Product Description
Illuminating the characteristics of an artist and celebrity, a fan presents Streisand's awards, memorabilia, personal and professional associates, quotes, controversies, and a collection of rare photographs. Original. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

One of the Best Biographies Of All Time
This very detailed and descriptive analysis of Barbra Streisand's career by Alison J. Waldman. She examines almost every detail and aspect of Barbra's very large and extensive career. The part I enjoyed most was the music section where she describes the preparation of and commercial action of each of Barbra's CDs. It is nice to see how stars choose what songs and how all the songs work together. No less fascinating is the Movie section which is very comprehensive. Waldman even crafts a Scale rating the movies' many factors such as Longtime Durability and Success. For the private life, there is some spilling of the beans here and for projects Barbra could have participated in, one can imagine. The book also has a section that chronicles the top rumors of Streisand that are either proven or disproven. One can tell that the author is a fan of Streiand as she details many elements in a style and manner that is highly uncontestable among other biographers of not only Streisand but others as well. Also, the Bette Midler Scrapbook also by Waldman is a good read as well.

Everything You Always Wanted To Know ....
Allison Waldman's book is great for any Streisand fan.It is exhaustingly researched and as idiosyncratic as anything Barbra would produce.

The picture choices are wonderful - no run-of-the-mill API photographs here.Lots of rare and candid shots.

Allison does a particularly great job on the unreleased stuff (movies, songs).

Not enough updates
If you already own the original Scrapbook (which is a great read, no arguing there), don't bother buying this "revised and updated" version. The only "revised and updated" things in the book are a new chapter added to the end of the book that summarizes her projects over the past few years and a new cover . The first chapter of the book still states she is single...it has not been updated to reflect her marriage to James Brolin. Also, her discography in the book has not been updated to include her past several albums. This is just a few examples of the examples why this "updated" version is disapointing and not needed in your book shelf. Wait for a real updated version, I have no doubt that the author will update it again, as it seems to be a great and cheap way to earn extra money.

Not really "revised and updated"
If you already own the original Scrapbook (which is great), don't bother buying this "revised and updated" version.The only "revised and updated" things in the book are a new cover and a new chapter added to the end of the book that summarizes her projects over the past few years.The first chapter of the book, which details her vital statistics, still states she is single...it has not been updated to reflect her marriage to James.Also, her discography in the book has not been updated to include her past several albums.This is just a few examples of pages in the book that have not been "updated and revised"....there are many, many more.What a disappointed and waste of money.

The "Revised" Barbra Streisand Scrapbook
The Barbra Streisand Scrapbook is the ultimate book for Barbra fans!!!!!!Gorgeous pictures fill the pages, and it is loaded with interesting tidbits of information on the unbelievable career and latest news in the life of Barbra Streisand.Fans will literally want to devour the pages and will not be able to put this book down until they have read, and re-read this book from cover to cover!!!!!I personally have EVERY book ever printed about Barbra Streisand, and this is without a doubt the BEST one out there!!!!Don't miss it!!!!!!! ... Read more

Product Description
Introducing the first two books in Unanimous’ new Divas series: beautifully designed and accessible books on four inimitable, individual, epochal women who have touched the lives of millions of fans and all over the world. Each book will consist of three sections: a biographical look at each artist; a full discography annotated by the author; and a critical evaluation of the artist in terms of contemporary as well as current opinion. The series kicks off this fall with Billie Holiday and Barbra Streisand. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Diving Diva
Barbra Streisand is an interesting subject, and any book on her is inherently interesting. Unfortunately, though David Bret's book is well-written, it is filled with inaccuracies, myths, and wrong information. The book appropriately is filled with his opinions of her work, which are often quirky. Who would agree that her recent album "A Love Like Ours" is one of her shining moments? And he spends far too much time grumbling about her French pronunciations on "Je m'Appelle Barbra"--a beautiful album from which few listeners will be offended by Streisand's French (he must be British). There are good photos here, and the discography is useful, if again filled with inaccuracies. Hard to know if this was a product of the author, or just bad editing. ... Read more

Product Description
A new celebrity biography by the author of the New York Times bestseller Oprah! Up Close and Down Home. Fans of Barbra Streisand can find out all about her lonely childhood, her abusive stepfather, the lovers and mentors who have shaped her life, her close friendships with Andre Agassi and Bill Clinton, and her extraordinary career. 20 pages of photographs. ... Read more

Product Description
Includes a dozen wonderfully sentimental love songs from Barbra's beautiful 1999 album, including: I've Dreamed of You * If I Never Met You * Isn't It a Pity * It Must Be You * Just One Lifetime * Love like Ours * The Island * The Music That Makes Me Dance * Wait * and more. Features Barbra's comments on each of the songs, and lovely full-color photos. ... Read more

Product Description
A biography of Barbra Streisand, who has tried to maintain her individuality throughout her career in singing and acting. ... Read more

Product Description
A brief biography concentrating on the career of the well-known singer and movie star. ... Read more

Product Description
Barbra Streisand has enjoyed worldwide artistic success for more than three decades, and her recordings are a consistent and integral part of her multifaceted professional life. As part of Greenwood's series, Companions to Celebrated Musicians, this volume explores the musical life and style of Barbra Streisand and places her in the context of American popular music of the second half of the 20th century. Attention is given to other aspects of her career as they relate to her recordings. Chapters proceed chronologically and trace Streisand's evolving musical career and her successes. Analytical sections focus on musical elements, such as instrumentation and orchestration, melody, harmony, rhythm and tone, dynamics, and form, as they examine in detail Streisand's recordings and songs. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Excellent read....a must for any Barbara fan!!!
what an engaging look at the career of the greatest female american vocalist of our generation. If you are a fan this book is an absolute treasure from start to finish.

A Barbra Fan's or Vocal Enthusiast's Dream
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I have been a lifelong fan of Ms. Streisand's vocals, and to have all of her styles and vocal capabilities studied and documented along with interesting tid-bits about her career is truly a great thing for posterity. Very interesting, entertaining and memory provoking!

Technical Stuff
Not your usual Barbra bio, but add it to your collection.

Expensive Disappointment
There is a huge void when it comes to musical studies or analyses on Streisand.Having been fascinated all my life with Streisand's voice, but having no formal musical training, I didn't think twice about spending $50on The Barbra Streisand Companion.

It didn't take more than a day torealize this book is not what I expected.For starters, the book iscomprised of6 chapters, 3 appendices, and a reference bibliography.Ofall these 256 pages, only 4 chapters (122 pages) are presented as musicalanalyses.Chapter 1 is devoted to biographical material (as if we needanother biography) and includes details such as:

-Barbra was named to theInternational Best Dressed List in 1965;

-Barbra was snubbed by theOscars;

-Barbra has a hobby of buying and redecorating houses;and

-Barbra has Christie's auctions to sell her belongings.

Honestly, Ido not know how the author feels these details contribute to a musicalstudy of Miss Streisand.After the biography, the author categorizesBarbra's lengthy career into four time periods (hence, the four chaptersmentioned earlier) and begins her "analytical sections".

Are you familiarwith My Fair Lady?If you are reading this, you probably are.In thatmovie, Henry Higgins is a professor who studies language and enunciation. I was reminded of him as I read the following in the Companion:

"Carefulstudy...illuminates the diversity of her palette as related to diction. Words ending in er are sung as though spelled uh or ah...vowelcombinations...are almost chewed...."

This kind of analyses in repeatedover and over (and over) in this book.The quote above was made inreference to The Barbra Streisand Album.However, in the discussion ofthis album, there is no reference to Barbra's vocal range (highest note,lowest note), the key she is singing on, or how well she is singing intune.Other than diction, the author does touch on some of the musicalinfluences noted, song types (she lumps all Barbra's early years into 4categories), and descriptions of how certain songs are played out. However, these descriptions are rarely useful, and quite honestly, notanything the reader doesn't already know.For example, "this ...arrangement begins with Barbra and plucked string bass.Shortly, stringsand brass and a rhythm section join...".Honestly, most Streisand fanscould have easily written this.

When reading the Preface, I noticed itstarted with a Streisand quote, "...excellence is in the details."Whichis why I was very surprised when I came across a number of factual errorsin the discography,For example:

-p. 196."Barbra and Neil received aGrammy...for their recording."(No, they did not.)

-p. 200."The score[Yentl]...is rated multi-platinum in sales"(No, it is onlyplatinum.)

-p. 210. "Nolte won in the category of Best Actor."(Again--No.Nolte did not win an Oscar for The Prince of Tides.)

Inshort, this book provides some new, unique material in the area of musicalanalyses, but for the most part, has little the average Streisand fandoesn't already know.However, if you are Professor Higgins (and I trulyhope he only exists in My Fair Lady), this is the one Streisand book youmust have. ... Read more