BARBRA STREISAND - Back to Broadway (1993) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

While still an impressive recording, Back to Broadway is less impressive than its predecessor, The Broadway Album, for a number of reasons. The first is material. Barbra Streisand seems to be attracted to certain musicals, and here she chooses more songs from shows like West Side Story and Guys and Dolls that she didn't pick the last time around. Still attracted more to current composers than earlier ones, Streisand picks five songs by Stephen Sondheim (who has once again obligingly rewritten lyrics to suit her) and three by Andrew Lloyd Webber. The Sondheim material is worthy; the Lloyd Webber is not. (Though the intensity with which she sings "With One Look" from Sunset Boulevard suggests an eerie identification with the show's demented silent movie queen Norma Desmond.) Further, Streisand has done duets on two selections with people better identified with the material -- Michael Crawford, the original Phantom in Phantom of the Opera, on his signature song, "The Music of the Night," and Johnny Mathis, who has sung a medley of West Side Story songs in his shows for years, on a medley of "I Have a Love/One Hand, One Heart" from that show. Finally, the arrangements and production lean more toward contemporary pop and light jazz in many instances, the influence of commercial producers and arrangers like David Foster. All of which means that Back to Broadway is somewhat uneven. When Streisand takes on songs as well suited to her as "Everybody Says Don't" (from Sondheim's Anyone Can Whistle) and "Children Will Listen" (from his Into the Woods), she nears her work on The Broadway Album. Elsewhere, she is merely a phenomenal singer working against material or arrangements that aren't quite appropriate to her. by William Ruhlmann
Tracklist :
1    Some Enchanted Evening 3:54
Arranged By [Orchestrated] – Johnny Mandel
Composed By – Richard Rodgers
Lyrics By – Oscar Hammerstein II
Synthesizer – Mark Portmann
Synthesizer [Overdubs] – Simon Franglen
2    Everybody Says Don't 2:37
Arranged By – Barbra Streisand, Bill Ross
Conductor – Bill Ross
3    The Music Of The Night 5:37
Conductor, Arranged By – Andrew Pryce Jackman
Engineer [Additional Vocal] – Dave Reitzas
Lyrics By – Charles Hart
Lyrics By [Additional] – Richard Stilgoe
Orchestra – The London Symphony Orchestra
Producer [Associate] – Don Reedman, Jeff Jarratt
Recorded By [Orchestra] – John Timperley
Recorded By [Vocals] – Humberto Gatica
Vocals – Michael Crawford
4    Speak Low 3:27
Arranged By [Orchestrated] – Johnny Mandel
Composed By – Kurt Weill
Guitar – Michael Thompson
Lyrics By – Ogden Nash
Percussion – Paulinho Da Costa
Saxophone [Solo] – David Boruff
5    As If We Never Said Goodbye 4:45
Bass – Abe Laboriel
Drums – Mike Baird
Guitar – Dean Parks
Keyboards – Jeffrey (CJ) Vanston
Lyrics By – Christopher Hampton, Don Black
Lyrics By [Contributions] – Amy Powers
Orchestrated By – Andrew Lloyd Webber, David Cullen (4), John Cameron (2)
Piano – Greg Phillinganes
Producer – Andrew Lloyd Webber, Nigel Wright
6    Children Will Listen 4:09
Arranged By [Co-arranged] – Mark Portmann
Conductor, Arranged By – Jonathan Tunick
Piano – John Berkman, Mark Portmann
7    I Have A Love / One Hand, One Heart 6:27
Arranged By – Billy Byers
Arranged By [Orchestrated] – Billy Byers, Bill Ross
Composed By – Leonard Bernstein
Conductor – Bill Ross
Programmed By [Synthesizer] – Tony Smith
Vocals – Johnny Mathis
8    I've Never Been In Love Before 3:54
Composed By, Lyrics By – Frank Loesser
Conductor, Arranged By – Jeremy Lubbock
Recorded By – Shawn Murphy
9    Luck Be A Lady 3:23
Composed By, Lyrics By – Frank Loesser
Conductor, Arranged By – Jeremy Lubbock
Drums – Jeffrey Hamilton
Percussion – Paulinho Da Costa
Synthesizer – Mark Portmann
10    With One Look 3:35
Bass – Neil Stubenhaus
Conductor – David Caddick
Drums – Mike Baird
Guitar – Bob Mann, George Doering
Keyboards – Mike Lang
Lyrics By – Christopher Hampton, Don Black
Lyrics By [Contributions] – Amy Powers
Orchestrated By – Andrew Lloyd Webber, David Cullen
Piano – Greg Phillinganes
Producer – Andrew Lloyd Webber, Nigel Wright
Synthesizer – Jeffrey (CJ) Vanston
11    The Man I Love 3:43
Composed By – George Gershwin
Lyrics By – Ira Gershwin
12    Move On 5:27
Conductor, Arranged By – Michael Starobin
Drums – Steven Schaeffer
Keyboards – Mike Lang
Piano – Scott Frankel
Recorded By – Shawn Murphy
Credits :
Arranged By – David Foster (pistas: 1, 4, 7), Johnny Mandel (pistas: 1, 4, 11)
Bass – Nathan East (pistas: 2, 4, 12)
Composed By – Andrew Lloyd Webber (pistas: 3, 5, 10), Humberto Gatica, Stephen Sondheim (pistas: 2, 6, 12)
Conductor – Eddie Karam (pistas: 1, 4, 11)
Lyrics By – Stephen Sondheim (pistas: 2, 6, 7, 12)
Percussion – Alan Estes (pistas: 5, 10, 12)
Programmed By [Synthesizer & Synclavier] – Simon Franglen (pistas: 2, 4, 6)
Synthesizer – Ian Underwood (pistas: 1, 11, 12)