We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago…..
A good singer will most of the time know good songs. As the singer-songwriter era began, the need for Brill Building type pop songs was going by the board. Instead singers like Barbra Streisand had to look elsewhere for material. And her 1971 LP “Barbra Joan Streisand”, her 13th LP, shows that either her producer or Barbra herself had a good ear.
She plumbed Carole King’s monster LP “Tapestry”, from earlier in the year, for three tracks. She picked out songs from John Lennon and Laura Nyro and the hit factory that was Bacharach-David. She did a great version of the old chestnut ” Since I Fell For You”. And a movie theme from Michel Legrand (The Sumnmer of 42).
But my favorite cut has to be the song “I Mean To Shine”. It was written by Donald Fagen & Walter Becker…yes, that Donald Fagen & Walter Becker. A year before they would release the first Steely Dan album, Streisand included a song that the duo had written a couple of years earlier while trying to sell their “weird” songs to the producers in the Brill Building. Becker has said that Streisand’s producer Richard Perry “wrecked” the song by changing some of it. Probably by ironing out some of the “weirdness”. Fagen even plays Hammond organ on the track.
The album also features some stellar backing musicians including the members of Fanny. Noted session cats Hugh McCracken, Joe Osborn, Hal Blaine, Jim Keltner, Larry Knechtel, Bobby Keys, Jim Price and Billy Preston are here as well.
The album reached #11 on the Billboard pop charts. How you feel about Babs will probably color your appreciation for this but it does have some highlights.
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