At a time when
Barbra Streisand's career was in decline, what turned out to be only her first greatest-hits album seemed to serve as both a summing up and a kiss-off of her 1960s recordings.
Streisand was not primarily a singles artist; between 1964 and 1969, she enjoyed nine chart singles, of which only one, "People," made the Top Ten, with only one other, "Second Hand Rose," reaching the Top 40. But in that time, she scored seven gold-selling, Top Ten albums. This hits collection contained seven of her chart singles, plus her non-charting early single "My Coloring Book," "Happy Days Are Here Again," which was one of the highlights of her debut album (heard here in the live version from
A Happening in Central Park), and "Don't Rain on My Parade" from the Funny Girl soundtrack. For casual fans, that made for a good sampling of
Streisand's most prominent '60s work, and if at the time it seemed likely that this was all the hits there would be, instead the '60s proved to be only the first chapter in
Streisand's career. ~ William Ruhlmann