Barbra Streisand Album
Barbra Streisand seemed an "overnight" superstar when she released this debut  LP in 1963; two weeks after its release, Streisand was America's best-selling female  singer. Within several months,Funny Girlwould debut on  Broadway... and the rest, as they say, is history. The truth, however, is that Streisand was  already a singing sensation in Greenwich Village clubs like Bon Soir and the Blue Angel.  Most of the material on this Grammy winner (for Album of the Year) comes from that  club act--part of her deal with Columbia was total control over song choices--and it  reveals a singer who wasn't about to kowtow to the rock & roll craze; instead, the early  Streisand concentrated on standards... and, well, just about anything. The selections range  from "A Taste of Honey" to the beautiful "Soon It's Gonna Rain" fromThe Fantasticksto a song from  Disney'sThree Little Pigs. It took guts to open with "Cry Me a River," a song  already owned by another torch singer  (Julie London)--but if the LP proved anything, it was that this  Brooklyn gal sure could sing, a fact driven home by her mournful-yet-glorious take on  "Happy Days Are Here Again," which soon became a pop standard classic recording of  its own.--Bill Holdship