The Broadway Album

Last updated
The Broadway Album
TheBroadwayAlbum.jpg
Studio album by
Barbra Streisand
ReleasedNovember 4, 1985 [1]
RecordedSpring–Summer 1985 [2]
Studio
Genre
Length47:44
Label Columbia
Producer
Barbra Streisand chronology
Emotion
(1984)		The Broadway Album
(1985)		 One Voice
(1987)
Singles from Emotion
  1. "Somewhere"
    Released: October 1985
  2. "Send In the Clowns"
    Released: March 1986

The Broadway Album is the twenty-fourth studio album by American singer Barbra Streisand, released by Columbia Records on November 4, 1985. Consisting mainly of classic show tunes, the album marked a major shift in Streisand's career. She had spent ten years appearing in musicals and singing standards on her albums in the 1960s. Beginning with the album Stoney End in 1971 and ending with the album Emotion in 1984, Streisand sang mostly rock, pop, folk, and disco-oriented songs for Columbia records. Noted Broadway composer Stephen Sondheim personally penned additional lyrics for the songs "Putting It Together" and "Send in the Clowns" on request of the singer. [3] The album, originally released on the Columbia label and subsequently re-released by Columbia and Sony Records, was a critical and commercial success. First certified gold by the RIAA on January 13, 1986, it reached four times platinum on January 31, 1995.

Contents

The album was accompanied by a television special, Putting It Together: The Making of the Broadway Album. [4] The original LP and cassette releases contained 11 tracks, while the CD release included the bonus track "Adelaide's Lament". [5] Columbia re-released The Broadway Album in 2002 with an additional bonus track, originally cut in 1985, "I Know Him So Well". The album sold 7.5 million copies worldwide.

Production

Streisand started her career on Broadway, and so considered this album in sense returning to her roots, after two decades of recording popular music of the day. Streisand's record label, Columbia Records, objected to the planned content as it was not pop songs, but Streisand had signed a contract at the beginning of her career which gave her full creative control in exchange for lower earnings; at this point she stressed that, due to the contract, she had "the right to sing what I want to sing". [6]

She considers the tracks music she has great respect for, deeming it some of the best music and lyrics ever written. The lead single, "Putting It Together" from Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George , was rewritten to be about the dichotomy between art and commerce in the music industry. Streisand hired her previous The Way We Were director Sydney Pollack, as well as David Geffen, head of Geffen Records to play the parts of the antagonistic studio heads. Streisand wanted to record the entire piece live to capture the atmosphere of Broadway shows. Many of the musicians also played in Funny Girl 22 years earlier, and a month of rehearsals with Stephen Sondheim was undertaken before recording. [7]

The album's cover art was shot by photographer Richard Corman at the Plymouth Theatre in New York City in the summer of 1985. In addition to the photos used, showing Streisand sitting in a chair on the stage surrounded by sheet music, Corman shot additional portraits of her sitting in the seats. [8]

Reception and accolades

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg link
Entertainment Weekly (A) link
Robert Christgau (C) link

In 1993, Entertainment Weekly looked back nostalgically on the album as "the work of a supreme singer-actress still unspoiled enough to fall in love with the characters she sings". [9] Writing at the time of the release, Rolling Stone took a slightly more cynical view, although after criticizing the album for its self-consciousness and overproduction, reviewer Francis Davis did concede that the album "works somehow, if only as a reminder of what a neglected wealth of riches Broadway offers and what a marvelous singer Streisand is when she's not trying to pass herself off as a rock star". [10] New York Times reviewer Stephen Holden, once himself with Rolling Stone, had no such reservations, declaring shortly after the album's release that Streisand had "just released what may be the album of a lifetime". [11] The album was ranked #37 on Entertainment Weekly's list of the '100 Greatest CDs', the fourth highest album by a female artist to appear on the list. [12]

The album reached #1 on the US Billboard 200 chart in 1986, and earned Streisand a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and was nominated for Album of the Year. It launched two successful singles. "Send in the Clowns", from A Little Night Music , reached #25 on the "Adult Contemporary" chart. "Somewhere", a song from West Side Story , reached #5 on "Adult Contemporary" and also earned a Grammy for producer David Foster for "Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s)/Best Background Arrangement". According to the liner notes of Streisand's retrospective box set, Just for the Record , the album also received a record certification in Australia. [13]

Track listing

  1. "Putting It Together" (Stephen Sondheim) – 4:20
  2. "If I Loved You" (Oscar Hammerstein II, Richard Rodgers) – 2:38
  3. "Something's Coming" (Sondheim, Leonard Bernstein) – 2:55
  4. "Not While I'm Around" (Sondheim) – 3:29
  5. "Being Alive" (Sondheim) – 3:23
  6. "I Have Dreamed" / "We Kiss in a Shadow" / "Something Wonderful" (Hammerstein, Rodgers) – 4:50
  7. "Adelaide's Lament" (Frank Loesser) – 3:25 (CD Bonus Track)
  8. "Send In the Clowns" (Sondheim) – 4:42
  9. "Pretty Women" / "The Ladies Who Lunch" (Sondheim) – 5:09
    • from Sweeney Todd / Company
  10. "Can't Help Lovin' That Man" (Hammerstein, Jerome Kern) – 3:31
  11. "I Loves You, Porgy" / "Porgy, I's Your Woman Now (Bess, You Is My Woman)" (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin, DuBose Heyward) – 4:35
  12. "Somewhere" (Sondheim, Bernstein) – 4:56
    • from West Side Story

Bonus track

  2. "I Know Him So Well" [Session outtake] (Tim Rice, Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus) – 4:14

Personnel

Information is based on Liner Notes. [14]

Production

Charts

Certifications and sales

RegionCertification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA) [31] 2× Platinum140,000‡
Canada (Music Canada) [32] 2× Platinum200,000^
Netherlands (NVPI) [33] Gold50,000^
New Zealand (RMNZ) [34] Platinum15,000^
United Kingdom (BPI) [35] Gold100,000^
United States (RIAA) [36] 4× Platinum4,000,000^
United States (RIAA) [37]
Video Longform 		Gold50,000^
Summaries
Worldwide—7,500,000 [38]

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

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References

  1. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-07-21. Retrieved 2009-04-28.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-07-21. Retrieved 2009-04-28.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. ↑ The Broadway Album at AllMusic
  4. ↑ Putting It Together: The Making of the Broadway Album at IMDb OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
  5. ↑ Howe, Matt. Compact Discs: New Technology . Barbra Streisand Archives.
  6. ↑ Savage, Mark (4 August 2021). "Barbra Streisand: 'I've always had the right to sing what I want'". BBC News.
  7. ↑ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine : "Barbra Streisand - The Broadway Album part 1". YouTube .
  8. ↑ "Barbra Streisand Archives | Broadway Album (1985)". barbra-archives.com. Archived from the original on 2008-12-31.
  9. ↑ Sandow, Greg. (June 25, 1993). Back to Broadway. EW.com. Accessed October 18, 2007.
  10. ↑ Davis, Francis. (January 16, 1986) The Broadway Album. Rolling Stone. Accessed October 18, 2007.
  11. ↑ Holden, Stephen (November 10, 1985), "Barbra Streisand: 'This is the music I love. It is my roots'", The New York Times, pp. Late City Final Edition, Section 2, Page 1, Column 1
  12. ↑ "100 GREATEST CDS A LOVE-IT-OR-LOATHE-IT GUIDE TO THE ESSENTIAL DISC LIBRARY". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2011-10-26.
  13. ↑ Liner notes, C4K 44111. Columbia Records, 1991
  14. ↑ Streisand, Barbra. “The Broadway Album”. Columbia. 1985.
  15. ↑ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. ISBN   0-646-11917-6.
  16. ↑ "Austriancharts.at – Barbra Streisand – The Broadway Album" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  17. ↑ "Top RPM Albums: Issue 0642". RPM . Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  18. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Barbra Streisand – The Broadway Album" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  19. ↑ "European Top 100 Albums" (PDF). Eurotipsheet . Vol. 3, no. 3. January 20, 1986. p. 15. OCLC   29800226. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 8, 2021. Retrieved February 5, 2022– via World Radio History.
  20. ↑ Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970-2005. Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN   4-87131-077-9.
  21. ↑ "Charts.nz – Barbra Streisand – The Broadway Album". Hung Medien. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  22. ↑ "Swedishcharts.com – Barbra Streisand – The Broadway Album". Hung Medien. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  23. ↑ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved February 5, 2022.
  24. ↑ "Barbra Streisand Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved March 8, 2016.
  25. ↑ "RPM Top 100 Albums of 1986". RPM . Archived from the original on May 24, 2013. Retrieved October 3, 2011.
  26. ↑ "Jaaroverzichten – Album 1986" (in Dutch). Dutch Charts . Retrieved February 5, 2022.
  27. ↑ "Top Selling Albums of 1986 — The Official New Zealand Music Chart". Recorded Music New Zealand . Retrieved February 5, 2022.
  28. ↑ "Top 100 Albums (January to December 1986)" (PDF). Music Week . January 24, 1987. p. 25. ISSN   0265-1548 – via World Radio History.
  29. ↑ "Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 1987". Billboard . Archived from the original on May 8, 2021. Retrieved February 5, 2022.
  30. ↑ "The CASH BOX Year-End Charts: 1986". Archived from the original on August 14, 2012.. Cash Box magazine .
  31. ↑ "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2021 Albums" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association . Retrieved February 7, 2022.
  32. ↑ "Canadian album certifications – Barbra Streisand – The Broadway Album". Music Canada.
  33. ↑ "Dutch album certifications – Barbra Streisand – The Broadway Album" (in Dutch). Nederlandse Vereniging van Producenten en Importeurs van beeld- en geluidsdragers.Enter The Broadway Album in the "Artiest of titel" box. Select 1988 in the drop-down menu saying "Alle jaargangen".
  34. ↑ "New Zealand album certifications – Barbra Streisand – The Broadway Album". Recorded Music NZ . Retrieved 1 March 2016.
  35. ↑ "British album certifications – Barbra Streisand – The Broadway Album". British Phonographic Industry.Select albums in the Format field. Select Gold in the Certification field. Type The Broadway Album in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
  36. ↑ "American album certifications – Barbra Streisand – The Broadway Album". Recording Industry Association of America.
  37. ↑ "American video certifications – Barbra Streisand – Putting It Together -- Making of the Broadway LP". Recording Industry Association of America.
  38. ↑ "How Barbra Streisand Got The Broadway Album Made". Vultura . 7 November 2023. Archived from the original on 7 November 2023. Retrieved 10 November 2023.
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