Though it is credited to
Barbra Streisand and
Kris Kristofferson, A Star Is Born is in effect the soundtrack album to the motion picture of the same name, a rock-oriented retelling of the story that had been filmed three times before. That it is not billed as a soundtrack only indicates that the album contains the songs featured in the film, but not the score. Of course, the main drawing card here is "Love Theme From 'A Star Is Born' (Evergreen)," the number one hit. But the rest of the album is slight.
Streisand isn't much of a rock singer and these aren't much as rock songs (the songwriters include
Paul Williams and
Rupert Holmes). For his part,
Kristofferson sounds even more gravelly than usual, and he isn't even growling his own compositions, which doubtless would have been superior to what he's been given to sing. Nevertheless, spurred by the hit single and the box office success of the film, A Star Is Born was the best-selling album of
Barbra Streisand's career up to this point. ["Evergreen," co-written by
Streisand and
Williams, won Grammy Awards for Song of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal.] ~ William Ruhlmann