A Star Is Born (1976 Film)

 (66 customer reviews)

This soundtrack to the film blockbuster (which became the second highest grossing movie of that year) was also an enormous success itself, spending six weeks at #1 and selling over four million copies in the US alone. A monster hit, the film is entertaining and moving, and this is reflected in the soundtrack. A STAR IS BORN is at it's best during Streisand's seven numbers, which feature astonishingly powerful vocals that resonate in the memory even long after the disc has ended.

The Streisand-penned composition "Evergreen" (with lyrics by Paul Williams), with it's haunting melody and classical-style timbre (very typical of her work), is one of the grandest pop records ever recorded. Artistic justice was served when the song also became a huge commercial smash, hitting #1 on both the Pop and Adult Contemporary charts and winning several armfuls of awards. The other song with music composed by Streisand, "Lost Inside Of You" (a surprisingly effective duet with leading man...Read more

Though I loved the over-bloated movie in its day, it has not held up nearly as well as this soundtrack, which features a wealth of superb songwriters strutting their stuff via Barbra and Kris Kristofferson. Barbra's pseudo rock/pop/diva material is mostly exceptionally well-performed, most of all her lovely simply ballad Evergreen. But in retrospect, it is Kristofferson's melancholy wailing -- remember he was about to hit rock-bottom during the making of this movie -- that has lasting power and angst. I particularly love Crippled Crow and his version of Watch Closely Now. This is a soundtrack worth having as a monumentally well-produced product from the mid-70s.

I bought this album not because of Streisand, like most of the people who have reviewed this album, but because of Kris Kristofferson. He has been one of my favorite singers since I was young, and the songs here don't do him justice. I post this review to let people know that the songs here should in no way reflect Kristofferson's abilities as a singer and a songwriter. The songs here were written by other songwriters for this movie, and his character was a burnt out singer whose career was going down the tubes. Keep this in mind as you listen to his singing here. One need only to listen to any of Kristofferson's albums to know that the scratchy growling voice heard here (almost a deadringer for Tom Waits, which is what makes the songs listenable) sounds nothing like the singer when he makes a valid effort to make music.
As for the soundtrack, the duet with Streisand was good, "Hellacious Acres" is pretty funny, and the opening song (Kristofferson's main hit in the...Read more