A Star Is Born [Remaster] (CD - 1976)

Personnel: Barbra Streisand, Kris Kristofferson (vocals); Terry Paul, Jerry McGee, Stephen Bruton, Sammy Creason, Donnie Fritts, Mike Utley, Booker T. Jones, Dean Heagen, Art Munson, Charles Owens, Bobby Shew, Jack Redmond, Clydie King, Venetta Fields.

Engineers: Phil Ramone, Dan Wallin, Tom Vicari.

Digitally remastered by Stephen Marcussen.

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

When Streisand and Kristofferson, two very different '70s pop culture icons, united for the remake of the classic film A STAR IS BORN, few expected how well their distinctive styles would complement each other. Streisand was always the singers' singer, possessed of a golden voice and almost superhuman pitch and tone control, while country-rock rebel Kristofferson was from the John Prine/Bob Dylan school of singing, where emotion and intent mattered far more than proper pitch. Yet Streisand's silvery tones and Kristofferson's gruff, three-packs-a-day drawl never seem at odds on this soundtrack. Admittedly, on tunes like "Watch Closely Now" and "The Woman in the Moon," the characters the singers portray are more exaggerated versions of their real selves, but it all works, especially the instant pop standard "Evergreen." minimize