Record basics

Album name: Barbra Streisand’s Greatest Hits
Artist name: Barbra Streisand
Year: 1970
Number of discs: one
Label: Columbia Records
Collection: Selman
Buy it on Amazon: $9.55

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I’m of course familiar with the Streisand Effect, and you should be, too, and I’m vaguely aware that Barbra Streisand is a singer, but what she’s sung isn’t clear to me (my mother says, “show tunes,” which probably explains it).

What I expected

I guess show tunes, though I’m not sure how I would be able to identify a show tune. Would I need to be familiar with the show?

What it was actually like

I thought I wouldn’t be able to recognize a show tune, but if this record taught me one thing, it was that I can very easily recognize show tunes: they sound a lot like pre-1950s, non-jazz pop music, and they’re terrible.

If this record taught me two things, the second was that Barbra Streisand’s music – at least her greatest hits up to 1970 – was not good at all.

If this record taught me three things – well, what else is there to know? I didn’t like any of this, and came close to deciding not to listen to the second side at all, but I did listen to all of it, and in summary, I hated it.

Grade

2/5: bad, but I was able to listen to the whole thing

Barbra Streisand’s Greatest Hits (Vinyl record album review)