Barbra Streisand's Compilation Of Unreleased Material To Debut On Columbia Records

NEW YORK, Aug. 23, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Barbra Streisand's private music vault holds all the master tapes she's recorded for five decades. Now, she's sharing 11 previously unreleased songs, spanning a cross-section of her career from 1963 to the present. The collection, titled Release Me, will be available on vinyl (Tuesday, September 25) and on CD (Tuesday, October 9).

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120823/NY61569)

In an unparalleled career, Streisand has released more than 60 albums. Many of the sessions for these albums yielded extra recordings, which weren't included on the albums they were intended for. They've all been stored in her vault until now. Over the past year, Barbra has painstakingly gone through the recordings to come up with this collection, Release Me.

Highlights include: "Didn't We" written by Jimmy Webb - recorded in 1970 for an unreleased album project titled The Singer; the standard "Willow Weep For Me" - an unreleased track recorded in 1967 for Simply Streisand, arranged by Ray Ellis noted for his legendary work with Billie Holiday; A striking version of Randy Newman's "I Think It's Going Rain Today," with Barbra on vocals and Newman on piano - from the 1971 Stoney End sessions; an unreleased studio version of "With One More Look At You" from A Star Is Born; Two tracks from the unreleased sequel to the acclaimed The Broadway Album, titled Back To Broadway - "Home" (from The Wiz) and "How Are Things In Glocca Morra ? / Heather On The Hill" (from Finian's Rainbow / Brigadoon).

Reflecting on the album, Streisand noted, "The thing I'm happiest about is that I still have great affection for all these songs. They appealed to me at the time…and still do. Listening now, I actually think to myself, 'The girl wasn't half bad.'"

With the exception of two songs where the original masters couldn't be located, all the tracks on Release Me were transferred from first generation master tapes. Every attention was paid to preserving the sonic perspective of the sessions as they were originally recorded and mixed.

Speaking of the unreleased recordings that reside in Barbra's music vault, her long-time A&R man and co-producer of Release Me, Jay Landers says in his liner notes, "All of Barbra's glorious music...her ideas…the collaborative efforts of the fortunate songwriters, arrangers, mixers and producers who have come into her orbit…the experiments…the occasional missteps and the many triumphs - all driven by the unstoppable force of one woman's vision."

The complete track listing for Release Me features:

1. Being Good Isn't Good Enough (from Hallelujah, Baby!)
2. Didn't We
3. Willow Weep For Me
4. Try To Win A Friend
5. I Think It's Going To Rain Today
6. With One More Look At You (from A Star Is Born)
7. Lost In Wonderland
8. How Are Things In Glocca Morra? / Heather On The Hill (from Finian's Rainbow / Brigadoon)
9. Mother And Child
10. If It's Meant To Be
11. Home (from The Wiz)

ABOUT BARBRA STREISAND: The most accomplished female recording artist ever, Barbra Streisand has received 10 Grammys—including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement and Grammy Legend Awards—51 gold albums, 30 platinum albums, and 13 multi-platinum albums. According to the RIAA, Barbra Streisand is the #1 best-selling female recording artist in history and the only woman to make the Top 10 all-time best-selling artists list.

An artist of unparalleled accomplishments in multiple entertainment fields, Streisand has made her mark as an award winning actress of stage and screen, recording artist, concert performer, film director, producer, screenwriter, songwriter, philanthropist, designer, photographer, author and activist.

Barbra Streisand is the only artist ever to receive an Oscar, Tony, Emmy, Grammy, Directors Guild of America, Golden Globe, National Medal of Arts and Peabody Awards as well as France's Legion d'Honneur and the American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award.  She is, in fact, the recipient of 2 Oscars, 5 Emmys, 10 Grammys, a Tony and 12 Golden Globes including the Cecil B. DeMille Award. She is also the first female film director to receive the Kennedy Center Honors. The three films she directed received 14 Oscar nominations.

The Streisand Foundation has given millions of dollars in more than 2100 grants to over 700 non-profit organizations including her substantial underwriting of The Cedars-Sinai Barbra Streisand Women's Cardiovascular Research and Education Program which addresses the leading cause of death among women in the United States, as well as men. The Cedars-Sinai Board of Governors recently honored Streisand, for her generous support and dedication to the Cedars-Sinai Women's Heart Center.

SOURCE Columbia Records