What About Today?

Background and production

In the late 1960s, rock was the music style that dominated the charts in the United States and many other countries. Columbia Records, concerned about the drop in Streisand's record sales (which until 1966 had been earning gold records with all of her albums and selling nearly 1 million with each of them worldwide) had plans to make the artist's repertoire more contemporary. The agent of this change was Clive Davis, who was brought to the record company by Goddard Lieberson, and managed to bring a significant change in the record company's catalog of artists which was still closely linked to artists from the Great American Songbook, the canon of American music composed by artists from the 1920s to the 1950s who sing jazz standards, traditional pop and show tunes. Davis had helped the label hire artists such as Janis Joplin, Bruce Springsteen, Chicago, Kenny Loggins, and Pink Floyd, which turned out to be a great investment. Despite disagreeing with the idea, Streisand followed Davis' advice. In 1968, a single was released for the song "The Morning After", which featured as a B-side the song "Where is the Wonder" from her 1965 My Name Is Barbra album, but despite having a more contemporary sound, the single did not appear on the music charts.

The album was produced by Wally Gold, while Peter Matz conducted and arranged the songs: "Ask Yourself Why", "Honey Pie", "Punky's Dilemma", "That's a Fine Kind O' Freedom", "Little Tin Soldier" and "Goodnight". Don Costa arranged and conducted the tracks: "What About Today?" and "The Morning After". Michel Legrand was responsible for producing and conducting the orchestra on the songs "Until It's Time for You to Go", "With a Little Help from My Friends" and "Alfie", Legrand worked with the singer in many other albums. The photos from both cover and the back cover were taken by Richard Avedon, in 1968, one of the photos from the same shoot appeared in the March 1968 issue of Vogue. Four songs were recorded but not included in the final tracklisting "Chovendo na Roseira", by Tom Jobim, "Lost in Wonderland", "Tomorrow I Will Bring You a Rose" and "One Day" which was used in 1990s The Earth Day Special.

Critical reception

The album received mixed reviews from music critics.

William Ruhlmann, from AllMusic website gave the album two stars out of five and wrote that it is an unsuccessful attempt by Streisand because she didn't seem to understand contemporary music at the time. He also wrote that although Streisand was two years younger than newcomers like Paul Simon and John Lennon, on the record, she sings like she was their mother.

Writing for The New York Times, in October 1969, music critic Robert Christgau wrote an unfavorable review in which he stated that the singer was not suited to the music style chosen and that "not only is Streisand's emotion wasted on material so monotonous, as it is also shown as an arbitrary exercise".

Billboard wrote that the album tunes "were carefully selected" and shows Streisand "astonishing vocal capabilities" and also an honest message to the youth.

Commercial performance

The album peaked at #31 on the Billboard 200 music chart and stayed there for seventeen weeks, making it the worst performance of an album by the singer at that time. In Canada, it peaked at #26 on April 10, 1969, on the RPM magazine chart.

Track listing

Side one

1. "What About Today?" (David Shire, Richard Maltby, Jr.) – 2:57
2. "Ask Yourself Why" from the motion picture The Swimming Pool (Alan Bergman, Marilyn Bergman, Michel Legrand) – 3:03
3. "Honey Pie" (John Lennon, Paul McCartney) – 2:39
4. "Punky's Dilemma" (Paul Simon) – 3:29
5. "Until It's Time for You to Go" (Buffy Sainte-Marie) – 2:55
6. "That's a Fine Kind O' Freedom" (Harold Arlen, Martin Charnin) – 3:02

Side two

1. "Little Tin Soldier" (Jimmy Webb) –3:53
2. "With a Little Help from My Friends" (Lennon, McCartney) – 2:40
3. "Alfie" (Burt Bacharach, Hal David) – 3:20
4. "The Morning After" (Maltby, Shire) – 2:40
5. "Goodnight" (Lennon, McCartney) – 3:44

Personnel

• Barbra Streisand – singer, liner notes
• Wally Gold – producer
• Michel Legrand – arranger, conductor on tracks 5, 8, 9
• Peter Matz – arranger, conductor on tracks 2–4, 6, 7, 11
• Don Costa – arranger, conductor on tracks 1, 10
• Don Meehan – recording engineer
• Richard Avedon – photographer

Charts

Release history

References

References

1. Molanphy, Chris. (February 10, 2024). "The Hello Gorgeous Edition". [[Slate (magazine).
2. "The Barbra Streisand Music Guide – What About Today?".
3. (1969). "Frank Mills/Punky's Dilemma". [[Columbia Records]].
4. (1969). "Little Tin Soldier/Honey Pie". [[Columbia Records]].
5. "Barbra Streisand Chart History: Adult Contemporary".
6. "Barbra Streisand Awards". [[AllMusic]].
7. Máximo, João. (June 13, 1994). "Barbra Streisand prefere grandes compositores ao pop dos anos 60". [[UOL HOST]].
8. "Gold & Platinum Database: "Barbra Streisand"". [[Recording Industry Association of America]].
9. Lurie, Diana. (March 18, 1966). "Stricken with phenomenal success at 23, Barbra Streisand is more ridden than ever by self-doubts and fears". Time Inc.
10. Mordden, Ethan. (2019). "On Streisand: An Opinionated Guide". Oxford University Press.
11. (May 11, 1968). "Barbra Streisand sings The Morning After (AD)". [[Prometheus Global Media]].
12. Ruhlmann, William. "Allmusic Review: My Name Is Barbra".
13. Edwards, Anne. (2016). "On Streisand:A Biography". Rowman & Littlefield.
14. (March 1, 1968). "People Are Talking About ...". [[Vogue (magazine).
15. Howe, Matt. "Streisand Albums: What About Today?".
16. William Ruhlmann. (2012). "Allmusic Review: Barbra Streisand - What about today?". www.allmusic.com.
17. Robert Christgau. (October 26, 1969). "Barbra Streisand, Featuring Mary Hopkin". www.robertchristgau.com.
18. (August 23, 1969). "Billboard Album Reviews".
19. "Top Albums/CDs - Volume 12, No. 7 April 10, 1969".
20. "Top 100 Pop Albums". [[Cashbox (magazine).