Barbra Streisand "Just For The Record" Box Set

A lesson in how meticulously researched archive work can be presented into a classy retrospective, this lavishly packaged box set is a cornucopia overflowing with rare tracks, forgotten and unreleased performances, early TV shows and tributes. Casual listeners have already been served with biggest chart hits elsewhere but this is definitely the most carefully selected and planned work Streisand came up with - free from thinking about album order and commercial pressure, here she looks back at three decades of unprecedented success in the business, discovering some very old and thrilling treasures indeed.

That even two out of four CDs here were covering 1960s just prove the point that Streisand was one of the world's greatest stars back than - despite her youth, she was curiously not a rock generation but perhaps one of the last torch bearers of traditional pop and a show biz as known from previous era. Her intense glow attracted huge admiration and put a spark into theatre musicals that were soon to fall out of fashion - no wonder that names such as Harold Arlen, Jule Styne and Richard Rodgers showered her with compliments (all preserved here) because this young, gawky and unorthodox looking Brooklyn kid perhaps unwittingly extended the life of music genre that was coming to its end. Sure, to some extend musicals and torch singing continued tot his day, but hardly ever as important - Streisand was the last artist who actually thrived and mattered doing this material and she sold millions of albums with it.

Disc 3 and 4 cover 1970s and 1980s - reluctantly, Streisand metamorphosed into pop crooner, toned down her belting and used movie screen charisma to launch even bigger records sales but my impression is that her heart was never truly in all this disco. Instead of simply recapitulating hits of those days, the fascinating box treats us with unreleased tracks from abandoned projects and they are without exception brilliant - even when material was eventually rejected for not being commercial, she always had not only this spectacular voice but full support of best studio musicians, producers and songwriters. Streisand's leftovers are still worth millions.

At the time of this original release I was in my early twenties and being impoverished student, had to make do with tape with "highlights" - which I loved, cherished and than promptly gave away in a fit of generosity. To have a proper box nowadays is pure joy.