Stoney End (Barbra Streisand album)

Updated on Jan 05, 2024

Edit

Comment

Artist Barbra Streisand Producer Richard Perry Genres Pop music, Vocal music		Release date February 1971 Label Columbia Records

Released February 1971 (1971-02) Stoney End (1971) Barbra Joan Streisand (1971) Similar Barbra Streisand albums, Pop music albums

Stoney End is the twelfth studio album by Barbra Streisand. Released in 1971, it was a change in direction for Streisand with a more upbeat contemporary pop sound. The album peaked at #10 in the United States, her first to reach the top 10 in five years, and was produced by music producer Richard Perry. When asked by fans during the Q&A segment of Streisand's Back To Brooklyn concert on October 11, 2012 what the title track "Stoney End" was about, she replied that she still didn't know. She included a short (approximately nine seconds) track of her laughing between track eight and nine. The volume for this track is so much lower than the rest that many have never been aware of its existence.

Critical reception

AllMusic has retrospectively given the album four and a half (out of five) stars, and called it "not a perfect album, 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"...The review also mentioned: "whereas (The Barbra Streisand Album, 1963) 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."

Commercial performance

The album hit number 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 Number 28. It also peaked #12 in Canada.

Singles

The title track, a Laura Nyro composition previously recorded by Peggy Lipton (No. 121 on Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles in 1968), was released in the US and charted at number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 2 on the Adult Contemporary chart and also reached number 27 on the UK singles chart.

"Time and Love" reached Number 51 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 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.