The rumored career spanning box set from Barbra Streisand doesn’t seem to be in the cards for the near future, but she is teasing us with Release Me, eleven tracks from the vaults, on October 9 via Columbia.
The vinyl version of the album will be available two weeks earlier.
In an unparalleled career, Streisand has released more than 60 albums. Many of the sessions for these albums yielded extra recordings, which weren’t included on the albums they were intended for. They’ve all been stored in her vault until now. Over the past year, Barbra has painstakingly gone through the recordings to come up with this collection, Release Me.
Highlights include: Didn’t We written by Jimmy Webb – recorded in 1970 for an unreleased album project titled The Singer; the standard Willow Weep For Me - an unreleased track recorded in 1967 for Simply Streisand, arranged by Ray Ellis noted for his legendary work with Billie Holiday; A striking version of Randy Newman’s I Think It’s Going Rain Today, with Barbra on vocals and Newman on piano – from the 1971 Stoney End sessions; an unreleased studio version of With One More Look At You from A Star Is Born; Two tracks from the unreleased sequel to the acclaimed The Broadway Album, titled Back To Broadway – Home (from The Wiz) and How Are Things In Glocca Morra ? / Heather On The Hill (from Finian’s Rainbow / Brigadoon).
Reflecting on the album, Streisand noted, “The thing I’m happiest about is that I still have great affection for all these songs. They appealed to me at the time…and still do. Listening now, I actually think to myself, ‘The girl wasn’t half bad.’”
With the exception of two songs where the original masters couldn’t be located, all the tracks on Release Me were transferred from first generation master tapes. Every attention was paid to preserving the sonic perspective of the sessions as they were originally recorded and mixed.
Speaking of the unreleased recordings that reside in Barbra’s music vault, her long-time A&R man and co-producer of Release Me, Jay Landers says in his liner notes, “All of Barbra’s glorious music…her ideas…the collaborative efforts of the fortunate songwriters, arrangers, mixers and producers who have come into her orbit…the experiments…the occasional missteps and the many triumphs – all driven by the unstoppable force of one woman’s vision.”
Track List:
Being Good Isn’t Good Enough (from Hallelujah, Baby!)
Didn’t We
Willow Weep For Me
Try To Win A Friend
I Think It’s Going To Rain Today
With One More Look At You (from A Star Is Born)
Lost In Wonderland
How Are Things In Glocca Morra? / Heather On The Hill (from Finian’s Rainbow / Brigadoon)
Mother And Child
If It’s Meant To Be
Home (from The Wiz)
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