The Movie Album
The idea of Barbra Streisand making an album of movie songs is a no-brainer… Read Full Bio ↴The idea of Barbra Streisand making an album of movie songs is a no-brainer; as annotators Jay Landers and Richard Jay-Alexander point out, she has already recorded over 50 songs written for motion pictures on her 59 previous albums. In fact, the only real challenge may be a marketing one for Columbia Records, since potential customers simply may assume this is a compilation of some of her previous performances. It is not. Rather, it is a newly recorded collection of songs chosen and arranged in Streisand's inimitable style. In keeping with the movie theme, she has thought big, using a 75-piece orchestra of the kind usually only found on a studio back-lot for a soundtrack. But all that firepower is used for support, not for its own sake. The key word here is "lush," not lavish. Streisand's immediately identifiable voice floats over the music, never challenged by it, so she is able to achieve her usual close-up, detailed performance, alternately intimate and expansive. At 61, she retains remarkable purity and range in her voice, though she is less interested in demanding effects. This is a smooth, conversational vocal album. Streisand's song collection is characteristic of her. As usual, she isn't much interested in the Great American Songbook of the interwar period. Only two songs, 1935's "I'm in the Mood for Love" and 1936's "Smile," date from before her birth, with most songs coming from the '50s and '60s. And, as usual, the songs as written sometimes don't satisfy her, so she has prevailed on the composers to change them. Johnny Mandel willingly wrote a new verse to her specifications for "Emily," and Bob Telson did the same for the obscure "Calling You" from Bagdad Café. Streisand's age is reflected in her choices, too. She frequently goes for lyrics about mature love such as "How Do You Keep the Music Playing?" and "The Second Time Around," and she sounds more convincing singing them, giving the words more emphasis than she does, for instance, when she just tosses off the line "You're life itself!" in "Wild Is the Wind." As she herself notes, "You're Gonna Hear from Me," which closes the album, is reminiscent of the assertive songs she sang in her youth, such as "Don't Rain on My Parade," and that makes it all the more notable that she sings it in such a mellow way, as a fond memory rather than an upstart declaration. It makes a fitting closer. If The Movie Album is not the sort of revelation that Streisand's 1985 masterpiece, The Broadway Album, was, it nevertheless gives the listener some superior new takes on standards the singer has not addressed previously and uncovers a gem or two that had been overlooked till now.


Credits

Hooshik Bayliss -- Art Direction
Chuck Berghofer -- Bass, Musician
David Blumberg -- Transcription
Robbie Buchanan -- Arranger, Conductor, Keyboards, Orchestration, Producer, Rhythm Arrangements
Marsha Burns -- Project Coordinator
Renata Buser -- Assistant, Personal Assistant
Jorge Calandrelli -- Arranger, Conductor
Moogie Cannazio -- Engineer
Oscar Castro-Neves -- Guitar, Musician
Jules Chaikin -- Orchestra Contractor
Bryan Clements -- Assistant Engineer
Vinnie Colaiuta -- Drums, Musician
Alexander Courage -- Orchestral Arrangements, Orchestration
Orion Crawford -- Music Preparation
Paulinho Da Costa -- Musician, Percussion
Datz Pyle, Debbi -- Orchestra Contractor
Joel Derouin -- Concert Master, Soloist, Violin
Nancy Donald -- Art Direction
Assa Drori -- Concert Master
Bruce Dukov -- Concert Master
Koji Egawa -- Technical Coordinator
Scott Erickson -- Engineer
Mark Eshelman -- Assistant Engineer
Gregg Field -- Drums, Musician
Chuck Findley -- Soloist, Trumpet
Peter Fletcher -- Product Manager, Project Manager
William Galison -- Harmonica, Soloist
Clayton Haslop -- Concert Master
Dan Higgins -- Flute, Soloist
Richard Jay-Alexander -- Liner Notes
Jay Landers -- Executive Producer, Liner Notes
Mike Lang -- Keyboards, Musician
Gayle Levant -- Harp, Musician
Annie Liebovitz -- Photography
Jeremy Lubbock -- Arranger, Conductor
Warren Luening -- Flugelhorn, Soloist
Johnny Mandel -- Arranger, Conductor, Producer
Stephen Marcussen -- Mastering
Nick Marshall -- Assistant Engineer, Technical Coordinator
Alan Mason -- Assistant Engineer
Mary Maurer -- Art Direction
Mike Melvoin -- Musician, Piano
Adam Michalak -- Assistant Engineer
Terry O'Neill -- Cover Photo
Dean Parks -- Guitar, Musician
John Pisano -- Guitar, Musician
Woody Pornpitaksuk -- Authoring
Marc Portman -- Keyboards, Musician
Tom Ranier -- Musician, Piano
Michael F. Reale -- Assistant Engineer
Dave Reitzas -- Engineer, Mastering, Mixing
Al Schmitt -- Engineer
Bill Schnee -- Engineer
Tom Scott -- Saxophone, Soloist
Christine Sirois -- Assistant Engineer
Kim Skalecki -- Assistant, Personal Assistant
Alan Stein -- Project Coordinator
Barbra Streisand -- Executive Producer, Producer
Neil Stubenhaus -- Bass, Musician
Michael Hart Thompson -- Guitar, Musician
Windy Wagner -- Vocals (Background)
Randy Waldman -- Keyboards, Musician, Piano
Patricia Weber -- Assistant Engineer
Stewart Whitmore -- Digital Editing
ALBUMS TRACK LIST SIMILAR ARTISTS
Genre not found
Artist not found
Album not found
Search results not found
Song not found

The Movie Album
Barbra Streisand Lyrics


How Do You Keep The Music Playing? How do you keep the music playing? How do you make…
Smile I'm all smiles, darlin' You'd be too If you knew, darlin' Al…


Robo


on Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star Is Born)

I love Melinda Vesterfelt

More Versions