CD Release Date: 1987 + 1994

Catalog Number(s):
CK 9278

1994 CD case sticker

CD Track Issues:
The 1987 CD contains an obvious mistake in Track 7 ("Medley"). After Barbra sings "Small World", you can hear a snippet of her singing "Follow" (from "Try To Remember"), which then segués into "I Love You".

Barbra's very short vocal of "Follow" is gone in the 1994 disc.

CD Packaging Notes:
Columbia's CD packaging is fine. It would have been better if they'd replicated the Chemstrand full-color pullout that was included in the original LP:

CD Release Date: 1993

Catalog Number(s):
CK 52722

1993 CD case sticker

Restored by John Arrias at B&J Studio using the C.A.P. System
Remastered by Bernie Grundman

* This CD is out of print. Streisand only sings two songs on this album, however, and both are available on 1991's Just For the Record. In addition, Barbra's duet with Arlen from this album is included on her 2002 Duets CD.

CD Release Date: 1989 + 1994

Catalog Number(s):
CK 9347 (1989 + 1994)
CK 724308 (2008, SBME SPECIAL MKTS.)

1994 CD case sticker

CD Release Date: 1989 + 1994

Catalog Number(s):
CK 9482 (1994)
CK 724309 (2008, SBME SPECIAL MKTS.)

1994 CD case sticker

CK 9557

CK 92708 (with ugly border)

CK 92708's blue disc

CK 712043 (with song titles at bottom)

CD Release Date: 1989 + 1994 + 2004 + 2007

Catalog Number(s):
CK 9557 (1989 & 1994)
CK 92708 (2004—U.S. "Essential Holiday Classics" version)
518970 2 (2004—U.K. Christmas Collection)
97722 (2005—U.S. Borders Christmas Collection)
CK 712043 (2007 SBME SPECIAL MKTS.)

1994 CD case sticker

CD Packaging Notes:

Many versions of Barbra's Christmas Album have been sold. The original 1989 disc contained nothing of note. In 1994, it was remastered. In 2004, the album received a new (tacky!) cover in the U.S. And in the U.K. in 2004, a box set called "The Christmas Collection" was released. The set contained the remaster of the 1967 album along with Barbra's 2001 recording, Christmas Memories. The collection was then released in the U.S. in 2005 at Borders Book Stores exclusively. The box slip cover looked like this:

2002 Red Label Funny Girl CD

CD Release Date: 1987 + 1994 + 2002

Catalog Number(s):
CK 3220 (1987 + 1994)
CK 85151 (2002)

2002 CD Notes:
Remastered from the original master tapes by Stephen Marcussen

Digitally edited by Stewart Whitmore for Marcussen Mastering, Hollywood, CA.

The 2002 CD is red with the Columbia label.

It should be noted that all versions of the CD omit "Second Hand Rose" from the overture. "Rose" was restored on the Quad and Masterworks LP in the 70's and 80's, but seemed to go missing on the CDs. The only way to hear the complete overture if you do not own the LPs is to listen to it on the DVD.

CD Packaging Notes:
The first two versions of the 1968 Funny Girl soundtrack utilized the original artwork from the front and back of the LP. However, the original LP's gatefold design (see photo below) contained liner notes and a Funny Girl photo collage. In 2002, the gatefold elements were restored to the CD booklet, including Jack Brodsky's liner notes.

The 2002 CD, mastered by Marcussen Mastering, sounds wonderful—a great improvement over the 1994 disc.

CD Release Date: 1989 + 1994 + 2008

Catalog Number(s):
CK 9710 (1989 + 1994)
CK 724431 (2008, SBME SPECIAL MKTS.)

1994 CD case sticker

The 1994 remaster is revelatory! A downside to the remaster is that audience voices became much more prevalent (it was a rowdy crowd!) and Barbra's voice sounds deeper than usual. Still, the 1994 remaster was needed and the album sounded much better. John Arrias did the 1994 remaster and stated in an interview at the time that he actually used the video master for the CD, as it was a better recording than the audio Columbia recorded that night in 1967. (This, of course, does not apply to the "Folk Monologue", which was lifted from a recording made at the Hollywood Bowl.)

FYI, "I Can See It" and "Marty the Martian" have been creatively edited on the Central Park CD. Let me explain:

If you watch the Central Park DVD, you will see that "I Can See It" is sung late in the first act — not as an opener.

On the Central Park CD, "I Can See It" has been placed as the opening song. The CD begins with:

• Applause
• An orchestral cue
• Barbra's comment, "I didn't do nothin' yet!"
• Barbra's vocal of "I Can See It"

In fact, Barbra's first song that evening was "Any Place I Hang My Hat is Home". It has never been released, probably because Barbra was very nervous when she first hit the Central Park stage. The album engineers employed some creative editing in order to create a dynamic opening track. Most likely lifted the orchestral cue from the Hollywood Bowl concert. Then they "pasted in" Barbra's quip ("I didn't do nothin' yet"), then sequéd into the Central Park vocal of "I Can See It".

Here's where it gets curiouser.

On the Central Park DVD, you can see that Barbra sings "The Hills Are Alive / Mississippi Mud" as the intro to "I Can See It". On the CD, the engineers cut out the intro. Barbra begins with "There's a song I must sing, it's a well known song...".

However, the "Mississippi Mud" intro turns up on track 7, preceding "Marty the Martian". During the actual concert, (which you can see on the DVD) Barbra entertained with a lengthy monologue about developing film at the corner drugstore. The album engineers, probably to save time, cut the monologue and inserted the "Mississippi Mud" cue. It's actually a pretty seamless edit, although the tempo of "Mississippi Mud" doesn't quite match the tempo of "Marty the Martian".

To summarize, on the Central Park CD "I Can See It", "Marty the Martian" and the "Mississippi Mud" intro are all vocals from Central Park — they've simply been repositioned for the album. It appears that the orchestral cue preceding "I Can See It" has been lifted from the Hollywood Bowl concert, as it was not performed in Central Park. To elaborate further on this, you can hear the orchestral cue in Barbra's 1966 concert act. In the '66 tour, Barbra performed "I Can See It" as the Second Act opener. The orchestra played an Entr'acte, sequéd into the orchestral cue for "I Can See It", and then Barbra sang the introductory lyrics to the song: "Beyond that road is a shining world, beyond that road lies despair...", which she does *not* sing in the Central Park concert.

You know what I mean?

(Thanks to Daniel S. for bringing "I Can See It" to my attention).

CD Release Date: Oct. 19, 1993

Catalog Number(s):

CK 47014 (1994)
CK 724719 (2008, SBME SPECIAL MKTS.)

Restored by John Arrias at B&J Studio using the C.A.P. System
Remastered by Bernie Grundman

CD Packaging Notes:
1993 was the first time this album was released on CD—and Columbia did it right. It looks as if Streisand archivist Karen Swenson found the original Richard Avedon photo used on the album's back cover, because the one used on the CD (as opposed to the original LP) looks fantastic.

Streisand's original liner notes, which appeared on the back side of the LP, are reproduced inside the CD booklet.

CD Release Date: Nov. 8, 1994

*Hello, Dolly! was not a Columbia Records album

Label: PHILIPS
Catalog No.: 810368

All music remixed from the multi-track elements in the South Room, Zanuck Theater, Twentieth Century Fox Studios, CA, July 1994

Remixed version produced by Nick Redman
Music Score Remix by Brian Risner
Digital mastering by Dan Hersch, DigiPrep
Package Design by Joey Reinleib
Liner Notes by George C. Konder

*Philips did a remarkable job restoring the Hello, Dolly! soundtrack. At the time, it was the only Streisand album which had not been released on CD.

Even the liner notes do an excellent job explaining its various incarnations over the years:

"Original soundtrack LP and audio cassette recordings of Hello, Dolly! were first released on 20th Century Fox Records, and were reissued by Fox in the 1970s on its re-named 20th Century Records label. The soundtrack was reissued once again in the 1980s on the Casablanca label."

It is interesting to note that the original Fox album was a gatefold design and included a story synopsis, lyrics and a large photo of the parade scene on the inside. This was not replicated on the Philips CD.

copyright © 2003-2008 Matt Howe