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2025: A Streisand Odyssey

@jeffasydney

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Every Streisand album reviewed.
Starting here, starting now.
Vinyl site: @jef.f_vinyl
#barbrastreisand #streisand #funnygirl

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Happy 80th Birthday, Barbra. 🥰 Proudly wearing your gorgeous mug all day in Melbourne 🥳 The greatest star ⭐️ xxx

@streisand @barbrastreisand #barbrastreisand #streisand #funnygirl #streisandvinyl by @jeffasydney

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4 years ago

#barbrastreisand #streisandfilms #hellodolly by @jeffasydney

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3 months ago

#barbrastreisand #streisandfilms #hellodolly by @jeffasydney

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3 months ago

Nobody puts Barbra in a corner … Found her in the middle of a stack of CDs at a thrift shop.

As is my way, I brought her to the front for better display. But then, with my No Barbra Left Behind policy, I bought her for two bucks - even though I already own this and the DVD - and played her in the car on the way home.

Happy Birthday Ms Streisand 🥰 by @jeffasydney

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6 months ago

Happy Birthday, gorgeous

#barbrastreisand #streisand by @jeffasydney

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6 months ago

H A P P Y 🎅 C H R I S T M A S 🎄 🌞

#barbrastreisand #streisandchristmas #christmasrecords by @jeffasydney

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10 months ago

‘Season’s Greetings from Barbra Streisand... And Friends!’
1969

Right, Let’s go.

Putting it together.
‘Season’s Greetings from Barbra Streisand... And Friends! was a limited promotional release by Columbia in partnership with Maxwell House Coffee. The album which featured popular artists from the label sold in the US and Canada for $1.00, and was displayed amid cans of coffee in supermarkets.

Instant Classic:
The stunning front cover art and fun typography.

Hot tracks:
‘O Little Town of Bethlehem’

Guilty of?:
Oh, Barbra, what a disservice they paid you. In a bid to jolly up Streisand’s quiet and dignified Christmas album, the producers of this coffee cash-in interspersed bright Christmas elevator music between each Streisand track, making for a very unsettling experience.

If She Had The Chance To Do It All Again,
Should She?:
No. (Or, Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps. Just for the cover.) Although she had no say in this one. Streisand’s label Columbia, and its voracious little side hustle Columbia Special Products, did a cigar-toting cross promotion deal with Maxwell House bosses. Columbia got to widely showcase its stable of stars in supermarkets.

On the upside, Streisand gets the solo cover image, and all of Side A. And the song selection is great, featuring five tracks from the original album: ‘O Little Town of Bethlehem’, ‘Sleep in Heavenly Peace (Silent Night)’, Gounod’s Ave Maria’, The Christmas Song’, and ‘The Best Gift’

And the one dollar cover price perhaps introduced a new audience to Barbra as they sipped their freeze-dried coffee.

Sadly, the grouping of artists made it painfully obvious how completely revolutionary Streisand was. Jim Nabors in particular comes off as an antiquated 1950s crooner. Doris Day fares a little better, while easy-listening arranger Andre Kostelanetz leading a choir does exactly what it says on the box.

But time had already started to move on - in part thanks to Streisand - and all three were getting to their use by date. Streisand however sounds fresh, modern, and timeless. The future was here.

Will He Like Me?:

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ for the gorgeous cover

#streisand #christmasvinyl #streisandvinyl by @jeffasydney

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10 months ago

‘A Christmas Album’
2024 Reissue with Bonus track

I had hoped to review this one last year but my vinyl copy didn’t arrive in time. Right, let’s go:

Putting It Together:
Recorded while pregnant and recovering from laryngitis, Streisand didn’t rate her vocal and assumed she would re-record it.

‘A Christmas Album’ went dashing all the way to #1 and has since gone 5 x Platinum.

In 2024 the album was reissued with bonus track, ‘Gounod’s Ave Maria (English)’, recorded in 1967. It first saw the light of day in 2005 on a Starbucks-exclusive CD, ‘Baby, It's Cold Outside’.

Instant Classic:
The machine-gun J-J-J-‘Jingle Bells’, the heavenly ‘Sleep in Heavenly Peace (Silent Night)’

Hot tracks:
‘Gounod’s Ava Maria’, ‘O Little Town of Bethlehem’,
‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’

Guilty of?:
Can you have too much ‘Ava Maria’? The original’s Latin take is already perfect. The bonus track may have stood out better on a ‘Release Me’ LP. Plus, unusually, there’s no new liner notes or photos.

If She Had The Chance To Do It All Again,
Should She?:
Definitely. The OG album, halved neatly into secular and sacred song sides, needs little introduction. It has been a best seller since release almost 60 years ago.

Streisand never did get to rerecord the vocal but needn’t have worried. She sounds remarkable and the slight rasp in her vocal adds an otherworldly quality.

And the album sounds very intimate. The orchestra stays mostly out of the way, just the singer at the microphone. Few Christmas albums are this classy.

Streisand is in the era of looking back: restoring lost tracks for her successful ‘Release Me’ albums; writing her 900-page memoir and audio book; and reissuing older albums, such as the spectacular ’Yentl: 40th Anniversary’ in 2024, which was packed with demos and extras, and her long lost first album ‘Live at the Bon Soir, originally intended to be her 1962 debut.

Long out of print, this update is very welcome. And the transparent blue vinyl is exquisite.

Pictured with my original 1967 copy.

Will He Like Me?:

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

2024 Reissue, with bonus track. Turquoise Marble Vinyl

#streisand #christmasvinyl #streisandvinyl by @jeffasydney

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a year ago

Sure, I have this in hardback but so tempted by this lovely paperback edition. Instead, I adjusted the display in the bookstore so she can be better seen. Should never place the greatest star in the second row 🌟 #streisand #autobiography #barbrastreisand #nytbestseller by @jeffasydney

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a year ago

Even in the far away mountains of Portugal, by the side of hilly, cobbled road, there she is 🥰

#streisand #portugal #sintra #barbravinyl by @jeffasydney

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a year ago

Hi, from Sintra, Portugal 👋 by @jeffasydney

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a year ago

‘The Secret of Life: Partners, Volume Two’
2025

The first ‘Partners’ album pretty much stunk, although it was a best-seller. So, how does Volume Two stack up? Right, let’s go:

Putting It Together:
Streisand’s 2014 duets album ‘Partners’ debuted at No.1. So did 2016 follow-up ‘Encore: Movie Partners Sing Broadway’.

For this 2025 set Streisand enlisted the biggest names in the biz, from Paul McCartney and Bob Dylan to Hozier, Laufey and Sam Smith, plus country star Tim McGraw, Broadway royalty Josh Groban, and divas Mariah Carey and Ariana Grande.

Partners don’t get much bigger than this.

Recording took place in California and London and the album was produced and arranged by super producers Walter Afanasieff and Peter Asher, with Streisand and Jay Landers as executive producers.

Instant Classic:
‘Letter to My 13 Year Old Self’ with Laufey

Hot tracks:
‘First Time Ever I Saw Your Face’ with Hozier; ‘One Heart, One Voice’ divafest

Guilty of?:
Streisand’s duet albums are her least interesting. Wasn’t the next album going to be a solo? What happened?

If She Had The Chance To Do It All Again,
Should She?:
Yes. The 2014 album retro-fitted Streisand hits as duets (who wants to hear Stevie wonder sing People!?), and the second had all that awful dialogue - and 73 year-old Barbra as a ballerina!

But this time, she gets it right.

The Streisand/Laufey collab is a perfect match of artists to material that outshines its original. Sam Smith’s vocal slays, although it doesn’t seem like he’s in the same room. When Dylan appears the connection is instant. Irish rocker Hozier proves a surprising fit; James Taylor brings incredible warmth. And Streisand sounds superb throughout.

And while I was nervous the diva trio would be a warble fest, it turns out to be a honey-smooth female empowerment hug that gives the album a pop lift.

What really works on the album is how beautifully the voices blend and their warm and reflective tone. Ruminating on the secret to life has never sounded so cozy.

A fitting tribute to the greatest star.

Will He Like Me?:

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

#streisand #streisandfan #barbrastreisand #streisandvinyl #arianagrande #mariahcarey by @jeffasydney

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