Barbra Streisand - Stoney End (1971) [1994, Digitally Remastered]

"Stoney End" is the 12th studio album by Barbra Streisand. It was produced by Richard Perry. Released in 1971, it was a change in direction for Streisand with a more upbeat contemporary pop sound. The album hit #10 on the Billboard Top 200, where it was certified Platinum with sales of 1 million copies. In the UK the album entered the chart at #28. The album has sold 1,5 million copies worldwide. The title track, a Laura Nyro composition previously recorded by Peggy Lipton (#121 on Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles in 1968), was released in the US and charted at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #2 on the Adult Contemporary chart and also reached #27 on the UK singles chart. "Time and Love" reached #51 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #3 on the AC Chart. "Hands Off the Man", the final single, was officially titled "Flim Flam Man" (and backed with "Maybe"). It spent 5 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at 82.

Barbra Streisand scored her second Top 10 hit in early 1971 by treating Laura Nyro's recording of her song "Stoney End" as a demo and copying it practically note for note. "Mama, let me start all over," she sang, and her wish was granted. The followup album of the same title was, in its own way, as surprising as Streisand's debut album eight years earlier. Where that record had redefined the role of the traditional pop singer in contemporary terms for the early '60s, Stoney End redefined Streisand as an effective pop/rock singer, which her last outing, What About Today?, had failed to do. Maybe she listened as closely to Nyro and Joni Mitchell as she had to Ethel Merman and Judy Garland a decade earlier, but somehow she re-oriented her approach to music, adapting herself to vocal demands that were very different in terms of dynamics, expressiveness, and especially rhythm from the traditional pop and theater music she had sung previously. Producer Richard Perry may have eased the transition by using sessionmen like Randy Newman, who played piano on two of his own compositions and who bridged the worlds of show tunes and rock. But Streisand herself found something to identify with in songs like Gordon Lightfoot's "If You Could Read My Mind" (maybe that passage about the movie queen) and Mitchell's "I Don't Know Where I Stand." Stoney End was not a perfect album - the reliance on minor Brill Building material and two more Nyro copies kept it from classic status - but it was so far removed from what Streisand's fans and her detractors thought her capable of that it stands as one of her major triumphs. It was also her biggest seller in four years and launched the comeback that saw her through the '70s.

The cover of Stoney End was shot just outside Las Vegas in the Mojave desert, looking toward Sunrise Mountain. Barbra was performing in Las Vegas at the time of the Stoney End photo shoot. The album cover design was by Tom Wilkes and Barry Feinstein photographed Streisand in the desert. Wilkes told Shaun Considine: “It was a dirt road in the desert, surrounded by mountains. Someone - probably Barbra - suggested we have antique furniture placed on the truck. So we rented a red velvet couch and some chairs. Jay York, a friend of ours, went out and rounded up the stuff for us. We went out to the desert early in the morning and set everything up. That afternoon Barbra arrived in a limo. I remember it was winter and very cold. She put up with a lot of different shootings - in the cab of the truck, on back of the truck, and on the road. She was a real trouper. She kept jumping up and down, and putting her hands under her arms, because it was cold, real cold. She never complained; there was no star stuff. Afterwards she invited us all back to her house. She had this rented house in Vegas, and we hung out there for two or three hours. She fed us and gave us drinks, and made sure we were comfortable. Later, Barry and I picked the shot for the cover and both Barbra and Richard Perry agreed on it. There were no problems whatsover. It was a great experience.”