Song:Somewhere
Album:Super Hits
Of course Barbra Streisand is one of the biggest stars of all time. She has been successful in movies, TV and music. But she started out on Broadway. So when she left Broadway in the 60s, it was a sad day on the Great White Way. The 1985 album The Broadway Album marked a return of sorts. It was surprising at the time because in the 70s, Barbra's hit singles were either film related like The Way We Were or Evergreen or she was recording contemporary pop like the disco song No More Tears with Donna Summer or You Don't Bring Me Flowers with Neil Diamond. Her most successful album of that era was the 1980 album Guilty produced by Barry Gibb and the number one hit Woman In Love. After that she directed and starred in the film Yentl. And then she recorded the 1984 album Emotion. That album was standard 80s pop. She worked with several producers including Maurice White, Richard Perry and Jim Steinman. The album was certified Platinum but it didn't do as well as her previous albums and there were no hit singles. Then she decided to return to recording show tunes for the 1985 album The Broadway Album. She got Stephen Sondheim to write additional lyrics for Send In The Clowns and Putting It Together. It was her first time recording this kind of music since the 60s and she worked with many of the same musicians. Somewhere from West Side Story was the first single from the album. It did well on the Adult Contemporary chart and that led to the album topping the Billboard Hot 200 and it was certified 4XPlatinum. Somewhere was produced by David Foster. And I guess the most notable thing about the record was the synthesizers played by Michael Boddicker and arranged by Randy Waldman. The main arranger on the album was Peter Matz who worked with Barbra in her early days. Somewhere is on this budget comp which is a good basic intro to Barbra's music. For a more comprehensive comp, check out the 2CD The Essential Barbra Streisand. And The Broadway Album is available as a budget CD. In 1988, Barbra recorded several songs for a second Broadway album with Rupert Holmes. But she wasn't happy with it and it was scrapped. After a few years concentrating on film, she released the 1993 album Back To Broadway. It didn't do as well as the first album. Barbra will release Encore: Movie Partners Sing Broadway in August. This is an album of Broadway duets with Anthony Newley, Hugh Jackman, Melissa McCarthy and others. Here's the video for Somewhere by Barbra Streisand.
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