Customer Reviews

Second Barbra Streisand Album

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The Second Barbra Streisand Album came out not too long after Barbra's first record album; she had become wildly popular almost overnight. That's very much to her credit. This album features Barbra at her peak--although, then again, it's tough to think of Barbra Streisand NOT singing at her peak! The quality of the sound is excellent and the artwork is terrific.

"Any Place I Hang My Hat Is Home" starts the album off with Barbra singing this so very well; the music that accompanies her fits in perfectly to make this number a strong beginning for this album. Barbra sings this with some great tempo changes and her voice is extremely vibrant--I love it! "Down With Love" again features Barbra Streisand squarely in the spotlight--and that was certainly right where she belonged and still belongs! Barbra sings "Down With Love" without a superfluous note and the horn solo is very beautifully done; this all works wonders for this classic love song. Terrific! There's also a stunning rendition of "Who Will Buy?" that gets the royal treatment from Barbra as she sings this with great sensitivity and panache. The beautiful music in the background fits in perfectly with Barbra's vocals to make "Who Will Buy?" a very well done number.

"When The Sun Comes Out" has Barbra giving this ballad a passionate delivery that strikes you as very special the instant you hear it; her voice is clear as a bell and her excellent diction enhances her performance even further! "When The Sun Comes Out" is easily a major highlight of this album. Listen also for "Gotta Move;" this tune has some great singing from Streisand and the percussion works so well--as do the strings. Barbra sings of a woman who needs to find a new man who will love her just the way she is; and that's certainly something many people can relate to sooner or later in life.

"My Coloring Book" is a ballad that stuns me with its beauty and deep sensitivity; Barbra sings very sweetly of a woman's emotions and experiences and the violin is very pretty. "Lover, Come Back To Me" has a strong big band musical arrangement and Barbra gives this her all by delving into the tune and coming up fresh and perfectly able to convey every subtle nuance of the lyrics to this ballad. "I Stayed Too Long At The Fair" gets another touching treatment from Barbra Streisand; and her second album ends strong with Barbra singing "Like A Straw In The Wind." "Like A Straw In The Wind" has a fine arrangement and it makes a splendid ending for this CD.

Barbra Streisand's fans may have this already--but if some of them don't I recommend they get this and enjoy it!

I was first introduced to Streisand's work in 1980 with her "Guilty" album and during the years that followed I slowly started listening to her older music while waiting for something new. I found that alhough there were many songs from the 70's I liked, I just couldn't get into her earliest recordings...until... "The Second Barbra Streisand Album"!

At some point in the long stretch between "Till I Loved You" and "Back to Broadway" I became desperate for something, anything, I hadn't heard before. So when I caught Barbra's STUNNING performance of "Down With Love" from the old Judy Garland show, I quickly raced to buy whatever album it came from...it turned out to be "The Second Barbra Streisand Album".

If I had to choose one definitive album that so completely catches the magic that was Streisand in the beginning, this album is it.

From the first notes of "Any Place I Hang My Hat Is Home" to the moment when it is reprised again at the end of "Like A Straw In the Wind" Barbra's voice will hypnotize you...!

On the minus side: It seems Barbra's nose was "straightened" on the cover!

On the plus side: This is a better set of songs than even her first solo album "The Barbra Streisand Album".

Best cuts: Any Place I hang My Hat Is Home, Down With Love, When the Sun Coems Out, Like A Straw in the Wind.

The song "Gotta Move" was used in the film "Too Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything Julie Newmar"!

As for me, I'll always remember this as the album that unlocked "early Barbra" for me... if you just can't seem to get into her early stuff, maybe this album will do the trick for you as well!

Barbra's studio work was becoming more polished as the sixties progressed and it seems to start with this album. My favorite track on this album, as I listen to it as a whole, is "My Coloring Book." I've always liked that song ever since I first heard it on the original "Greatest Hits" album. When I found this album on cd and played it in it's entirity I didn't realize "My Coloring Book" was the only pop recording surrounded by standards written by Harlod Arlen. Barbra tended to get hyperactive recording Arlen material for some reason but the Big Band treatment of "Lover, Come Back To Me" detracts from the depressing message of a love lost. Barbra's treatment of "When The Sun Comes Out" is regarded by many to be the definitive version and "Gotta Move" captures the sixties and the bongo craze that was happening in coffee houses in the early part of that decade. Barbra would revisit "Gotta Move for "Color Me Barbra" and somehow records an even more dramatic version with more strings. It was this second version that gets used in the motion picture "Too Wong Foo With Love, Julie Newmar." "I Stayed Too Long At The Fair" also gets revisited for the same t.v. special and resulting soundtrack, but this version is absolutely beautiful. It was around this time Barbra made a guest appearance on the "Judy Garland Show" and her career just exploded. All in all a teriffic album that would have done just as well titled "Barbra Sings Harlod Arlen."

As a diehard Barbra fan, it never ceases to amaze me how this record keeps morphing on me. When I first bought it (probably 1973), I couldn't get into most of the Arlen ballads and thought many of them overproduced and/or oversung. Years later, after reading consistently good reviews about it, I would begin to revisit it and found that it, or I?, had mellowed some with age and the songs began to grow on me. Now, it is one of the records I consistently play from her catalog. "Down With Love", "When The Sun Comes Out", "Any Place I Hang My Hat..", and "..Too Long at the Fair" are among Barbra's best recordings. For the life of me, I don't know why she chose to include the manic "Lover Come Back To Me" on the "Essential Barbra Streisand", but you can't have everything. "The Second Album" is great car music and helps lift the boring work blues at the office as well. Who would have guessed?

This was Barbra's 2nd official album under her Columbia contract. Barbra did this album after a wave of very succesful cabaret shows which mostly include this material. Its clear she's been singing the songs for awhile, each has its own distinct character which had to take time to flesh out, yet the songs sound anything but stale. She sings like the words just sprang into her head like a really good idea. This album is actually better than the first CD for two reasons, first its mostly Harold Arlen songs who has an interpretor like no other in Streisand, second there arent any too zany songs like Big Bad Wolf on this album. Just pure 60's Streisand bliss.

Barbra at her best. If you think aretha franklin can wail a song, you havent heard barbra. If you think celine is good, then this will prove how average she is and everyone compared to LA STREISAND. The emotion in this album, the range of her voice and the sheer beauty of voice that is Streisand. No other singer, except maria callas, joan sutherland and ella, has given me such joy as barbra streisand. One listen to MY COLORING BOOK and HAVE I STAYED TOO LONG AT THE FAIR, you'll know that you are listening to someone with a voice that trascends art to heavenly proportion. This album encompasses barbras talent as a great song stylist, and it demonstrates her incredible range, particularly on WHEN THE SUN COMES OUT. From a low A to an extreme high B flat, barbra spanned more than 2 and a half octave of her 3 octave voice.

This album ranks with the BROADWAY ALBUM, JUST FOR THE RECORD, GUILTY and her FIRST ALBUM.

It just adds to the picture of Early Barbra. Still, I believe the best is yet to come: for me The Third Barbra Streisand Album is the very best of pre-TV special, pre-mega star Barbra. There's still plenty on this album to be happy with - a superb Anywhere I Hang My Hat Is Home for example. Not as 'raw' and not so much the ingenue as on the first album, not as polished and sensuous as the third. But still great.

"The Second Barbra Streisand Album" is one of my favorites of her 65+ albums. Still!

I always love Barbra -- as well as her unabandoned singing -- when she had just "hit" the world for the first time, and she felt she had something truly special to say (sing!).

You may find some of the songs a bit dated, old, or stuffy. However, they provide a perfect forum, musically, for Barbra's miraculous talents both as a singer and an actress of song.

My favorite tracks on this CD are: "Any Place I Hang My Hat Is Home," "When The Sun Comes Out," "Gotta Move," "My Coloring Book," and an incredible version of "Who Will Buy?" from the musical, "Oliver," of which you wouldn't hear anywhere else but from our very own Barbra. (She changes the tempo of "Who Will Buy?" from Moderato to Largo; a stroke of genius on Barbra's part.)

If you like vintage Barbra, where, in my opinion, Barbra was never more of a fearless singer, please add this CD to your collection.

Streisand's sophomore release serves up another set of consistent songs, given a strong sense of cohesiveness by the jazzy arrangements and Barbra's revolutionary vocal performances. A Top Five, Gold-selling record, nearly half of the set is devoted to the material of Harold Arlen. Streisand proves to a perfect interpreter of Arlen's compositions, giving the definitive performances of many of his songs, especially "Any Place I Hang My Hat Is Home," "When The Sun Comes Out," and "Down With Love." Barbra even gives the album's only pop number (the single "My Coloring Book") a reverent dramatic sensitivity that allows the number to sit perfectly balanced between the other, more sophisticated material. Another top-notch effort from a vibrant and essential artist.

First time I heard Barbra's voice was on a hot summer's evening in 1963, listening to my boyfriend's car radio. He said, "Listen to her voice. She will be the greatest (modern) singer in the world. What is her name?". He was right. The Vintage Barbra is extraordinary. One has to also admire the wonderful orchestral music accompanying her. Barbara always insisted on professional musicians playing real instruments. For my ear, all of her music at any age is perfection.