Not counting 1981's MEMORIES (which was a love song compilation), this is supposed to be volume 3 of Barbra's greatest hits and should have covered the years 1979-1989. Barbra returned to making high quality albums (GUILTY, YENTL, THE BROADWAY ALBUM) in the eighties, however she did also score enough hit singles during this period to merit this collection. Unfortunately, many of those hits are missing.

True, COLLECTION does contain some great hits and singles like "The Main Event/Fight" (#3 Pop, #5 Adult Contemporary), "A Woman In Love" (#1 Pop, #1 Adult Contemporary), "Guilty" (#3 Pop, #5 Adult Contemporary), "What Kind Of Fool" (#10 Pop, #1 Adult Contemporary), "Comin' In And Out Of Your Life" (#11 Pop, #2 Adult Contemporary), "Memory" (#52 Pop, #9 Adult Contemporary), "The Way He Makes Me Feel" (#40 Pop, #1 Adult Contemporary), "Somewhere" (#43 Pop, #5 Adult Contemporary), and "All I Ask Of You" (#15 Adult Contemporary). These tracks deserve to be present, but there are several annoying omissions that prevent this from being the definite collection of this time span.

Missing hits and singles that fall between 1979 and 1989 include: "No More Tears" (#1 Pop, #7 Adult Contemporary, #20 R&B), "Kiss Me In The Rain" (#37 Pop, #9 Adult Contemporary), "Promises" (#48 Pop, #8 Adult Contemporary), "Papa, Can You Hear Me" (#26 Adult Contemporary), "Left In The Dark" (#50 Pop, #4 Adult Contemporary), "Make No Mistake, He's Mine" (#51 Pop, #8 Adult Contemporary), "Emotion" (#79 Pop, #14 Adult Contemporary), "Send In The Clowns" (#25 Adult Contemporary), "What Were We Thinking of" (#32 Adult Contemporary), and "Till I Loved You" (#25 Pop, #3 Adult Contemporary). While these tracks vary in quality, I think most fans can agree that some of them have a place here.

These omissions are especially frustrating when you take into account that the remainder of the track listing. "By The Way" is a gorgeous song and one of my favorites, but it was released in 1975 and is out of place here ("By The Way" belonged on the MEMORIES compilation, if anywhere else). The two new songs are of mixed quality. The thrilling "Someone That I Used To Love" (#25 Adult Contemporary) is a relatively-obscure gem, with an amazing vocal from Streisand. Unfortunately, the Michael Bolton/Diane Warren-penned "We're Not Making Love Anymore" (#10 Adult Contemporary) is a bombastic and banal power ballad of the most empty theatrics. Giving the missing tracks and uneven new material, A Collection stands as little more than a wasted opportunity.

Barbra Streisand's 1989 Collection titled A Collection Greatest Hits And More, contains some of her best songs:

Were Not Making Love Anymore - This is my favorite song on the album, it is the first of two new songs. It disapoints me that she doesn't include this one in her tours, because it is truly a classic.

Woman In Love - Remember when this song came out, it was a hit. Still as good as when it first came out in 1980.

All I Ask Of You - One would argue, but I think she does the broadway songs great. This is an example, she sings with such passion and emotion.

Comin in and Out of Your Life - Great song, catchy.

What Kind Of Fool - One of two duets with Barry Gibb on here, this would be the slower ballad type one. Their voices work so well together, definately one of my favorites from the Guilty album.

The Main Event/Fight - This is another favorite, great disco song. I wish she would include this one in a tour.

Someone That I Used To Love - The other new song on the collection, just as good as Were Not Making Love Anymore. She should sing this one on tour.

By The Way - The only song from her Lazy Afternoon album that made it on here, still as timeless as when it was first released.

Guilty - The other duet with Barry Gibb, this is a more fun uptempo song, really great song.

Memory - She does this one fantastically! Theres so much emotion, brings me to tears this song does.

The Way He Makes Me Feel - From the Broadway Album, very nice song.

Somewhere - Good choice to end the album, very powerful words and overall a great song.

Although any Streisand album is a guaranteed platinum seller, by 1989 she was no longer cranking out hit singles. The big hits here are from the late seventies/early eighties. Two of the songs are recycled from an earlier recycled hits package. The rest is unsatisfying filler.

Probably Babs's most comprehensive and longest-spanning greatest hits album, this 1989 collection is probably the best hits set she ever released.

The album starts with the beautiful "We're Not Makin' Love Anymore", where Barbra sings with strength but she doesn't oversing. It has that distinct eighties ballad feel and is a wonderful song.

Next is modern Barbra, "Woman In Love", from GUILTY. I like the liberationist lyrics and the tune. The comparions between Britney Spears' "Oops...I Did It Again" are slightly warranted, but comparing Britney to Barbra is like comparing McNuggets to Filet Mignon.

The next (and second-best) song on the album is a beautiful rendition of "All I Ask Of You" from PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. A track for theater lovers and true romantics alike.

"Coming In And Out Of Your Life", first featured on MEMORIES makes a reappearance here, and still is a great song.

"What Kind Of Fool" is a duet with Barry Gibb and also from GUILTY. Here the two singers lament the end of a relationship brought on by adultery. Their voices blend well together and bring across the pain and angst resulting from love gone bad.

"The Main Event/Fight" is an OK song, not one I usually listen to.

"Someone That I Used To Love" is the second new song on this CD and is another lovely ballad.

"By The Way" is a good song.

"Guilty" is the title track of GUILTY and is another Barbra/Barry duet. Quite a change of pace from "What Kind Of Fool", it is up-tempo and praises the love of two individuals.

"Memory" is from CATS and is a gorgeous song. I listen to this one quite often.

"The Way He Makes Me Feel" is from the YENTL soundtrack and describes a sexual awakening for a young woman. A very nice song.

The last and best song on here is the awe-inspiring "Somewhere" from WEST SIDE STORY. Barbra sings of a world where everyone can live together in harmony and gives an ending which will leave you gasping at the quality and strength of this woman's voice.

This is a nice collection of Barbra Streisand's hits from 1975 to 1989. There's a few omissions, but it's cohesive enough a collection to carry itself. It contains 10 hits from that period, as well as two new tracks. First the hits. The earliest hit here is "By The Way", an emotional ballad from her LAZY AFTERNOON album in 1975. There's also her disco hit "The Main Event/Fight", from the movie of the same name in 1979. Her GUILTY album is represented well here with it's three hits, the #1 smash "Woman In Love" (her biggest hit), and the two duets with Barry Gibb on the ballad "What Kind of Fool" and the uptempo track "Guilty". Other hits include "Somewhere", "The Way He Makes Me Feel", "Memory", "All I Ask Of You", "Comin In And Out of Your Life". The two new songs are great, and classic Streisand, Two AC ballads, one is the Diane Warren ballad "We're Not Makin Love Anymore" and the other is "Someone I Used To Love". Overall a good collection, but they definately missed out on a lot of her albums in that timeframe period.