Barbra Streisand is one of those singers that I’ve inherited from the people in my life from a slightly older generation, so to speak. Without them, I don’t think I would’ve heard from her, or more to the point, paid notice to her.
Growing up, I’d heard some of her songs on the radio. “Woman In Love”, “People”, “Guilty”, “Memory” and “Somewhere” were golden oldie favorites, often played. But when I heard the LP (yes, the vinyl album) from a concert she had done in her garden, I had a Streisand moment at a very illogical time in life: Just before I hit my teens.
I have to admit, at that time, I forced myself to get familiar with music outside of whatever was in the charts. Taking example to many of my favorite artists, I felt it was good for my musical development to expose myself to as much music as possible. La Streisand was a big name in the business with a reputation to boot.
It was around that time, it was most publicized that she was a perfectionist to the nitpicking extend. Somehow, that and her amazing vocal control, is what I know her for and I’ve always admired all the artists who dared to take on the challenge of working with her.
Actresses Anne Hathaway and Daisy Ridley are the latest two people, who’ve taken on this challenge. Their collaboration for the album “Encore” has been chosen to lead the album. The single “At The Ballet” was released on June 10th, 2016.
The song is taken from the musical “The Chorus Line”, about a group of dancers auditioning for parts in a show, who share their life stories during the audition. As she explains herself in the video she shared on YouTube about this song (see below), the song is more about acting than it is about singing (though the singing is impressive, especially when the three ladies sing together).
This is definitely what makes this song interesting to me, because it’s not like it’s a recording of a theatre show, but it’s intentionally recorded as if you’re eavesdropping. It took some getting used to for me, as theatre and movie soundtracks is usually something I stay away from.
So, it’s surprised me – as much as any other – that I actually got sucked into this song and loved listening to it. It’s definitely got me interested in the rest of the album. For “Encore”, she’s teamed up with actors only. Some names, initially, surprised me, like Alec Baldwin. My first instinct was to wonder why he was on there, but then I remembered he did play on Broadway. And perhaps, Barbra carries the idea about it being about acting, more than singing, throughout the album. That would also explain the appearance of Melissa McCarthy. Enough incentive to get curious.
The album is expected to be released on August 26th 2016.
