BARBRA STREISAND - The Essential Barbra Streisand (2002) 2CD / FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Although Barbra Streisand has recorded for the same company, Columbia Records, throughout her career, her work has not been particularly well represented on compilations. Four single-disc best-ofs dot her discography, but the listener who wanted to do something as simple as purchase an album containing the original studio recordings of both her first Top Ten hit, "People," and her first number one, "The Way We Were," without plumping for the four-CD box set Just for the Record , was out of luck. Complicating the compiling of her career highlights is her position as essentially an album artist, despite having scattered 11 Top Ten pop hits across 32 years. The ideal collection would have to do justice to her popular early albums of the '60s, her mid-career singles hits of the '70s, and her renewed album success in the '80s and '90s. Here it is. At a CD-busting length of over two and a half hours, this 40-track double-disc set encapsulates Streisand's recording career in chronological order from her 1963 debut album to 1999. (Two previously unreleased tracks sound like outtakes from her later album projects. "Someday My Prince Will Come" probably got left off of A Love Like Ours, while the gospel-tinged "You'll Never Walk Alone" must have been intended for Higher Ground.) Intelligently picking signature performances from her best and most popular albums, it largely eschews a raft of singles that got into the bottom half of the Top 40, but leaves out only one Top Ten hit, "What Kind of Fool." The singer's versatility and her ability to impose her immediately identifiable vocal style on a variety of material are emphasized in recordings that range from Broadway show tunes to disco. A collection like this has been needed for a long time as a gateway to Streisand's bountiful, indeed overwhelming, catalog. by William Ruhlmann
Tracklist 1 :
1    Barbra Streisand–    A Sleepin' Bee 4:22
Written-By – Harold Arlen, Truman Capote
2    Barbra Streisand–    Cry Me A River 3:37
Written-By – Arthur Hamilton
3    Barbra Streisand–    I Stayed Too Long At The Fair 4:20
Written-By – Billy Barnes
4    Barbra Streisand–    Lover, Come Back To Me 2:17
Written-By – Oscar Hammerstein II, Sigmund Romberg
5    Barbra Streisand–    People 3:40
Written-By – Bob Merrill, Jule Styne
6    Barbra Streisand–    My Man 2:58
Written-By – Albert Willemetz, Channing Pollock, Jacques Charles, Maurice Yvain
7    Barbra Streisand–    Second Hand Rose 2:09
Written-By – Grant Clarke, James F. Hanley
8    Barbra Streisand–    He Touched Me 3:10
Written By – Milton Schaeffer
Written-By – Ira Levine
9    Barbra Streisand–    Don't Rain On My Parade 2:45
Producer – Jack Gold
Written-By – Bob Merrill, Jule Styne
10    Barbra Streisand–    Happy Days Are Here Again 3:14
Producer – Jack Gold
Written-By – Jack Yellen, Milton Ager
11    Barbra Streisand–    On A Clear Day (You Can See Forever) 2:11
Producer – Wally Gold
Written-By – Alan Jay Lerner, Burton Lane
12    Barbra Streisand–    Stoney End 2:59
Producer – Richard Perry
Written-By – Laura Nyro
13    Barbra Streisand–    Since I Fell For You 3:25
Producer – Richard Perry
Written-By – Buddy Johnson
14    Barbra Streisand–    What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life? 3:20
Producer – Wally Gold
Written-By – Alan Bergman, Marilyn Bergman, Michel Legrand
15    Barbra Streisand–    The Way We Were 3:30
Producer – Marty Paich
Written-By – Alan Bergman, Marilyn Bergman, Marvin Hamlisch
16    Barbra Streisand–    All In Love Is Fair 3:50
Producer – Tommy LiPuma
Written-By – Stevie Wonder
17    Barbra Streisand–    Lazy Afternoon 3:50
Producer – Jeffrey Lesser, Rupert Holmes
Written-By – Jeff LaTouche
18    Barbra Streisand–    Evergreen (Love Theme From "A Star Is Born") 3:05
Producer – Phil Ramone
Written-By – Barbra Streisand, Paul Williams
19    Barbra Streisand–    My Heart Belongs To Me 3:21
Producer – Charlie Calello, Gary Klein
Written-By – Allen Gordon
20    Barbra Streisand Duet With Neil Diamond–    You Don't Bring Me Flowers 3:24
Producer – Bob Gaudio
Vocals, Written-By – Neil Diamond
Written-By – Alan Bergman, Marilyn Bergman
21    Barbra Streisand–    The Main Event / Fight 4:55
Producer, Written-By – Bob Esty
Written-By – Bruce Roberts, Paul Jabara
22    Barbra Streisand Duet With Donna Summer–    No More Tears (Enough Is Enough) 4:43
Producer – Gary Klein
Vocals – Donna Summer
Written-By – Bruce Roberts, Paul Jabara
Tracklist 2 :
1    Barbra Streisand–    Woman In Love 3:51
Producer – Albhy Galuten, Karl Richardson
Producer, Written-By, Vocals – Barry Gibb
2    Barbra Streisand Duet With Barry Gibb–    Guilty 4:24
Producer – Albhy Galuten, Karl Richardson
Producer, Written-By, Vocals – Barry Gibb
Written-By – Maurice Gibb, Robin Gibb
3    Barbra Streisand–    Comin' In And Out Of Your Life 4:09
Written-By – Bobby Whiteside, Richard Parker
4    Barbra Streisand–    Memory 3:55
Written-By – Andrew Lloyd Webber, T. S. Eliot, Trevor Nunn
5    Barbra Streisand–    Papa, Can You Hear Me? 3:29
Producer, Written-By – Alan Bergman, Marilyn Bergman
Written-By – Michel Legrand
6    Barbra Streisand–    A Piece Of Sky 4:20
Producer, Written-By – Alan Bergman, Marilyn Bergman
Written-By – Michel Legrand
7    Barbra Streisand–    Putting It Together 4:21
Producer – Peter Matz
Written-By – Stephen Sondheim
8    Barbra Streisand–    Not While I'm Around 3:29
Producer – Richard Baskin
Written-By – Stephen Sondheim
9    Barbra Streisand–    Send In The Clowns 4:43
Written-By – Stephen Sondheim
10    Barbra Streisand–    Somewhere 4:56
Written-By – Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim
11    Barbra Streisand–    All I Ask Of You 4:02
Producer – Phil Ramone
Written-By – Andrew Lloyd Webber, Charles Hart, Richard Stilgoe
12    Barbra Streisand–    Children Will Listen 4:09
Written-By – Stephen Sondheim
13    Barbra Streisand–    As If We Never Said Goodbye 4:44
Producer – Nigel Wright
Written-By – Amy Powers, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Christopher Hampton, Don Black
14    Barbra Streisand Duet With Bryan Adams–    I Finally Found Someone 3:41
Vocals, Written-By – Bryan Adams
Written-By – Barbra Streisand, Marvin Hamlish, R.J. Lange
15    Barbra Streisand Duet With Céline Dion–    Tell Him 4:51
Vocals – Céline Dion
Written-By – David Foster, Linda Thompson, Walter Afanasieff
16    Barbra Streisand–    I've Dreamed Of You 4:44
Written-By – Ann Hampton Callaway, Rolf Løvland
17    Barbra Streisand–    Someday My Prince Will Come 4:06
Producer – William Ross
Written-By – Frank Churchill, Larry Morey
18    Barbra Streisand–    You'll Never Walk Alone 4:35
Written-By – Arthur Hammerstein, Richard Rodgers