What About Today?

Performer: Barbra Streisand
Engineer: Don Meehan
Producer: Wally Gold
Distributor: Sony Music Distribution (

Notes: Streisand's first, tentative attempt to try out the work of contemporary songwriters. ~ William Ruhlmann What About Today?, Barbra Streisand's first new studio album in two years, was her initial, frankly unsuccessful encounter with the pop music revolution of the 1960s. The songs were by Paul Simon, Lennon/McCartney, Bacharach/David -- not exactly hard rock, but apparently beyond the ken of Streisand, who employed her usual armory of belting and shtick, all to no avail. Her usual arrangers, Peter Matz, Don Costa, and Michel Legrand, succeeded in turning some excellent contemporary material into Las Vegas schmaltz and glitz, and Streisand sang the songs the same way. She was laughably unable to comprehend the work of her own peers. Streisand was actually younger by a year or two than Paul Simon and John Lennon. She sang as if she was old enough to be their mother. ~ William Ruhlmann WHAT ABOUT TODAY is a shining souvenir of an era in the U.S. when there was social unrest and young people's voices were heard, a subject Streisand alludes to in her liner notes. Released in July 1969, the album kept Barbra current, while continuing to showcase her incredible talent. The title track questions the contemporaneous socio-political state of affairs and is a fast, brilliant number. "Ask Yourself Why" (From The Motion Picture The Swimming Pool) is a Bacharach-like tune with what sounds like a one-take vocal due to Barbra's sheer mastery of the song. "Honey Pie" is the first of three Beatles covers and is Barbra at her swanky best. Streisand adds a humorous touch with the food metaphors of Paul Simon's "Punky's Dilemma" and again masters the art of the ballad in "Until It's Time For You To Go." The Queen of Easy Listening puts her own spin on "With A Little Help From My Friends" and "Alfie," and concludes the record with a sweet, heartfelt rendition of the Beatles' "Goodnight." This record shows that Barbra was both continuing to expand her horizons and maintaining her musical roots.

When she emerged in a 1960s pop scene dominated by rock & roll, Barbra Streisand was a breath of fresh air to those nostalgic for the great Broadway-oriented pop vocalists of the past. Her stratospheric range and (initially) anachronistic taste in material made her the new Grande Dame of non-rock pop music. Along the way she experimented with the flavors of the day, from folk-rock to disco, but she always returned to the Great American Songbook for inspiration.

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