A most special album, Live at the Bon Soir, was released by Columbia Records and Legacy Recordings last Nov. 4 on CD and in the Digital marketplace. It is the latest album from the legendary Barbra Streisand, and her follow-up to The Walls from four years ago.
Live at the Bon Soir is also her oldest recording ever. The album was recorded way back in 1962 when Barbra was only 20 years old.She was just starting her stellar career and used to sing live at the Bon Soir, a popular Greenwich Village Nightclub in between Broadway roles. It was her first recording for Columbia, the label with which she has been under contract up to now. Loyalty thy name is Barbra.
Now how does a 20-year-old Barbra sound? I am sure you will agree when I say heavenly. Accompanied by a quartet of competent musicians, she put on a mix of sweetness and light but nicely simmering under the surface with still to be released power. Her confident tones before a live audience at such a young age was just incredible.
That was why she easily bagged a recording contract. In fact, this album was supposed to be her debut release for Columbia but was scrapped in favor of the studio recorded The Barbra Streisand Album. That was an excellent decision because what became her first album went on to win the Grammy Awards for Album of the Year and Best Female Vocal Performance. And Barbra was on her way to greatness.
Live at the Bon Soir has been in storage in Barbra’s personal vaults for 60 years. Now remastered to pristine quality, it has been made available for her fans and for everybody who enjoy listening to wondrous vocal artistry. I am sure everybody will agree that Barbra had amazing vocal chops from the start.
Not only that, she also had this innate feel for what type of music she is good at. I would say songs that her vocals can fool around with. In this repertoire that made it to the album, that is a mix of show tunes, standards, novelty songs and the pop hits of the time. Do take note of the opening track, the My Name is Barbra intro was especially composed for her by the great Leonard Bernstein.
There are 24 songs included. These are Much More, Napoleon, I Hate Music, Right as Rain, Cry Me a River, Value, Lover Come Back, Soon It’s Gonna Rain, Come to the Supermarket (In Old Peking), When the Sun Comes Out, Happy Days are Here Again, Keepin’ Out of Mischief Now, A Sleepin’ Bee, I Had Myself a True Love, Bewitched Bothered and Bewildered, Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf, I Tell the Man in the Street, A Taste of Honey, Never Will I Marry, Nobody’s Heart Belongs to Me, My Honey’s Lovin’ Arms and I Stayed Too Long at the Fair.
The daughter of second-generation Jewish immigrants who lived in Brooklyn, New York, Barbra was born on April 24, 1942. That means she is now 80 years old. She started her career winning in talent shows but was often told to make herself pretty by getting a nose job. She never did. Her first professional gig was in a gay bar. The Bon Soir was next and from then on, she only had tremendous success.
Of course, it is also because Barbra is extremely talented. She is a singer, songwriter, actress, producer, screenwriter and director. She belongs to that elite group of artists called the EGOT because they have won awards for work on television, the Emmy, on recording, the Grammy, in motion pictures, the Oscar and on stage, the Tony.
But I must say that we love her best as Barbra the singer and with the release of Live at the Bon Soir, she has taken her career through a circular route to show us how it all started. You will love the kid singing I Stayed Too Long at the Fair 60 years ago. She will make you think in an AHA! moment, so this is how it all began for… People, Stoney End, The Way We Were, Evergreen, No More Tears (Enough is Enough), You Don’t Bring Me Flowers, Guilty, I Finally Found Someone.