''Live Concert at the Forum'' (retitled ''Barbra Streisand Live'' in Canada) is the second live album by American singer

Barbra Streisand Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand (; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success in multiple fields of entertainment, and is among the few performers List ...

, released physically on October 1, 1972 by

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

. Produced by long-time collaborator

Richard Perry Richard Van Perry (born June 18, 1942) is an American record producer. He began as a performer in his adolescence while attending Poly Prep, his high school in Brooklyn. After graduating from college he rose through the late 1960s and early 1970 ...

, it was recorded at The Forum in Inglewood, part of

Greater Los Angeles Greater Los Angeles is the second-largest metropolitan region in the United States with a population of 18.5 million in 2021, encompassing five counties in Southern California extending from Ventura County in the west to San Bernardino Coun ...

, on April 15, 1972, during

Four for McGovern Four for McGovern, also known as McGovern, was a benefit concert held on April 15, 1972, produced by actor Warren Beatty to assist the 1972 presidential campaign of George McGovern, running as the anti-war candidate. The concert, held at The F ...

, a concert held in benefit for

George McGovern George Stanley McGovern (July 19, 1922 – October 21, 2012) was an American historian and South Dakota politician who was a U.S. representative and three-term U.S. senator, and the Democratic Party presidential nominee in the 1972 pres ...

's 1972 presidential campaign. A CD version of ''Live Concert at the Forum'' was released on September 6, 1989. The concert setlist and between-song patter was brought forward from Streisand's December 1971 – January 1972 residency at the

Las Vegas Hilton The Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino is a hotel, casino, and timeshare resort in Winchester, Nevada. Located near the northern end of the Las Vegas Strip, it is owned by Westgate Resorts. It opened in 1969 as the International Hotel, and was ...

. Streisand's medley of "Sweet Inspiration" and "

Where You Lead "Where You Lead" is a song written in 1970 by Carole King with lyricist Toni Stern, introduced on King's iconic 1971 album ''Tapestry''. A Top 40 hit for Barbra Streisand in both a studio and a live version — the latter in a medley entitled "S ...

", medley of "

Sing Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

" and " Make Your Own Kind of Music", and " Didn't We" were released as the album's three singles, all throughout 1972. The lead single was nominated for

Best Female Pop Vocal Performance The Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance was a Grammy Award recognizing superior vocal performance by a female in the pop category, the first of which was presented in 1959. It was discontinued after the 2011 Grammy season. The awar ...

at the

15th Annual Grammy Awards The 15th Annual Grammy Awards were held on March 3, 1973, at the Tennessee Theatre in Nashville, Tennessee. The event was the first Grammy ceremony not to be held in either New York City or Los Angeles (the 64th Grammys, staged in Las Vegas in 2 ...

in 1973.

Music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...

responded well to the album, with many commending Streisand's strong vocal performance. Commercially, ''Live Concert at the Forum'' peaked at numbers 17 and 19 on the

album charts A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often in combination. These include rec ...

in Canada and the United States, respectively, and received a Platinum certification from the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

for shipments exceeding one million copies.

Background

Her first live album since 1968's ''

A Happening in Central Park ''A Happening In Central Park'' is the first live album by Barbra Streisand. It was recorded at a live concert in Central Park in New York in June 1967 in front of an audience of 125,000 people. The special aired on CBS channel in 1968, with sele ...

'',

released her second one, ''Live Concert at the Forum'', on October 1, 1972. The album's songs were recorded during Streisand's segment of the

concert held on April 15, 1972, at The Forum indoor arena in Inglewood. Superstar singers Carole King, James Taylor and Streisand headlined the concert along with Quincy Jones and his Orchestra. The concert was a benefit for

's 1972 presidential campaign. Tickets for the performance ranged in price from $5.50 to $100.00

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

and the event itself grossed over $300,000; however, after covering the expenses for the show, McGovern's campaign only received approximately $18,000 in donations. In a mock warning on the evils of weed, Streisand lit up a joint during one of her songs and pretended she was under the influence of

marijuana Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various tra ...

while performing.

produced the album's 11 tracks, most of which are selections taken from previous works in Streisand's music catalog. Arrangements for the songs were headed by

Don Costa Dominick P. "Don" Costa (June 10, 1925 – January 19, 1983) was an American conductor and record producer. He discovered singer Paul Anka and worked on several hit albums by Frank Sinatra, including ''Sinatra and Strings'' and ''My Way''. C ...

, Don Hannah,

Peter Matz Peter Matz (November 6, 1928 – August 9, 2002) was an American musician, composer, arranger and conductor. His musical career in film, theater, television and studio recording spanned fifty years, and he worked with a number of prominent ...

Claus Ogerman Claus Ogerman (born Klaus Ogermann; 29 April 1930 – 8 March 2016) was a German arranger, conductor, and composer best known for his work with Billie Holiday, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Frank Sinatra, Michael Brecker, and Diana Krall. Life and wo ...

and

Gene Page Eugene Edgar Page Jr. (September 13, 1939 – August 24, 1998) was an American conductor, composer, arranger and record producer, most active from the mid-1960s through the mid-1980s. His sound can be heard in the arrangements he did for Jeffer ...

David Shire David Lee Shire (born July 3, 1937) is an American songwriter and composer of stage Musical theater, musicals, film and television film score, scores. The soundtracks to the 1976 film ''The Big Bus'', ''The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974 f ...

served as the conductor on ''Live Concert at the Forum'' and

Eddie Kendricks Edward James Kendrick (December 17, 1939 – October 5, 1992), better known as Eddie Kendricks, was an American singer and songwriter. Noted for his distinctive falsetto singing style, Kendricks co-founded the Motown singing group the Temptatio ...

was Streisand's vocal director.

Singles

Three singles were released from ''Live Concert at the Forum'' throughout 1972. The medley of "Sweet Inspiration" and "Where You Lead" was released as the album's lead single on May 25, 1972 on

7-inch vinyl In music, a single is a type of release, typically a song recording of fewer tracks than an LP record or an album. One can be released for sale to the public in a variety of formats. In most cases, a single is a song that is released separate ...

with

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

track " Didn't We". The four female Eddie Kendricks singers – Venetta Fields, Marti McCall, Geraldine Jones and Clydie King – are heard prominently on backing vocals. This medley was the most commercially successful single on ''Live Concert at the Forum'', peaking at number 37 in both the United States and Canada. In addition to being nominated at the

for

, Streisand would later feature this live rendition on her second

greatest hits album A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be crea ...

, ''

Barbra Streisand's Greatest Hits Volume 2 ''Barbra Streisand's Greatest Hits Volume 2'' is the second greatest hits album recorded by American vocalist Barbra Streisand. It was released on November 15, 1978 by Columbia Records. The album is a compilation consisting of ten commercially ...

'' (1978). Her medley of "Sing" and "Make Your Own Kind of Music" served as the album's second single in August 1972 and was paired with her live performance of "Starting Here, Starting Now" as the B-side. It reached number 94 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and entered the lower positions of the Adult Contemporary charts in both Canada and the United States. Streisand's version of "Didn't We" was released as the album's third and final single in November 1972. Columbia Records distributed the single on 7-inch vinyl alongside B-side track "

On a Clear Day You Can See Forever ''On a Clear Day You Can See Forever'' is a musical with music by Burton Lane and a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner based loosely on ''Berkeley Square'', written in 1926 by John L. Balderston. It concerns a woman who has ESP and has been ...

". According to Julian Coleman of ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'', the cover was popular on soul radio and was frequently on rotation for airplay. Her rendition peaked at number 82 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and on the Adult Contemporary charts in the United States and Canada, it reached numbers 22 and 46, respectively.

Reception

''Live Concert at the Forum'' received a positive response from

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...

. William Ruhlmann from

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

awarded the album three out of five stars, enjoying the noticeable differences of "how much her music ha changed since her first ive albumhad been released four years before". Singling out her performances of "

People A person (plural, : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of pr ...

" and " Stoney End", he noted that they both "demonstrate Streisand's versatility" as a musician. Ruhlmann also complimented her vocals, acknowledged her "powerful delivery", and enjoyed her commentary during the monologue, finding it to be "as dated as it was timely in 1972". Also singling out Streisand's vocal delivery, ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

''s

Jon Landau Jon Landau (born May 14, 1947) is an American music critic, manager, and record producer. He has worked with Bruce Springsteen in all three capacities. He is the head of the nominating committee for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and recei ...

wrote that "there is something about that big, beautiful, instantly recognizable voice singing in front of a strictly pro big band that casts a shadow over the material"; describing it as a pop record, he called "On a Clear Day (You Can See Forever)" the album's best track and felt that the album's "shortcomings never really seem to matter". In the United States, the album debuted at number 100 on the ''Billboard'' 200 for the week ending November 18, 1972. On January 6 of the following year, ''Live Concert at the Forum'' peaked at number 19. The

certified the live album Gold for shipments upwards of 500,000 sales on February 13, 1973 and upgraded the certification to Platinum for shipments of one million on November 21, 1986. In Canada, where the album was released under the title ''Barbra Streisand Live'', it peaked at a slightly higher position. The record debuted on the list, compiled by ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

'', at number 94 on December 2, 1972 and during the following month it would peak at number 17. According to the liner notes of Barbra's

retrospective A retrospective (from Latin ''retrospectare'', "look back"), generally, is a look back at events that took place, or works that were produced, in the past. As a noun, ''retrospective'' has specific meanings in medicine, software development, popu ...

box set A box set or (its original name) boxed set is a set of items (for example, a compilation of books, musical recordings, films or television programs) traditionally packaged in a box and offered for sale as a single unit. Music Artists and bands ...

: '' Just for the Record...'' (1991), the album also received a record certification in Canada.

Track listing

All songs are executively produced by

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of the standard edition of ''Live Concert at the Forum''. * Barbra Streisand vocals *

arranging * Customatrix mastering * Don Hannah arranging *

vocal director **Venetta Fields, Marti McCall, Geraldine Jones, Clydie Kingbacking vocals *

arranging *

producer *

Bill Schnee William S. Schnee (born July 4, 1947) is an American musician, music producer, and audio engineer. Schnee has been nominated 11 times for the Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical Grammy Award and worked on a multitude of other Grammy nominated an ...

engineering *

conductor

Charts

Certifications

References

Citations

Bibliography

* *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Live Concert At The Forum, A 1972 live albums 1972 United States presidential election Albums arranged by Claus Ogerman Albums arranged by Don Costa Albums arranged by Gene Page Albums arranged by Peter Matz Albums conducted by David Shire Albums recorded at the Forum Barbra Streisand live albums Columbia Records live albums