Album Review

William Ruhlmann [allmusic.com]

Between the release of Barbra Streisand's first hits collection in 1970 and her second in 1978, she essentially became a different kind of recording artist. In the 1960s, she made a series of consistent albums devoted largely to show music material, but she scored precious few singles hits, with only one, ''People,'' and reaching the Top Ten. But in the 1970s, she shifted to contemporary soft-rock and released a series of highly successful ballad singles, while her albums became largely inconsistent. For that reason, the hit quotient of her second hits album was much higher--''The Way We Were,'' ''Love Theme From 'A Star Is Born' (Evergreen),'' and the duet version of ''You Don't Bring Me Flowers,'' sung with songwriter Neil Diamond and released on album here for the first time, all were number one hits, while ''Stoney End'' and ''My Heart Belongs to Me'' were Top Tens and ''Sweet Inspiration/Where You Lead,'' ''Songbird,'' and ''Love Theme From 'Laura Mars' (Prisoner)'' reached the Top 40. That was enough material to make Volume 2 Streisand's definitive hits collection, so much so that later compilations like Memories and A Collection/Greatest Hits...And More would be forced to cannibalize it. It was also a genre-defining album in terms of the emergence of a post-'60s contemporary pop music that drew upon the rock revolution to redefine classic pop for a new generation.