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Live at the Bon Soir

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Live at the Bon Soir
Live album by
Barbra Streisand
ReleasedNovember 4, 2022
RecordedNovember 5–7, 1962
VenueThe Bon Soir Nightclub (New York City, New York)
GenreVocal pop
Length69:03
LabelColumbia
Producer
  • Barbra Streisand
  • Jay Landers
  • Martin Erlichman
Barbra Streisand chronology
Release Me 2
(2021) 		Live at the Bon Soir
(2022) 		Evergreens: Celebrating Six Decades on Columbia Records
(2023)

Live at the Bon Soir is the tenth live album by American singer Barbra Streisand. Originally intended as her debut album, the material was recorded over three nights in November 1962 shortly after Streisand was signed by Columbia Records. Retrieved from Streisand's archives and remastered, the live recordings were released November 4, 2022, to coincide with the sixtieth anniversary of the original tapings.[1]

The album received critical acclaim for Streisand's vocal performance and the quality of the restored recordings. Commercially, it debuted and peaked at number 150 on the US Billboard 200.

Background and recording

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Columbia Records first signed Streisand in 1962 following her Broadway debut as Miss Marmelstein in I Can Get It for You Wholesale.[2] Following Streisand's string of successful nightclub engagements, including at The Lion and The Bon Soir in Greenwich Village, Columbia planned a live album as her debut. Streisand's live performances at the Bon Soir were recorded November 5 – 7, 1962, but were shelved in favor of studio versions of the same repertoire. The studio recording The Barbra Streisand Album went on to win the Grammy for Album of the Year in 1964.[3]

Selections from the nightclub recordings have been previously released, notably on Streisand's 1991 Just for the Record... box set.

Produced by Streisand, Martin Erlichman, and Jay Landers, the Bon Soir tracks were remastered under the supervision of Streisand and Jochem van der Saag. "The club's acoustics were obviously not designed for recording, and there was a lot of leakage from the instruments into [Streisand's] vocal mic," said van der Saag, requiring the use of spectral editing technology to properly mix the recordings.[1]

Release and promotion

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A nightclub recording of "Cry Me a River" was released Friday, September 23, 2022, to preview the album. In contrast to the studio version which appeared as the first track on Streisand's debut album, the Bon Soir recording includes repartee with the "intimate audience" and is accompanied by guitarist Tiger Haynes, bassist Averill Pollard, drummer John Cresci, and pianist Peter Daniels.[4]

Broadway World debuted the music video for "Cry Me a River" on October 7.[5] Directed by Matt Amato, the music video "allows viewers to experience the ambience of the Bon Soir nightclub from Barbra's perspective". This is the third Streisand video directed by Amato.[6] The video received a Gold Telly Award in 2023.

Streisand released the Bon Soir recording of "Napoleon" (from the 1957 musical Jamaica) as another album promotion on October 21, 2022.

The album includes extensive historical notes, photos, and a message from Streisand, with a 12-page booklet for the LP and 32-page booklet for the CD.[4]

Critical reception

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Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[7]

Live at the Bon Soir received positive reviews from music critics. In The New York Times, Wesley Morris remarked that Streisand displays a "devastating understanding of tone, shading, pitch, diction but also emotional variability."[8] Writing for AllMusic, Mark Demings praised Streisand's vocal skill, calling her "phrasing and dynamics … remarkably clever and sophisticated", and with the accompanying quartet lending "superb support", the album is "a glorious archival find."[7] In the Washington Blade, Kathi Wolfe similarly praised Streisand's "youthful, gorgeous" vocal performance and also noted the intimacy of the recordings and the repartee included between tracks.[9] Writing for AARP: The Magazine, Jim Farber praised Streisand's vocals, saying she was "at her most radical, unusual — and, in a sense, Streisandian" and calling the album a "masterpiece and a revelation".[10]

Mikael Wood of the Los Angeles Times remarked on Streisand's "balance [of] finesse and vehemence" and named the album one of the best releases of the year.[11]

Select year-end rankings of Live at the Bon Soir
Publication List Rank Ref.
Los Angeles Times The 20 Best Albums of 2022
8
 [11]

Track listing

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Live at the Bon Soir track listing[1][4]
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Introduction by Dave Kapralik (Columbia Records) / My Name Is Barbara"Leonard Bernstein2:01
2."Much More"
2:30
3."Napoleon"
3:19
4."I Hate Music"Bernstein1:16
5."Right as the Rain"
  • Arlen
  • Harburg
2:46
6."Cry Me a River"Arthur Hamilton4:11
7."Value"Jeff Harris2:16
8."Lover, Come Back to Me"
1:54
9."Band Introductions" 2:56
10."Soon It's Gonna Rain"
  • Schmidt
  • Jones
3:42
11."Come to the Supermarket (in Old Peking)"Cole Porter1:51
12."When the Sun Comes Out"
3:14
13."Happy Days Are Here Again"
3:25
14."Keepin' Out of Mischief Now"
1:54
15."A Sleepin' Bee"
4:03
16."I Had Myself a True Love"
4:47
17."Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered"
2:39
18."Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?"
2:36
19."I'll Tell the Man in the Street"
  • Rodgers
  • Hart
2:49
20."A Taste of Honey"
2:23
21."Never Will I Marry"Frank Loesser2:56
22."Nobody's Heart Belongs to Me"
  • Rodgers
  • Hart
2:14
23."My Honey's Lovin' Arms"
2:10
24."I Stayed Too Long at the Fair"Billy Barnes5:11
Total length:69:03

Charts

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Chart performance for Live at the Bon Soir
Chart (2022) Peak
position
Scottish Albums (OCC)[12] 28
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[13] 82
UK Album Downloads (OCC)[14] 34
US Billboard 200[15] 150

References

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  1. ^ a b c Willman, Chris (September 23, 2022). "Barbra Streisand's Planned 1962 Live Album to Finally Get a Release 60 Years Later". Variety. Retrieved October 19, 2022.
  2. ^ Gans, Andrew (September 23, 2022). "60 Years After Recording, Barbra Streisand—Live at The Bon Soir Sets Release Date". Playbill. Retrieved October 19, 2022.
  3. ^ Blistein, Jon (September 23, 2022). "Barbra Streisand Unearths 'Live at Bon Soir' Nightclub Recordings That Were Supposed to Be Her First Album". Rolling Stone. Retrieved October 19, 2022.
  4. ^ a b c Kaufman, Gil (September 23, 2022). "Barbra Streisand to Release Legendary 1962 Greenwich Village Nightclub Set 'Live at the Bon Soir'". Billboard. Retrieved October 19, 2022.
  5. ^ BWW, Team (October 7, 2022). "Exclusive: Watch the New Lyric Video for Barbra Streisand's 'Cry Me a River', Featured on New Album- Live At The Bon Soir". Broadway World. Retrieved October 19, 2022.
  6. ^ Howe, Matt (October 7, 2022). "Bon Soir Music Video by Matt Amato". Barbra Archives. Retrieved October 19, 2022.
  7. ^ a b Demings, Mark (Nov 5, 2022). "Barbra Streisand – Live at the Bon Soir Album Reviews, Songs & More". AllMusic.
  8. ^ Morris, Wesley (November 4, 2022). "Barbra Streisand on Her Pristine Early Recordings: 'That Girl Can Sing'". New York Times.
  9. ^ Wolfe, Kathi (Dec 1, 2022). "Streisand's 'Live at the Bon Soir': Birth of a diva". Washington Blade.
  10. ^ Farber, Jim (Nov 11, 2022). "Streisand's 1962 Debut Album Is Released at Last — and It's Gorgeous!". AARP.
  11. ^ a b Wood, Mikael (December 4, 2022). "The 20 Best Albums of 2022". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 4, 2022.
  12. ^ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved November 12, 2022.
  13. ^ "Top 100 Albums Weekly". El portal de Música. Promusicae. Retrieved November 15, 2022.
  14. ^ "Official Album Downloads Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved November 12, 2022.
  15. ^ @billboardcharts (November 14, 2022). "Debuts on this week's #Billboard200 (2/2)..." (Tweet). Retrieved November 15, 2022 – via Twitter.
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