The Broadway Album
| The Broadway Album | ||||
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| Studio album by Barbra Streisand | ||||
| Released | November 5, 1985 | |||
| Recorded | July–August 1985 | |||
| Genre | Vocal, show tunes | |||
| Length | 47:44 | |||
| Label | Columbia | |||
| Producer | Richard Baskin, Bob Esty, David Foster, Paul Jabara, Peter Matz, Kim Skalecki, Barbra Streisand | |||
| Barbra Streisand chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |
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| Entertainment Weekly | (A) link |
| Robert Christgau | (C) link |
The Broadway Album is the twenty-fourth studio album by director, composer, actress and singer Barbra Streisand, released by Columbia Records on November 5, 1985. Consisting mainly of classic show tunes, the album marked a major shift in Barbra Streisand's career. Streisand had spent ten years appearing in musicals and singing standards on her albums in the 1960s. Beginning with the album Stoney End in 1971 and ending with the album Emotion in 1984, Streisand sang mostly rock and disco-oriented songs for Columbia records. Noted Broadway composer Stephen Sondheim personally penned additional lyrics for the songs "Putting It Together" and "Send in the Clowns" on request of the singer. The album, originally released on the Columbia label and subsequently re-released by Columbia and Sony Records, was a critical and commercial success. First certified gold by the RIAA on January 13, 1986, it reached four times platinum on January 31, 1995.
This album has gone on to sell 7.5 million copies worldwide.
The album was accompanied by a television special, Putting It Together: The Making of the Broadway Album. The original LP and cassette releases contained 11 tracks. The subsequent CD release added the bonus track of "Adelaide's Lament". In 2002, Columbia rereleased The Broadway Album with another bonus track, "I Know Him So Well".
Barbra Streisand started her career on Broadway, and so considered this in sense returning to her roots, after two decades of recording popular music of the day. She considers the tracks music she has great respect for, deeming it some of the best music and lyrics ever written. The lead single, Putting It Together from Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George, was rewritten to be about the dichotomy between art and commerce in the music industry. Barbra hired her previous The Way We Were director Sydney Pollack, as well as David Geffen, head of Geffen Records to play the parts of the antagonistic studio heads. Barbra wanted to record the entire piece live to capture the atmosphere of Broadway shows. Many of the musicians also played in Funny Girl 22 years before, and a month of rehearsals with Stephen Sondheim was undertaken before recording.
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