A Star Is Born

Hollywood loved this story so much they remade it every 20 years or so for much of the 20th century; Barbra Streisand imbued it with so much forceful persona in 1976 that they haven't touched it since. The romantic/musical pairing of Streisand and Kris Kristofferson (chosen when no less than Elvis Presley turned the role down) may have been one of the era's strangest but, anchored by Streisand's elegant, Oscar-winning hit theme "Evergreen," it nonetheless yielded the biggest-selling album of the singer's career to date. That neither star is particularly convincing as rock icons--particularly Her Divaness--seems beyond the point of this fable. Instead, both stars take the opportunity to stretch outside their usual personas a bit, Streisand with the R&B teaser "Queen Bee" and confessional "Woman of the Moon," Kristofferson on rousing, theatrical fare like "Watch Closely Now" and "Hellacious Acres." --Jerry McCulley Amazon.com

A Masterpiece!!

This movie is a masterpiece!! Barbra Streisands voice is, by far, the greatest sound I have ever heard, and her acting is just lovely in every performance. Although I think every movie Barbra is in is a gift to her fans, I think this movie showed her stretch her talents. I own the soundtrack and the film! October 8, 2008

Timeless pleasure

This CD, called an album the first time I purchased it, is for the woman who is strong enough to start her own company, run someone elses, gracefully confront those that have invalidated her, be opinionated, has respect for Mother Nature to a common sense point, sets her own standards and loves with compassion beyond words and figuratively speaking burnt her bra years ago.
I still remember seeing this movie and as a child I left the theatre with tears running down my face, I was twelve. What also amazed me is how many of the words to these songs I have remembered. There is a song to fit every mood on this CD. Need a pick me up before a tough business meeting or just facing the 2nd cup of coffee on a 16 hour day - Select "Queen Bee". If you want to remember someone that was/ is a compassionate wonderful lover go to Lost Inside of You. If you are in the mood to just go from gut wrenching grief of a lost one to absolute victory Finale: With One More Look At You. I find myself after this one still giving Ms. Streisand a standing ovation; even if I am in the car.
September 3, 2008

One of my all-time favorite albums...

Would you believe I actually purchased the album, back in the day? Then I had to have it on 8-track for my VW. Only that 8-track busted within a few months, so I bought it on 8-track again. I think that one lasted a few months more. I remember writing the record company telling them they had defective 8-tracks, and they mailed me a cassette. WOW, one of my first! That cassette was played over and over again until it became unplayable. I have since bought the CD (2x), and now I am buying the MP3...how technology has improved, and I had this one from the beginning folks. So now to my review.

As someone else has stated, the movie does not hold up as well as the music. The music is superb. I tend to FF thru Kris, since his voice does nothing for me and I found him better as eye-candy than ear-candy (especially then). However, Barbra is perfect! The songwriting, melody & lyrics, are timeless. My review is biased - since this time period in my life means so much to me, along with the memories I've shared since the music/movie initially came out.

The faves that stand out for me are the ballads, "Woman in the Moon" & "Everything". Of course we cannot forget the Oscar-winning "Evergreen". But the best song on the album may be the ending "Watch Me Now", where we can feel the pain Barbra is going through as her husband has recently died and she is singing his hit. It moves me to tears on the screen, and you can hear the emotion here too.

Enjoy! August 19, 2008

It's a 5 star album, but there is a disappointment in this case!

I received this album on CD for Christmas in 1994 when I was a junior in high school. I grew up with the LP. I was happy with the CD, as it was the first CD version, excellently remastered by Bernie Grundman. The 2002 remastered version was really the disappointment and I'll explain why. In 2001 to 2003, many remastered original albums were coming out, from Madonna to Michael Jackson to the British group Culture Club. All of those CDs had extra tracks. However, this CD did not. I wish they added the following songs to make it a true soundtrack. Here are 5 major tracks that should be added and remastered for us:

1) Spanish Lies sung by Kris Kristofferson. If you remember in the film, this is when in the beginning he is on the stage asking the Freeway what the words are, and the song is also playing on the cassette deck when Quint is in the pool.

2) Evergreen from the Just for the Record Streisand Collection. This version has Barbra playing the guitar and humming the song in front of Kris from a scene that was deleted from the film. But this is not all. In the middle of the humming, we hear the rest of the song in its original released version we always hear traditionally on the radio. It really works!

3) Lost Inside of You from the Just For the Record Streisand Collection. This actually is the best song on Just For The Record, and my favorite song and scene in the film. In this song version, we hear the exact scene from the film, with Barbra playing the piano and Kris adding the lyrics. When Barbra losses her focus on the music, just like in the film, what is added is Barbra singing Lost Inside of You solo. It's similar like the duet on this album, but Barbra's voice is dubbed over Kris's voice. It is her best song in the film, and if you remember, this exact version is playing when Kris is listen to his 8 track during his ride in the car before he dies. It is not the duet on the album that he is listening to. And remember this, don't think this is the poorly produced Gary Klein production of Lost Inside of You by Barbra on "Memories". Again, this version I'm talking about is from the car scene produced by the brilliant Phil Ramone, like the whole album is. This version, with the piano scene, clocks at 4:53 minutes and this will be worth the price of the CD alone.

4) The instrumental score from Roger Kellaway. It really was dazzling, particularly in the two different scenes when Kris and Barbra are having intimacy (in Kris's house and in the cottage on the desert.) The scene of Kris driving Barbra to the desert is fun just because of Kellaway's music!

5) Evergreen, the version from the film with Kris and Barbra together, but I am not done. ***** I am aware we get the version at the end of the album when Kris joins in. However, we should have the whole version and the following: similar to #4's L.I.O.Y, what should be added is the whole scene of Kris and Barbra from the the 1980 to the early 1992 television versions before she and he sing the song. In this scene, we hear Streisand singing the song in a way she does not like. They talk about lunch, Chinese food, soft and hard noodles, and Streisand's headache. Kris jokingly asks her if she will marry him. She responds "no" because he has a ring in his ear and drinks all the time. People think that this is the same version in the deleted scenes on the DVD. It's similar, but not the same. This is because on this TV version after Streisand says this right to Kris BEFORE he leaves, he says, "What if I was to change my wicked ways?" She responds, "Would you do that for me?" He tells here, "Hell no." Before we cut to Evergreen, we start hearing the music of it. It is an amazing scene. This is because we see the goofy dialogue of Streisand's acting, similar to her light weight comedies before this. And then we turn to the seriousness of the song. This added addition, as well as #4, reminds us that the best acting in the film belongs to Kris Kristofferson, while the best singing in the film belongs to Barbra Streisand. This would be a great touch to add to the album. I know that most likely a TV studio owns the copy of the Chinese/Kris proposal scene with his response, and that is why it was not the exact extra scene on the DVD. It was not only ABC that showed this version, because when they sold it to syndicated TV, WPIX for example, showed it five times, the last in February of 1992. Hopefully Streisand can obtain this for a re-release on a newly remastered CD.

My friends, you have my word this really is the way the album should be. Thanks for reading. Yours, Joseph July 23, 2008

you never can lose with barbra

just a good cd. great songs that you never hear anymore, with the execption of evergreen, which i skip. June 13, 2008

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