Simply Streisand (1967)

Simply Streisand was the first album released after Barbra and her manager Marty Erlichman renegotiated her contract with Columbia Records' Clive Davis—the administrative vice president and general manager, appointed in 1965 by president Goddard Lieberson. 

“Back then,” Clive Davis wrote in his bio The Soundtrack of My Life, “an established label like Columbia had a carefully defined set of parameters regarding the kinds of contracts it could offer [...] The label's standard royalty rate was 5 percent. Based on the success they had already demonstrated, [Andy] Williams and Streisand were both asking for more than a million dollars.” Davis explained that the deal he made with Streisand was for fifteen albums over a five-year period for reportedly just under a million-dollar guarantee.

That being said, Streisand continued her creative control while creating her albums for Columbia Records, picking songs she loved and working with arrangers she enjoyed.

“You know it’s very interesting,” she told Sirius XM radio, “the record company said ‘Nobody’s ever heard of these songs’ on your first two albums. So, I guess to placate them, I figured, OK, I’ll do standards. And guess what? It didn’t sell very well.  Maybe the label didn’t promote it all that well, or maybe I didn’t or the stars just didn’t line up.”

Simply Streisand was Barbra’s ninth studio album.  It was her first time working with Jack Gold, Columbia’s West Coast A&R chief, and Howard A. Roberts – Gold and Roberts share producing credit on Simply Streisand.  Roberts produced records at Columbia for Tony Bennett and Diahann Carroll. He was also musical director for Harry Belafonte. 

Streisand was able to record all the songs for the album in March 1967, before she began work on her third CBS television special, The Belle of 14th Street.

RECORDING SESSIONS FOR SIMPLY STREISAND:

March 14, 1967 — Studio C (207 East 30th Street, New York) 8:00pm—12:30am

• The Boy Next Door
• Make The Man Love Me
• When Sunny Gets Blue
• I'll Know

March 15, 1967 — Studio C (207 East 30th Street, New York) 8:00pm—12:00am

• My Funny Valentine
• All The Things You Are
• Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most (unreleased)

March 20, 1967 — Studio C (207 East 30th Street, New York) 2:30pm—6:00pm

• The Nearness of You
• Willow Weep For Me (released on 2012 “Release Me” album)
• More Than You Know
• Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?)
• Stout-Hearted Men

Streisand sang “Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most” in her nightclub act, but this was the first time she recorded it for Columbia. Incidentally, Streisand re-recorded the Fran Landesman/Tommy Wolf tune 42 years later in 2009 for her album Love is the Answer because she thought her 1967 unreleased recording was “lousy.” 

“I was so touched that Richard Rodgers wrote the liner notes on the back of the LP cover,” Barbra recalled about this album.

Barbra’s manager, Marty Erlichman, toured 17 cities promoting Simply Streisand (and A Christmas Album) to local radio stations; he also planned to visit ten more cities in early 1968.

Despite Erlichman’s efforts and Columbia Records’ publicity, Simply Streisand was simply not a chart-topper.  Instead, Diana Ross and the Supremes Greatest Hits and the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band were the big sellers on the Billboard charts for the rest of 1967.  

Simply Streisand earned a Gold certification (500,000 units or more) 35 years later, in 2002.