"... to fuss over her work. But what she heard surprised her. 'I didn’t realize, actually, that my vocals were that good ’til they played me the new one,' she said, before laughing. 'I thought, "Oh my God. That girl can sing."' That, of course, is the shock of 'Live at the Bon Soir.'"
Wow! This is fantastic! And who needs Streisand fussing about the state of the country rather than "fuss[ing] over her work"? Art is not a frivolous "fuss"!
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35 comments:
Streisand is better avoiding politics. Her illiterate FAX to a candidate in 1988 was hilarious. Her PR person must have been home sick that day.
Like Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand is proof a vulgar, petty person can make the most exquisite art.
It's good that she spent her early years actually using her talent to make the world a happier place, and only later started fecklessly wringing her hands over the imperfections of society. A lot of young people today seem to be going straight into the feckless hand-wringing phase. How many Streisands may be among them? We'll never know.
24 songs at > 3 minutes each, on average. That's a lot of singing!
Streisand, admiring herself with adoration & praise. Is this the birth of the reverse-Streisand effect?
Yes, she can sing. Love Babs!
I'm gonna use that when the boss wants to know why I'm not getting any work done. Hey, sorry, I'm too busy worrying about the state of the country.
Unfortunately I don't have Babs' money so I can't afford to worry. Not like her anyway.
She was so good in the ‘60s that I forgive her nonsense nowadays just to be able to watch and enjoy her movies.
It sucks as far as my musical tastes go. It's clear-the-room music.
Unfortunately when I googled it the first youtube song I got was bad. Will try again later.
>rhhardin said...
It sucks as far as my musical tastes go. It's clear-the-room music<
Yep. Her singing is as strident as her speech. Ugh...
Sometimes I lay awake all night worrying about how much Babs is worrying about the country. I pray for her suffering.
And when I hear a Babs song I almost come to tears realizing she'll never listen to her own music again. She's a saint and has sacrificed so much for our country and the world.
Babs is just so genuine it's hard not to feel her pain. I wish The View was just five Babs avatars sitting around talking liberal politics so I could just soak up more of her voice in the echo chamber.
I'm with rhhardin. I listened to four snippets and my 55+ year aversion to her, and that style of song, remains intact.
She's good at it, to be sure.
And who needs Streisand fussing about the state of the country rather than "fuss[ing] over her work"?
Shut up and sing.
She's just like butta.
Why hasn't Streisand left the country like she said she would so many times before???
I have always thought of Streisand as an ugly person in character and body with an obnoxious voice, bad acting and abhorrent politics.
But apart from that she's fine.
She can do anything she wants. Just don't sing. And don't ask me to listen.
Or ask me to see that big nose looming over me in a movie theater.
solid honker of a voice, no doubt about it. i didn't catch the fandom. i knew older girls in college when I was in high school that played her like addicts. I was beatles, texas rockabilly & folk and that cosmopolitan thing wasn't my gig.
but I listened to the first two songs, and what I loved were the lyrics of Napoleon. charming, philosophical, funny. makes me want to listen to more for those surprises.
thanks, ann, for all the surprises over the years.
I can never hear Streisand without also hearing the voice of my college roommate singing "Mamm'ries, Like the knockers on your mom..." It went on from there, and got a lot cruder.
She was a great singer. The problem is that she thought that made her smart. But...what a voice she had.
She should be worried with a delusional person like Joe Biden screwing up our country, and making us all poorer.
Babs Blabs Fab Crab
It's funny, because I recognize the magnificence of her voice, but I cannot listen to it. I tried a dozen and gave up on all of them. I'm not making it to the 30 second mark. I know that's a fast opinion, but holy shit.
What genre is she in, anyway? Show Tunes? Sorta Opera? I hate that shit, whatever it is.
Here's the one Streisand song that works for me.
Officially, I hate that damn song.
(It's disco, of course I hate it).
Unofficially, it's catchy as shit. It reminds me of Abba, the earworm super-group. Not because of the style but because I have a love/hate relationship to the music.
Not only can I listen to her disco song, if I'm not careful I'll start snapping my fingers or tapping my toes or nodding my head or some damn shit like that.
Can't stand, or sit, to listen to her operatic pretensions. It's all about the delivery -- singing. There are and have been better singers.
Streisand came on the scene just prior to the British Invasion and held her own during the very worst time for middle-road pop singers. That's saying something.
And oh how those pop singers hated rock n roll! Lmao.
Also, if you hate Barbra Streisand, you really ought to watch What's Up, Doc? She plays a girl stalker in that movie, and it's hilarious.
It's a remake of Bringing Up Baby, which also features a girl stalker. That's one of the best movies ever made, because Cary Grant is a genius.
Ryan O'Neal is not a genius. Or a comedian, for that matter. I think his bow tie does his acting for him. But Barbra Streisand is a terrifying stalker. Not sexy? Kinda sexy? She just keeps coming and coming. You don't want to sleep with her, but you're probably going to sleep with her.
Buck Henry, who wrote the screenplay, also wrote The Graduate. So he's the guy you hire if you want a girl stalker in your movie.
It's funny to think about the girl stalkers in American comedies.
Mrs. Robinson. Not even a stalker! Thumbs up! Totally acceptable.
Katharine Hepburn. She's the original girl stalker. But she's not sexy. So I feel nothing for her. No love, no hate, no fear, no lust. She's some Yankee who really wants Cary Grant and (oops) busts up a marriage to get him. (It's kind of funny but apparently massive numbers of women hated Katharine Hepburn because of this movie, and they wanted to tear her hair out. It got so bad the studio made The Philadelphia Story, which I call Let's All Pee on Katharine Hepburn. Anyway, I love Bringing Up Baby, but sexually speaking Hepburn does nothing for me, even when she was young).
Barbra Streisand. She's a terrifying stalker, in my opinion, because I don't like her, I don't want her, I really don't want her to start singing, I want to avoid any relationship at all with her, and I'm not sure if I would be able to do that. You could retitle that movie, How The Fuck Did I Get Into This, and that's how you make a terrifying screwball in 1972. Better than the Godfather, in my opinion. Definitely funnier.
Some people think she's a great singer. Not me. I think Babs could've been a great singer in one way, as a good Ethel merman type gal who belts them out so the back row can hear you. Unfortunately, any kind of grace, or warmth is missing. She's very bland and whitebread.
Whitney Houston is far superior, because Whitney has a better voice and would occasionally just sing the damn song without her ego getting involved.
That was Strisand's other fault as a singer. It was never song X by steisand. It was alway STRIESAND IS SINGING x. SHe never let you forget for a second that she - the great babs striesand - is singing this fucking song in her own special fucking Babs way.
Houston could also reach all kinds of highs and lows that's Babs never could.
Whoever wrote Into the Woods owes a heavy debt to this album.
I schedule 10 minutes each morning to worry about the fate of the country, but most days it doesn't take that long.
I’ve been listening to this all day long. Thanks. Young Streisand is both awed by her reception and extremely confident of her talents. It what makes this performance so charming.
omg, boatbuilder
it's 4am and I'm trying to be quiet, but that made me laugh so hard I woke people
Liked her in Cats, sang along with the album. Thought it hilarious that she was cast as Grizabella, who sings "Memories," a melancholic remembrance of her glamorous past and a plea for acceptance. She never, ever, I am sure - never - saw the irony of being celebrated for playing that role.
I don't like it at all, any of it. But she's a star. I didn't mind her movies, and if I had a front table at the show I might actually have enjoyed it, or at least felt uncomfortable saying I didn't.
As for politics, some entertainers fall in love with a politician, or they fall into a panic over some election. Barbra was campaigning for just about every Democratic candidate for 30 or 40 years. That shows persistence and commitment, but I do wish she'd sat a few of those elections out. She's too much like a broken record, and certainly the country isn't better off because the Democrat won the last election.
Streisand is better avoiding politics. Her illiterate FAX to a candidate in 1988 was hilarious. Her PR person must have been home sick that day.
I wanted to see this illiterate fax so I googled
"streisand fax 1988 illiterate"
and it brought me right back here.
Fuck you, Blogger! That's not funny!
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