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Higher Ground (1997)

Catalog Number(s):

• CK 66181

(Below: A look at the Higher Ground CD tray)

Tracks

1. I Believe / You'll Never Walk Alone [6:10]
   (“Believe” - E. Drake / I. Graham / J. Shirl / A. Stillman;
   “You'll” - R. Rodgers / O. Hammerstein II)
2. Higher Ground [4:22]
   (S. Dorff / G. Green / K. Agee)
3. At The Same Time [4:16]
   (A.H. Callaway)
4. Tell Him (Duet with Celine Dion) [4:51]
   (D. Foster / L. Thompson / W. Afanasieff)
5. On Holy Ground [6:12]
   (G. Davis)
6. If I Could [4:23]
   (R.L. Miller / K. Hirsch / M.V. Sharron)
7. Circle [4:14]
   (J. Friedman / C. Weil)
8. The Water Is Wide / Deep River [5:31]
   (traditionals)
9. Leading With Your Heart [3:32]
   (A. Bergman / M. Bergman / M. Hamlisch)
10. Lessons To Be Learned [4:41]
    (A. Rich / D.S. Gazeley / M. Malamet)
11. Everything Must Change [4:02]
    (B. Ighner)
12. Avinu Malkeinu [4:07]
    (M. Janowski)

Individual track credits:

(mouse and click on each song to reveal the credits...)

About the Album

• Released November 11, 1997
• Executive Producers: Barbra Streisand and Jay Landers
• Individual Tracks Produced by: Arif Mardin, Walter Afanasieff, David Foster, Mervyn Warren, Jeremy Lubbock,
• Art Direction: Nancy Donald
• Design: Hooshik
• Liner Notes: Barbra Streisand
• Photos (Front cover, back cover, tray card): Randee St. Nicholas
• Photo of Celine Dion & Barbra Streisand: Firooz Zahedi
• Barbra's Thank Yous:

  To J.B. for giving me the love I sing about.

  My thanks and appreciation again to my team who've been with me for many years—MARTY forever ... JAY, KIM, RENATA, DAVE REITZAS, DAVID FOSTER (thank you for your homey studio), JEREMY LUBBOCK, BILL ROSS, then there's PETER FLETCHER & NANCY DONALD wh've worked on 17 album covers (dates me, now it's CD's!), SHAWN MURPHY, FELIPE ELGUETA, FRANK WOLF, GARETH WIGAN, PHIL ALLEY, SUE and the gang at SONY (thanks for the bathroom, MIKE).

  My special thanks to CELINE, RENE, TOMMY MOTTOLA, DON IENNER, my new friends ARIF MARDIN, FRANK FILIPETTI, MERVYN WARREN and ... WALTER A.—who was there for me when he didn't have to be.

  Additional thanks to JOHN DOELP and VITO LUPRANO for their co-executive production of “Tell Him.”

Higher Ground was Barbra Streisand's eighth number one album.

Streisand heard “On Holy Ground” at Virginia Clinton Kelley's funeral in 1994. Barbra was moved by the young singer and described it as an “electrifying moment.” In her liner notes for the album, Barbra wrote, “I love the sound of a gospel choir, with all its earthly passion...The lyric says that whenever we stand in the presence of God, we're on holy ground.”

The man who wrote “On Holy Ground,” Geron Davis remembered Streisand's reaction: “Here's a lady,” he said, “who's sung on Broadway. She has sung duets with every famous person in the country. She's produced, starred in, and directed movies. You think a 19-year-old's song is gonna electrify her? That's not what electrified Barbra Streisand. What happened to Barbra Streisand—and I believe she would agree—is that she got into the presence of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. She was electrified not by my song, but by the presence of God that she felt in the room.”

(Photo, above: Arif Mardin and Streisand)

Arif Mardin produced four tracks on Higher Ground (“I Believe/You'll Never Walk Alone”, “Higher Ground”, “If I Could” and “The Water is Wide/Deep River”). He said, “Working on a [Neve Capricorn digital audio console] a few years ago on a Barbra Streisand project, she was in LA and we were in New York and we would mix the song, play it to her over the fibre-optic telephone line, she would critique it, we'd do the changes, and then she would say 'Oh, what about yesterday's mix?' If it wasn't a Capricorn, the assistant would have to set the mix up, look at his notes, set the EQs and everything. With the Capricorn you press one button and everything is recalled. So with Barbra Streisand, who's known to be very particular, we mixed five songs in seven days. Would you believe that? She was very happy. So in that domain, it was important that we worked on a digital desk.”

Ann Hampton Callaway, a gifted performer and songwriter, contributed “At the Same Time” to Higher Ground. She told Barbra News:

When I exchanged my first words with Barbra about some lyric rewrites for her, I was too cool for words, trying to remain as dignified as possible. We had a very interesting conversation about what she was looking for in the rewriting of the bridge of my song. It was important to her that the words be “simple but profound” and understandable to the listener upon first hearing. She was warm and expressive about the message she wanted to convey.

"She has a certain clout and star wattage that is dazzling beyond almost anyone," Ms. Callaway said of Ms. Streisand. "The powerful impact she's had on me and anyone I know as a singer, as an interpreter of great American songs ... she's a force of nature. When she does a song, she owns it."

After Celine Dion sang “I Finally Found Someone” on the Oscar broadcast, Streisand sent her flowers with a congratulatory note that ended with: “Next time let's do one together.”

David Foster wrote “Tell Him” for Dion and Streisand, with his wife Linda Thompson writing the lyrics with Walter Afanasieff.

“Barbra sang her part in Los Angeles,” Dion said, “ and a few days later in New York, I added my voice to hers.”

“Celine is all anyone could ask for in a singing partner—professional, easygoing, generous,” Streisand told McCalls. “Her amazing voice is surpassed only by her kind and gentle heart.”

“Tell Him” was released as a single but failed to get played on radio stations (reflecting the change in the music business that's been happening for over ten years). A single was manufactured for sale, but withdrawn by Columbia Records in the U.S.—although fans overseas were able to find it in stores.

Note: Celine Dion's DVD, Au Coeur Du Stade, features the 56-minute documentary, Let's Talk About Love: The Sessions. Included is studio footage of Streisand, David Foster, and Celine Dion talking around the piano, as well as the complete video of “Tell Him”. The DVD (all-region) is out of print, but used copies can be found at Amazon.com. Here's a link to Amazon.

“If I Could,” by Ronald Miller, Kenny Hirsch, and Martha Sharron, has been covered by many artists including Celine Dion, Linda Eder, Ray Charles, and Nancy Wilson. The song obviously struck a chord with Streisand, who dedicated it to her son Jason on Higher Ground. Miller wrote for Streisand before—she's recorded his song “I've Never Been a Woman Before.”

“If I Could” was released as a single. Below is a foreign pressing with the single version of “I Believe” included.

Streisand first attempted to record “Everything Must Change” by Bernard Ighner in the summer of 1974 for her album, Butterfly. Ultimately, it was not completed for that album. The song must have stuck with her, though, since Streisand returned to it 23 years later for Higher Ground.

Click the play button below to listen to a snippet of Barbra's 1974 rehearsal tape, which then segues into the 1997 recording of “Everything Must Change”:

Billboard Charts

The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine.

Here's the numbers for this Streisand album:

• Debut Chart Date: 11-29-97
• No. Weeks on Billboard 200 Albums Chart: 27
• Peak Chart Position: #1 for 1 week
• Gold: 12/9/97
• Platinum: 12/9/97
• 3x Multi-Platinum: 12/22/97

Gold: 500,000 units shipped

Platinum: 1 million units shipped.

Note: The record company must submit an album to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) where it undergoes a certification process to become eligible for an award. The process entails an independent sales audit, which calculates the quantity of singles or albums shipped for sale, net after returns. The audit surveys shipments to the entire music marketplace, including retail, record clubs, television sales, Internet orders and other ancillary markets. Based on the certification of these shipments, a title is awarded Gold, Platinum, Multi-Platinum or Diamond status. The data here comes directly from official sources, mainly the RIAA online database.

From The Barbra Streisand Music Guide:

[Higher Ground] debuted at #1 on The Billboard 200 album chart dated 11-29-97, having sold 207,000 units in its initial week of release (based solely on SoundScan reports), significantly more than 1993's Back To Broadway (121,000) in its first week, when it also debuted at #1. This is Barbra's eighth #1 album and allowed her to pass The Beatles as the act with the longest span of #1 albums, 33 years since People hit #1 in 1964.

[ ... ] The weekend of 11/14, following Barbra's 20/20 TV appearance, sales were reported higher than on the first day of release. In its second week of release, which included Barbra's landmark appearance on The Rosie O'Donnell Show, the album maintained a top 10 position, increasing sales to 267,000 and moving only to #3. In its third week, the album sold 247,000, moving to #4 but outselling the previous week's #1 album. Week four yielded 232,000 units and back up to #3 behind holiday supersellers Garth Brooks (1) and Celine Dion (2). In week five the album sold an amazing 321,000+ copies, retaining its #3 chart position behnd similarly huge-selling Brooks and Dion. 465,000+ units moved during week six, holding the album steady at #3 according to SoundScan, despite the Billboard chart holiday hiatus. Week 7 kept the album at #3, with 402,000 units sold. The post-holiday sales declines of virtually all albums took Barbra's CD out of the top 10 during week 8 (ending 1/4/98). The album charted for 27 consecutive weeks, concluding at #145 on 5/30/98. Billboard's year-end Top Albums chart lists the album at #16 (Dec. 6, 1997 - Nov. 28, 1998).

Album Cover Outtakes

Randee St. Nicholas photographed the striking cover image for Higher Ground, as well as the seaside shot of Streisand that graced the back cover of the CD.

Below is the final image used for the CD cover in its full, vertical crop.

And below are alternates of this shot ... just as beautiful.

(Below: One of St. Nicholas' alternate shots from the CD tray ... )

End.

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