100 Essential Albums: #89 — A Happening in Central Park by Barbra Streisand (1967)
“I forgot the words in front of 125,000 people — and I wasn’t cute about it or anything — I was shocked; I was terrified; That prevented me from performing for all these years. I didn’t sing and charge people for 27 years because of that night….I was like, ‘God, I don’t know. What if I forget the words again?'”
Barbra Streisand is one of those rare natural talents that comes along perhaps once in a generation or two.
Before her, there was Judy Garland. On the male front, there was Frank Sinatra. Then, the 1960s changed everything, and Barbra Streisand became the new voice.
Brooklyn-born Streisand was just as awkward as she was perfect for the role she’d unwittingly assume as the ultimate diva. “All I ever wanted to do was sing,” she told an interviewer many years later. “I tried acting early but then I realized when I sang I didn’t have to act. When I found the right song and lyric, it all came naturally to me.”
In 1961, Streisand initially burst onto the American consciousness at age 17. While still in high school, she appeared on The Jack Parr Show (later known as The Tonight Show). From the moment the first word came from her lips, every listener caught the perfect vocal pitch, as pristine as sound in pop as there was or could ever be. Comedian Phyllis Diller, who was a guest on the Parr show that same night, flat out declared — “she’s going to be one of the great singing talents in the world.”
Then came the string of successful solo albums, stunning but some critics would also say — repetitive and without risktaking. First, there was The Barbra Streisand Album (1963). Then, The Second Barbra Streisand Album (1963). Then, The Third Album (1964). Then, People (1964). Then, My Name Is Barbra (1965). Then, My Name Is Barbra, Two (1965). Then, Color Me Barbra (1966). Then, Je m’appelle Barbra (1966). Then, Simply Streisand (1967), Then, A Christmas Album (1967).
By age 25, she’s recorded and released ten albums (all charted). She’s appeared nightly in two Broadway shows in New York City that ran consecutively over a four-year stretch. She hosted three primetime network television specials. And, she boasted a hit single, “People” which climbed steadily on Billboard in early 1964 and then was blown off the charts when the Beatles landed in America (more like invaded and changed the modern music scene forever).
Despite outward appearances as a showstopper, Streisand has always maintained she’s a shy person. Her lifelong bouts with stage fright are legendary. She’s introverted, yet somehow shines in what’s quite possibly the most extroverted career choice imaginable. So, it was something of a shocker when Streisand agreed to take center stage in a solo concert performance that was to take place in New York’s Central Park in June 1967. Not as part of any singing group, or a band, or a show ensemble. Just her on stage, alone.
In other words, this next project would be a breakaway album that, unlike studio recordings which could be entirely controlled, would be risky, even potentially career-threatening if things didn’t go well.
Recorded that evening for posterity, A Happening in Central Park became Steisand’s first live album release. It was taped with no overdubs added, nor special sound effects, nor high-tech enhancements in front of a live audience estimated at 125,000 people. It was also filmed for television. That special later aired on CBS. In its entirety that live outdoor show featured Streisand singing a staggering thirty-three songs. The sheer number of selections, about twice the standard number of songs in any one solo performance, was a testament to the strength of her voice and unlimited reach of her ambitions.
Indeed, it might be difficult to appreciate just how extraordinary this feat was to pull off. Not only did she stand and deliver a lengthy performance, Streisand belted out her vocals on makeshift rafters clumsily jettisoned over a muddy slope on a park hillside. The summer wind blows, sometimes gusting. It’s just one person, one voice, and one microphone and it’s magical.
Here’s one of the highlights from that night, which was later pressed onto vinyl. Streisand sang’s her familiar first hit song, “People.”
Those in the recording business may reveal will just how challenging it is to get that perfect voice over the duration of a full (live) album. That kind of consistency just doesn’t happen. Not outdoors. Not with the wind blowing. Not with more than a hundred thousand witnesses and television cameras catching every bend, break, and blink. It was raw exposure.
There’s nothing other than raw talent to explain it.
A Happening in Central Park was trimmed down to just a dozen songs by sound engineers and was later released by Columbia Records. It was a throwback musically to traditional song standards during an era dominated by rock n’ roll and R&B, but still managed to hit #30 on the American pop charts. Note that the CD/DVD released twenty years later contains 20 songs and is far superior to the original release.
Streisand’s contract with Columbia Records was unusual, especially for a young female performer at the time. She was granted full creative control of all content, in exchange for less money. Streisand later explained: “The most important thing about that first contract – actually, the thing we held out for – was a unique clause giving me the right to choose my own material. It was the only thing I really cared about. I still received lots of pressure from the label to include some pop hits….but I held out for the songs that really meant something to me.”
Though it’s not captured anyplace on the album (and presumably edited out), the concert did include mistakes that severely impacted Streisand’s routine as a live performer from that moment forward. Midway through the show while singing one of her lesser-known songs, the diva momentarily stepped away from the stage in a brief lapse. it wasn’t but a few seconds, but the glitch was unmistakable. She’d forgotten the words to her own song. Then, the same thing happened two more times — three lyric lapses all in the same show. Streisand was so distraught over the incidents that she stopped performing live shows immediately thereafter. “I didn’t perform again until they discovered teleprompters,” she later told Newsweek.
Over the next few years, Streisand went from being a singer and stage performer to a bona fide multi-talented superstar who was world-famous. She won an Oscar the following year as Best Actress for Funny Girl. Streisand made a screwball comedy, What’s Up Doc? which remains one of the funniest films ever made. She co-starred alongside Robert Redford in The Way We Were, which produced one of the most iconic musical tear jerkers of all time. Then, she won another Oscar, did a remake of A Star is Born, then set her sights on movie directing.
Her first film, Yentl (1983), about a female Jewish student in Poland pretending to be a boy so she could study the Talmud was turned down by every major Hollywood studio at least once when she insisted not only direct the film but also to star. She ended up making the film and was the producer, director, and star — an experience she later repeated in The Prince of Tides (1991) and The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996). Many thought Streisand was slighted by Hollywood when Yentl received five Academy Award nominations, but none for the major categories of Best Picture, actress, or Director. The Prince of Tides received even more Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Screenplay, although not for Best Director.
Streisand has done quite well, nevertheless. Her career accolades include two Academy Awards, 10 Grammy Awards including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, five Emmy Awards, four Peabody Awards, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and nine Golden Globes.
She turns 80 next month (April 2022).
Writer’s Note: This is the latest segment in a series of reviews and retrospectives of my “100 Essential Albums,” which will be posted regularly on my website. Check out my previous selections and retrospectives on each album here:
#90: Nothing Like the Sun — by Sting (1987)
#91: Fiddler on the Roof — by Original Broadway Cast (1964)
#92: Sail Away — by Randy Newman (1972)
#93: Teatro — by Willie Nelson (1998)
#94: Back to Black — by Amy Winehouse (2006)
#95: Ellington at Newport — by Duke Ellington (1956)
#96: The Doors — by The Doors (1967)
#97: Ol’ Blue Eyes is Back — by Frank Sinatra (1973)
#98: Jagged Little Pill — by Alanis Morissette (1995)
#99: Soul of a Man — by Al Kooper (1995)
#100: Black Moses — by Isaac Hayes (1971)
TAG: 100 Essential Albums
