (demo with Marilyn Bergman)
- Tomorrow Night (demo)
- Will Someone Ever look At Me This Way? (demo)
- The Moon and I (demo)
- A Piece of Sky (demo)
- Papa, Can You Hear Me? (studio version)
- Several Sins a Day (studio version)
- Where Is It Written? (with Rabbinical chorus)
- Papa, Can You Hear Me? (single version)
- This is One of Those Moments (reprise)
- End Title (instrumental medley)
Track 13 released on Columbia single 38-04357, 1983
Rob says
Exciting!! Do you know who remastered the tapes? Were new transfers done for these releases? I can't find anything on this, and it's not included in the press release.
Jeffrey Burke says
My Name is Barbra album came out in May of 1965 after the Emmy winning TV special aired in glorious black in white in April 1965. Album peaked at #2 on the Billboard top 200 album chart. Barbra won best female vocal performance for her work on the album. Album also was nominated forGrammy album of the year,, which went to some unknown singer from Hoboken, Frank Sinatra. Followup album My Name is Barbra 2 came out later in 1965 and also peaked at #2 on the Billboard album chart.
Digrient says
I am so in love with the “Yentl” soundtrack album – here in Germany, through the whims of distribution policies, they issued it many months before the movie finally premiered. When it finally did, it didn’t quite hold up to the “movie” that I had got to create in my mind, but still was nice enough.
I don’t expect, still hope, that they’ve re-mixed the album. Mr. Legrand’s orchestral arrangements and orchestrations were very elaborate, so the mix buried them in a lot of reverb to let the vocals shine. That was an acceptable choice – still, with the years gone by, I hope that they have found a better solution that gives all parts more breathing room.
Rob says
Is there any info on who did the tape transfers or mastering on these releases? I can’t find anything.
Rich says
The album “My Name Is Barbra” was released May 3, 1965, in the same year as her CBS-TV special “My Name Is Barbra.” A second album, “My Name Is Barbra, Two … “ was released in October 1965.
Mark H. says
So the compilation, for those of us who already have the complete Barbra, only has the backing of the final track as new material. An easy pass.
Yentl looks more promising...