The Essential Barbra Streisand

This is Barbra's fourth major compilation/ greatest hits collection- about every decade she releases one; Greatest Hits Volumes 1 and 2 and A Collection... Greatest Hits and More being this album's predecessors. Whereas the first two greatest hits collections were flawless and rank as some of the best records of Babs's six decade career, A Collection really missed the mark. Given that, and given the fact that this is the first and only two disc compilation spanning her entire career, selecting the songs for this collection must have been a tall order. After all, when this album was released in 2002, Barbra was one of the best-selling artists of all time (and still is), with a 40 plus year repertoire of countless songs that were either huge hits or rank as Barbra classics. What's interesting about this album is that it tends to highlight these classics, while omitting some of Barbra's songs that were actual singles and fared better on the Billboard charts. For example, considerable hits such as "What Kind Of Fool," "Till I Loved You," "Songbird" and "Prisoner" are nowhere to be found, and are replaced by standards that were never released as singles and/or never made the charts. For example, "A Sleepin' Bee" and "I Stayed Too Long At The Fair" were never hits or singles, but no Barbra compilation would be complete without them. So inevitably this decision is a good one, and I have no qualms with the track listing. The first disc spans the years 1963 to 1979, from Barbra's first studio album of classic standards ("Cry Me A River") to her huge crossover success in the 70s pop/rock arena ("Stoney End") to her brief but highly profitable foray into disco ("The Main Event"/ "No More Tears"). The second disc spans the years 1980-2002, starting off with selections from 1980's Guilty (to this day still her most commercially successful album) and ending with two great new recordings ("Someday My Prince Will Come" and "You'll Never Walk Alone"). On this disc are four generous selections from 1985's The Broadway Album, one of the best and most important records of her career. Inevitably, all the hits essential to any Streisand compilation are here: "People," "The Way We Were" and "Evergreen" being just a few. This compilation is perfect for Streisand newcomers (it was my first Barbra album and made me the super fan I am today) and longtime fans who simply want to celebrate Babs's incomparable discography with all the right highlights.

Love Barbra Streisand’s music. She can sing anything and it’s beautiful. You’ll love this cd, and I know it’ll have your favorites or have new ones when you finish listening. I love it, and you will too!

What else do you need…. Another Barbara cd to own, and add to your collection.

Item was exactly as described and every track is a masterclass. Barbra’s voice is pure magic—emotional, powerful, and iconic. A must-have for any music lover. Bonus, I received it promptly!

The seller took a very long time to finally ship this item. I had received all of the other items in my Amazon order for about two weeks, before seller finally shipped this item. Further, this CD was sent filthy and so badly used and has clearly changed user hands multiple times. The seller sent this CD in a case with four cracks in it. Also, there are greasy smudges and considerable scratches on the CD and it skipped one of the songs on disk 1 during playback. To add insult to injury, the seller charged me double the price that this specific CD was last tagged at. I seriously was going to send this ugly item right back, but am hard-pressed because: BABS, herself, is EXQUISITE in her vocals. While I can highly endorse Barbara and this collection, I can’t endorse the seller at all.

My purchase was made for my big brother, 72 years old. He love Barbara Streisand's music and ask me to purchase this for his birthday. He loves the CD.

Liked all the songs

What a wonderful cd with some of her greatest songs.