Barbra Streisand – The
Television Specials (5-DVD set)
Picture: C+
Sound: C+ Extras: C Specials: A-
There are two camps of thought on Barbra Streisand. The Right Wing revisionist version portrays
her as some former star who is as political as Jane Fonda and some kind of
menace. It is an ugly caricature that
is also out to erase progress, the counterculture and real feminism. In real life, however, Streisand is one of
the most significant, innovative, groundbreaking and important artists of the
last 50 years. She first conquered
Broadway and the record industry, then went on to huge success in motion
pictures, often the #1 artist in her time in all those media. Triumphs of equal importance happened on the
small screen and Barbra Streisand – The Television Specials issues all
five of her CBS network TV specials for the first time ever in one stunningly
designed box package.
With the clout her work instantly brought her, along with
insane commercial success, Streisand’s five hour-long specials were some of the
most important cultural events a commercial TV network ever broadcast. Looking at them today and knowing the
decline of quality between what are now hundreds of TV channels, one could only
imagine that these shows were made for public television. A not so long time ago, however, the Big
Three Networks (CBS, ABC, NBC) took risks and/or let artists with clout do
so. The results are five exceptional
programs that only get better with age.
Roger Ebert once said that Richard Lester’s film of The
Beatles in A Hard Day’s Night (1964) was the Citizen Kane
of music feature films after so many raw (and often independent) Rock genre
films since 1955. Debuting one year
later in 1965, My Name Is Barbra is a landmark achievement in the
television medium, almost two decades (20 years!!!) ahead of MTV and the Music
Video in its melding of artful images and great music, minus the
over-editing. With its superlative
choice of music, innovate shooting (especially with videotape!) and choice of
location shooting and how it was all shot, it was a triumph of the television
art showcasing the triumph of the music art.
Highlights include My Name Is Barbra, People,
Happy Days Are Here Again and a “Poverty Medley” that brilliantly ties
in comical juxtapositions of images with classic stage songs she put (or
further put) on the map like Second Hand Rose, I Got Plenty Of
Nothing, Brother, Can You Spare A Dime? and The Best Things In
Life Are Free. Even early on in her
career, the voice was extraordinary and phrasing was groundbreaking, personable
and had a range and a way of using that range that combined to create the
distinct voice that remains one of the most influential of all time.
With the stunning success of that program, Streisand
decided to take some big artistic risks and proceeded with Color Me Barbra
(1966), which included museum location shooting, costume changes that could go
a few rounds with Cher, Diana Ross & Madonna, tried the then-new technology
of color on that location and was another stunning ratings hit and critical
success. Like the last program, she was
the sole performer, something unheard of (and now not often done) for a music
TV special. She was joined by animals
this time, who did not sing or dance, and chose songs like Any Place I Hang
My Hat Is My Home and The Minute Waltz as lesser known songs that
demanded more of an attention span, along with the visuals, to appreciate. It holds up extraordinarily well and puts
many overly digital Music video productions with their huge budgets and
colorless (and tired) visuals to shame.
The most complicated and risky of all the shows had to be
1967’s The Bell Of 14th Street, with great opening and
closing animated credits in the paper doll mode that went back to the turn of
the century and revived a series of Vaudeville classics. This time, she would have co-stars,
including the then less-known Jason Robards.
You’re The Apple Of My Eye, Mother Machree and A Good
Man Is Hard To Find are among the period classics people still remember and
talk about. It had a larger budget and
even used some fine editing tricks that kept things moving and put many music
TV and film productions to shame today in their sheer simp0licity and
effectiveness.
A Happening In Central Park is her
landmark 1967 concert, which lasted about three hours. This is the original, shorter TV version and
has her at her best. It shows her
growth as a performer in only a few years and is one of the great cultural
events of the decade. Besides the witty
monologues, she delivers great renditions of Down With Love, Cry Me A
River, Second Hand Rose, People, Happy Days Are Here Again
and even (in the middle of June) Silent Night, Holy Night. This was also released as an album and
though both versions could not have fit on a single DVD comfortably, it would
be nice to see if the rest of the footage exists on film or tape and do a
longer version, possibly with better audio, and in DTS. Maybe that can be issued with an SACD
version of the concert, all in 5.1 sound.
Finally, after several years of more hit records and
films, including What’s Up Doc?, the grossly underrated Up The
Sandbox, Barbra Streisand… and Other Musical Instruments (1973)
again pushed the limits of the television medium, this time featuring creative
rearrangements of her classics with many scenarios and costume changes that
make it all the more entertaining. The
big highlight, now more than ever, is her three-song piece with Ray
Charles. Ray sings Look What They’ve
Done To My Song, Ma, the two duet on Crying Time and Barbra joins
the back-up singers on her hit Sweet Inspirations/Where You Lead. It is a show as powerful as the previous
shows and she would not return to TV for 13 years. This set captures her original run of unprecedented success very
well and the time could not be better to rediscover what are all classics of
the television medium.
The 1.33 X 1 image throughout originated in professional
NTSC video, from the first black and white special to the final full color
one. We have seen hundreds of such programs
since the advent of this site and Rhino’s transfer and remastering of this
material is one of the best. Though the
first four have a very slight squeeze to them (which those with Vertical
Stretch on their TVs can straighten out), it is never a major distraction. It is not to say the transfers are perfect,
but they often come close, keeping in mind how this is old 2-inch reel-to-reel
videotape we are dealing with. The color
in the four latter shows is often vibrant, if slightly bleeding, as is the case
with all NTSC of the time. The sound is
available on all five discs in three versions of Dolby Digital: 2.0 Mono, 2.0
Stereo and 5.1 remixes that use the original television audio nicely
considering the limits and lower fidelity standards of TV audio of the time,
which was always monophonic.
The monophonic tracks sometimes are too compressed, almost
as much of a problem as the PCM 2.0 Mono sound on the program that made it to
the old 12” LaserDisc format, but the 2.0 Stereo and 5.1 mixes fair much better
than any previous presentations of the specials. Chace did as good a job on these remixes as could have been hoped
for, even if Rhino does not include DTS versions (which there was room for) in
this case. The only setback is that the
remixing cannot hide the dated fidelity of the sources used. That applies to the picture too, which is
more refined and clear in comparison to those 12” platters. Extras include song credits on each DVD,
introductions on My Name Is Barbra, Color Me Barbra and A
Happening In Central Park from their 1987 VHS and Beta release, followed by
the LaserDiscs. There is also the great
box case with holds a folding Digipak case that holds the five discs and a
great 52 page booklet which covers all five shows and much more. It is illustrated with great stills and on
high-quality paper, with great design and color choices. The improvements are very welcome and that
makes Barbra Streisand – The Television Specials one of the finest music
DVD sets offered to date.
- Nicholas Sheffo
