Editor’s Note: From Albumism’s inception back in 2016, we’ve remained unabashedly and unequivocally passionate about our mission of celebrating the world's love affairs with albums past, present and future.
But while our devotion to the album as an art form has remained steadfast, as evidenced by our deepening repository of individual album tributes and reviews, we’ve admittedly seldom taken the opportunity to explicitly articulate our reverence for the virtues of artists’ complete album repertoires as a whole.
Hence why we’ve decided to showcase what we believe to be the most dynamic discographies of all time in this recurring series. In doing so, we hope to better understand the broader creative context within which our most beloved individual albums exist, while acknowledging the full breadth of their creators’ artistry, career arcs, and overall contributions to the ever-evolving musical landscape.
We hope you enjoy this series and be sure to check here periodically for the latest installments.
BARBRA STREISAND
Studio Albums: The Barbra Streisand Album (1963) | The Second Barbra Streisand Album (1963) | The Third Album (1964) | People (1964) | My Name Is Barbra (1965) | My Name Is Barbra, Two... (1965) | Color Me Barbra (1966) | Je m'appelle Barbra (1966) | Simply Streisand (1967) | A Christmas Album (1967) | What About Today? (1969) | Stoney End (1971) | Barbra Joan Streisand (1971) | Barbra Streisand...and Other Musical Instruments (1973) | The Way We Were (1974)| ButterFly (1974) | Lazy Afternoon (1975) | Classical Barbra (1976) | Superman (1977) | Songbird (1978) | Wet (1979) | Guilty (1980) | Emotion (1984) | The Broadway Album (1985) | Till I Loved You (1988) | Back to Broadway (1993) | Higher Ground (1997) | A Love Like Ours (1999) | Christmas Memories (2001) | The Movie Album (2003) | Guilty Pleasures (2005) | Love Is the Answer (2009) | What Matters Most (2011) | Partners (2014) | Encore: Movie Partners Sing Broadway (2016) | Walls (2018)
Barbra Streisand is truly one of the greats of recorded music. She’s released over seventy albums. Thirty-four of them reached the Top 10. Eleven hit number one. And she’s the only artist to have a number one album in each of the last six decades.
She’s produced a deep catalog of hits, misses, and even a concept album where all the songs referred to water in some way, appropriately titled Wet. She’s recorded standards and showtunes, soft rock, contemporary pop, and adult contemporary albums all with varying degrees of critical and commercial success. What threads through all of them, obviously, is her legendary, resonant voice with its satiny undertone, pillow soft flutter and ability to convey a wink and a smile when necessary.
But beyond her unparalleled vocal style, the reason why her discography is so important is because, in the studio, she’s been under no one’s thumb since day one. When she signed her first recording contract with Columbia Records in 1962, Streisand waived a big upfront cash advance so that she could have complete creative control over her albums and song selection.
From her 1963 solo debut The Barbra Streisand Album with its brash collection of pop standards and show tunes, to the gorgeous Guilty—her 1980 smash collaboration with Barry Gibb—and through to today with her latest offering—2018’s politically charged Walls—Streisand has always done what she wanted to do.
Some of her albums may not have been in sync with what was popular at the time, but fifty-eight years after her debut, Columbia is still in business with her. So, it’s clear Streisand knows what she’s doing.
Mark’s 3 Favorite Barbra Streisand Albums of All Time:
1. The Broadway Album (1985)
2. Guilty (1980)
3. The Way We Were (1974)
VISIT Barbra Streisand’s Official Store
LISTEN & WATCH: