What was it like to be alive when Barbra Streisand’s voice was deepening in the 1980s?

It was *horrible*, OP. I still have PTSD.

MARY!!!!! This is the gayest thread of all time!!!

It was all downhill after Cry Me a River.

Exactly, r3. She cried a river until it ran dry.

A great montage in chronological order.

It was the most important thing to happen to me in the 80s. i used to have to call my psychiatrist in the middle of the night so she could calm me down.

OP, it was very much like getting hit in the head with a fondue pot.

LOL.

Of all the things I remember in the 80s, this really isn't one of them.

But DAMM you're gay, gurl!

I emerged unscathed. There was no reason to listen to her after around 1970 anyway.

[quote] MARY!!!!! This is the gayest thread of all time!!!

OP posted this about his OWN thread, and is here addressing himself as "MARY!!!!!"

That's really, really weird.

R10 because I forgot to add it to the original post. Jeez.

It really DOES set a high bar of gayness.

Well, in the 80s I was a little child and I didn't become aware of her until the early 90s, when she had already become impossibly boring and her material was dismally bad. So many people praised her that I was compelled to go through her discography and I can say that the only things she's ever done that I've liked, are her collaborations with Paul Jabara, the Gibb brothers and Laura Nyro, as well as her cover of Jim Steinman's Left In The Dark. I also like a few songs form her Superman, Yentl and The Way We Were albums, which are quite nice.

The rest is incredibly boring and while she's always had a gorgeous voice, I HATE most of her song choices. Talk about someone throwing her talent away because she doesn't have an ounce of taste and is incredibly self-indulgent.

It hit me like a Sloe Gin Fizz.

[quote] "There was no reason to listen to her after around 1970 anyway."

R9 My mother liked her, but I didn't start listening on my own until around 1999, when a coworker gave me a ride home, and played the "A Love Like Ours" album during that trip.

I then did a several year deep dive (and even thrifted vinyl copies of many of her albums) and definitely agree.

Post-1970, I do love "Enough is Enough", "Tell Him" (mostly because of Céline), and 'Just One Lifetime" from "A Love Like Ours". However, I can't stand the cheesy, synthy "Broadway Album", which I feel is greatly overrated.

And I say that as a fan of synthpop. It's just cringeworthy to me. It's funny, considering I favor one of her two trips into discoland, which on the surface seems like it would've been a worse idea. But I love it.

Well I came to know her from The Main Event and am so glad I was introduced to her at the peak of her powers.

The title Barbra Streisand...and Other Musical Instruments shows a tad bit of immodesty...

R13, you clearly do not know her catalogue of music. Rogers, Berlin, Arlen, Bernstein, Legrand, Bacharach, Schubert, Nero, Mitchell, Weill, Fauver, Wonder, Gibb, Joel, Charles, Jabara, King and on and on while referenced by every major soprano diva from Sutherland to Horne to Fleming and every major musical stage star of the last 50 years (Audra McDonald says she has been her vocal inspiration for her entire career) as the consummate singer of songs. My guess is that you do not know of her recordings R13. Even the most recent, Walls, not a commercial success but will surely be listened to for many years by anyone interested is vocal art- one of her best and include some her own songs. Throwing away her talent? It’s on full display well into her 70s on Walls and on her 2016 concert CD where she sings selections from her immense catalogue which also happens to be part of the American songbook- in part due to her.

What is most remarkable about Streisand’s recorded categories, concert, television and film music is how vast it is. To say she has no taste is to say that Joni Mitchell could not write a lyric. Singers who attempt to sing her catalogue in part to honor her are overwhelmed by the variety and difficulty of representing it. At her concerts in LA and NYC the crème of the music (and entertainment?)Industries are front and center. Do you wonder why?

Sure she has misfired- but on any album she’s ever recorded, there is vocal gold- some more and some less than others. And every major writer and musician in the industry jumps immediately if given the chance to work with her. Been going on for 60 years.

There will never be another quite like her. Not at all screwed up, in full command of her affairs, and if you see her live, pretty hard not to come away thinking she does not take herself as seriously as her rep implies. She’s much more serious about her activism in politics and charitable interests.

"I can hear you already, but I no longer WANT to hear you, with that awful deepening voice!"

I remember when it happened to Lucy in the 60's.

Barbra's voice hasn't deepened to Lucy level yet.

There is still time for Barbra to bring a deeper-voiced "Mame" to Broadway.

After she did Honey Can I Put On Your Clothes in 78 she should’ve just dropped the mike and let Olivia and Dionne have the Gibb & Bacharach stuff and let Liza do the Broadway Album.

I've always blamed Don Johnson and that shitty duet.

There was no going back for Barbra - or her voice - after that.

I wish she had recorded Ragg Mopp.

Baybeee I can fly like a bird....

something memorable from the 80s

R13, Streisand became impossibly boring and her material was dismally bad since 1975.

charlie STRIKES at R18! I can tell because he cannot write a post about Babs without mentioning politics and charity, like that has something to do with the topic.

I agree with R27. I think after 1970 there is nothing fascinating about her. Her voice may deepen but she becomes more and more shallow to listen to. Streisand’ s 1960’s showed an effort and an attitude of watch me sing. But her voice suddenly realized in 1970 that it was special and it never let us forget it. Streisand made smart song choices before 1970. But from “ The Way We Were” to “ Tell Him” her material- except the Broadway stuff-is so bad, forgettable or stupid it is hard to hear. Even her Broadway stuff could have been better if her ego was left at the door.

I refuse to believe OP is younger than 65.

Someone did a montage of her singing "People" through the years and it must have been someone who's not that musically savvy because the progressive dropping of the key was hysterical.

Sinatra and the best of the old timers from the generation just before Barbra sang 'em in the same keys from the first time to the last.

Even Fatty Babs on Broadway dropped her keys though, when Stephen Holden called her out on it in the Times. Is it something to do with the loss of estrogen?

She has not dropped the key with People. Bullshit from someone who knows shit. Holders lady review of Streisand in ‘16 in NYC was a rave.

Dropping keys is good, otherwise you have a screechy sing trying to be 21.

It was terrifying, OP. No one knew what to do or who to turn to. The world was suddenly a colder, crueler place.

She tried helium lozenges for awhile, but they made her voice a little pitchy.

Well, some good things never last.

That little girl with the big voice.

With the new album coming out Barbra has mentioned a few times that her voice was hoarse and she was so thankful it wasn’t when she went to sing, but has she ever revealed WHY it’s so hoarse?

I was terribly distraught when it started. I bravely kept my sang froid and ability to function in society. I had to go on for other challenges, such as AIDS, my career and PhD, etc, but it was difficult focusing, knowing each year there would be dramatic changes. Even the joys of the subsequent decades were dulled by knowing what we had lost.

It was no different than any other time to be alive. It's not like anyone was in the slightest bit concerned about Streisand's fucking deepening voice.