Recorded at a one-off free concert in front of 135,000 people in New York's Central Park in June 1967,
Barbra Streisand
's first live album was something of a throwback to her early days, and not only because it waited in the can 15 months before release. (Also filmed, the performance was used as a TV special.) Songs like
"Happy Days Are Here Again"
and
"Cry Me a River"
dated from
Streisand
's 1963 debut album, while the comic
"Value"
was a previously unrecorded song from her first Off-Broadway show,
Another Evening With Harry Stoones
, which ran for one night in October 1961.
was dangerously close to being a musical anachronism in the pop music scene of 1968, even as her Hollywood stardom was confirmed by the release of the
Funny Girl
movie. This album did nothing to change that, though
proved a charming and funny live performer and, as ever, a great singer. It was amazing that she could pull off what remained essentially a nightclub act in front of such a large audience. ~ William Ruhlmann