Barbra Streisand - The Third Album (1994)

Streisand has recorded 50 studio albums, almost all with Columbia Records. Her early works in the 1960s (her debut The Barbra Streisand Album, The Second Barbra Streisand Album, The Third Album, My Name Is Barbra, etc.) are considered classic renditions of theatre and cabaret standards, including her pensive version of the normally uptempo "Happy Days Are Here Again".

After the success of Streisand's previous two albums, The Barbra Streisand Album and The Second Barbra Streisand Album, it was expected that The Third Album would do as well. The album turned out to be very successful; it reached #5 on Billboard's Pop Albums Chart and was certified Gold by the RIAA.

The photograph on the album cover was taken by Roddy McDowall when Streisand was performing on The Judy Garland Show in October 1963.

The Third Album was the third album that Mike Berniker produced for Barbra Streisand at Columbia Records. He explained to the press how, in just a few short years, Streisand had grown as a vocalist: “There used to be an edge on the top of her voice,” he said, “but now that edge is gone. She's still pushing just as hard, but it's not as evident as it used to be. In her third album, her new one, there's a real serenity—at least, for Streisand it's serenity.”

After marrying Elliott Gould and finishing up a series of West Coast concerts, Barbra Streisand returned to New York City in the Fall of 1963 where she began to record songs for her third album. Barbra attended two recording sessions, working on songs with arrangements by Peter Matz and Ray Ellis. (Streisand loved Billie Holiday’s album Lady in Satin which Ellis arranged. “Ray Ellis’ arrangements made such an impression on me,” Streisand recalled in 2003.)

Streisand could have chosen a title for the album that publicized one of the songs included on it. Instead, she told the Columbia Records art department, “It’s my third album, so let’s just call it what it is: The Third Album. I guess I like straight-forward titles even though the songs are less than straight-forward songs.”