The Broadway Album

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.

The Broadway Album
Studio album by
Barbra Streisand
ReleasedNovember 4, 1985[1]
RecordedSpring–Summer 1985[2]
Studio
  • A&M Recording Studios, Hollywood, CA
  • A&M, Los Angeles, CA
  • Evergreen Recording Studio, Burbank, CA
  • Lighthouse Studios, N. Hollywood, CA
  • Randy Waldman Studio, N. Hollywood, CA
  • Village Recorders, W. L.A., CA
  • Westlake, Los Angeles, CA
Genre
Length47:44
LabelColumbia
Producer
Barbra Streisand chronology
Emotion
(1984)		 The Broadway Album
(1985)		 One Voice
(1987)

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".

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. 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.[6]

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.[7]

Reception and accolades
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic 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".[8] 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".[9] 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".[10] The album was ranked #37 on Entertainment Weekly's list of the '100 100 GREATEST CDS ', the fourth highest album by a female artist to appear on the list.[11]

The album reached #1 on the US Billboard 200 chart in 1986, selling 218,000 copies in that week and earned Streisand a Grammy Award for "Best Female Pop Vocal Performance". 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.[12]

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" (Leonard Bernstein, Sondheim) – 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" (Bernstein, Sondheim) – 4:56
    • from West Side Story

Bonus track

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

Personnel

Information is based on Liner Notes.[13]

Production

  • John Arrias – recording engineer (tracks 3, 6, 8), remixing (3, 6, 8, 10)
  • Israel Baker – concertmaster ("Send in the Clowns")
  • Richard Baskin – arranger (track 3), producer (tracks 3–4)
  • Michael Boddicker – synthesizer programming ("Somewhere")
  • Alexander Courage – orchestration ("Porgy and Bess" medley)
  • Bob Esty – arranger, producer ("The King and I" medley)
  • Benny Faccone – engineer, assistant engineer (all tracks)
  • David Foster – arranger, producer ("Somewhere")
  • Humberto Gatica – recording engineer (track 12), remixing (1–2, 5, 9, 11)
  • Don Hahn – recording engineer (tracks 1–2, 4–5, 7, 9–11), remixing (track 4)
  • Jerry Hey – horn arrangements ("Something's Coming")
  • Paul Jabara – arranger, producer ("The King and I" medley)
  • Gregg Jampol – assistant engineer
  • Rhett Lawrence – keyboard programming ("The King and I" medley)
  • Laura Livingston – remix assistant (all tracks)
  • Jeremy Lubbock – orchestration ("Send in the Clowns")
  • Stephen Marcussen – remastering, original mastering
  • Peter Matz – arranger (tracks 1–2, 5, 9, 11), conductor (1–2, 7, 9–11), producer (1–2, 5, 7, 9–11), executive producer, orchestration (9–10)
  • Magic Moreno – additional recording engineer (track 12), assistant recording engineer (all tracks)
  • Sid Ramin – orchestration ("Adelaide's Lament")
  • Conrad Salinger – original orchestration ("Can't Help Lovin' That Man")
  • Kim Skalecki – production coordination (all tracks)
  • Barbra Streisand – arranger (tracks 1, 5, 9, 11), producer (1–2, 5–11), executive producer, mastering supervisor
  • Gerald Vinci – concert master ("Can't Help Lovin' That Man")
  • Randy Waldman – arranger ("Something's Coming")
  • Stewart Whitmore – digital editing
  • Jay Willis – remix assistant (all tracks)
  • Jeffrey "Woody" Woodruff – assistant recording engineer ("Somewhere")

Charts

Certifications and sales
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)[24] 2× Platinum 200,000^
Netherlands (NVPI)[25] Gold 50,000^
New Zealand (RMNZ)[26] Platinum 15,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[27] Gold 100,000^
United States (RIAA)[28] 4× Platinum 4,000,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References
  1. http://barbra-archives.com/record/albums/broadway_album.html
  2. http://barbra-archives.com/record/albums/broadway_album.html
  3. The Broadway Album at AllMusic
  4. Putting It Together: The Making of the Broadway Album at IMDb
  5. Howe, Matt. Compact Discs: New Technology . Barbra Streisand Archives.
  6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Seg9G_eFazE
  7. http://barbra-archives.com/record/albums/broadway_album.html
  8. Sandow, Greg. (June 25, 1993). Back to Broadway. EW.com. Accessed October 18, 2007.
  9. Davis, Francis. (January 16, 1986) The Broadway Album. Rolling Stone. Accessed October 18, 2007.
  10. 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
  11. "100 GREATEST CDS A LOVE-IT-OR-LOATHE-IT GUIDE TO THE ESSENTIAL DISC LIBRARY". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2011-10-26.
  12. Liner notes, C4K 44111. Columbia Records, 1991
  13. Streisand, Barbra. “The Broadway Album”. Columbia. 1985.
  14. "Austriancharts.at – Barbra Streisand – The Broadway Album" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  15. "Top RPM Albums: Issue 0642". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  16. Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970-2005. Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN 4-87131-077-9.
  17. "Dutchcharts.nl – Barbra Streisand – The Broadway Album" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  18. "Charts.nz – Barbra Streisand – The Broadway Album". Hung Medien. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  19. "Swedishcharts.com – Barbra Streisand – The Broadway Album". Hung Medien. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  20. "Barbra Streisand | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
  21. "Barbra Streisand Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved March 8, 2016.
  22. "RPM Top 100 Albums of 1986". RPM. Retrieved October 3, 2011.
  23. "The CASH BOX Year-End Charts: 1986". Archived from the original on August 14, 2012.. Cash Box magazine.
  24. "Canadian album certifications – Barbra Streisand – The Broadway Album". Music Canada.
  25. "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.
  26. "NZ Top 40 Albums Chart". Recorded Music NZ. Archived from the original on 1 March 2016. Retrieved 1 March 2016.
  27. "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.
  28. "American album certifications – Barbra Streisand – The Broadway Album". Recording Industry Association of America. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH. 
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