Historically, as Streisand fans will know, this album is significant for its shift away from the tunes of stage musicals and torch singers of the 1930s and 40s. Released in 1969, 'What About Today?' was Streisand's attempt to become more contemporary in the midst of an emerging rock and pop culture. At the time it charted at 31, making it the poorest fairing of any of her studio albums. Time, however, has been kind to this extraordinary album, boosting its sales and revealing it as a treasure, and an early pop classic. One can hear and feel the emotion, humour and compassion, as well as the distinctive style which were to become Streisand's trademarks, unmatched by any other female performer. Standouts include 'The Morning After' and 'What About Today?' for their sheer force and sense of rebellion, also 'Until it's Time For You to Go' with its quiet beauty and sadness. 'Honey Pie' and 'With a Little Help From My Friends' deliver a full serving of Streisand the comic. 'Alfie' and 'Goodnight' demonstrate Streisand's ability to cross the line musically whilst fundamentally retaining a classic style and feel. 'Ask Youself Why' and 'Find Kind of Freedom' question and parody the complex political questions which charcterised the end of the sixties. Overall, 'What About Today?' will take you back thirty years, whilst connecting intimately and explicitly with all that is great in Streisand and popular music 'today'. It is an album of unheralded quality and energy, which seems only to get better with time. A bit like the great lady herself.

In 1969, Barbra Streisand had begun concentrating on her budding acting career more than her music. After winning an Oscar for her debut role in 1968's FUNNY GIRL, Barbra completed work on 1969's HELLO, DOLLY! (which she was obviously too young for) with ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOREVER and THE OWL & THE PUSSYCAT (both 1970) in the works. She may have been making musical films, but Barbra seemed to have her music not exactly on the front burner of her plans. For these reasons, her 1969 album WHAT ABOUT TODAY? is considered one of the least-inspired of her extensive output. True, the actual material may be more modern than the musical approaches taken with them, but the album is definitely more worthy than is given credit for.

The main accusation against this album is that Barbra chose modern material that was safe enough for her normal fanbase to accept without considering her a sellout. Sure enough, even with a hip band like the Beatles, Barbra chooses some of their smoother songs. Finally, another big strike against this album is that the brassy & Vegas-like sound of her 1960s music is simply pasted on to the cutting-edge material. This is true, but it works more often than fails.

The title track appears on this album for the first time (it would be covered by Shirley Bassey the next year), and is one of two songs written by David Shire, who I think was more famous for his marriage to Talia Coppola, Francis Ford's sister, at the time. The song seems to echo Barbra's sentiments about her admiration of the youth in the album's liner notes, but one must wonder how much more effective the song would sound outside of Barbra's usual Vegas identity. "The Morning After" (not the theme to THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE) works a little better with one of Barbra's most soulful and in-to-it vocals ever recorded. The artistic rebirth of 1970's STONEY END is hinted at on this number that actually does evoke the mood of the late-1960s, brass & all.

As for the modern material, WHAT ABOUT TODAY? is another mixed bag. "Ask Yourself Why" was written by Barbra's frequent collaborators Michel Legrand & lyricists Alan & Marilyn Bergman, and comes from an obscure French film called THE SWIMMING POOL. Most likely, the song is better than its parent film, but Barbra demonstrates her ability to make lemonade out of potential artistic lemons with a truly soaring vocal performance on this bossa-nova-driven tune. "That's A Fine Kind O' Freedom" comes from legendary songwriter Harold Arlen, and is another brave attempt at playing to the peace & love ethic of the time while still residing in Barbra's present artistic box. Burt Bacharach's "Alfie" is at least one song on WHAT ABOUT TODAY? that sounds recorded just to fill it out because while she makes a game try, Barbra does not come close to Dionne Warwick's or even Cher's classic renditions of the song.

It is when Barbra officially goes towards the music of the kids that WHAT ABOUT TODAY? gets a little more interesting. Simon & Garfunkel's "Punky's Dilemma" was a surprising choice for Barbra to cover & indeed, the fit is not all that snug. But here, her enthusiasm seems to win the day with a performance that is rather infectious (that would bode well in some of the album's other odd song choices). At least, we can be thankful that Barbra did not attempt "Mrs. Robinson" in Frank Sinatra's "hipster" version of the time.

Jimmy Webb's "Little Tin Soldier" definitely fits in well with Barbra's always quite-liberal politics, and I can guess that she may have been anti-Vietnam at the time, though her music seemed more establishment than anything else. Why this song never became more of a standard like "By The Time I Get To Phoenix" or "Wichita Lineman" is a mystery because it has not been recorded since.

Buffy Sainte-Marie's "Until It's Time For You To Go" finds Barbra taking a song of today and making it sound timeless, which it truly was to begin with. However, it is surprising that Barbra chose one of the more personal songs of a very political singer to tackle. But Barbra has never been known for being predictable, and that's why we love her.

Finally, there's the three Beatles songs Barbra takes on. "Honey Pie" was certainly one of the lightest-weight entries on THE WHITE ALBUM, but nevertheless seemed perfect for Barbra's eventual approach to it. She plays up the early 20th century music hall style of it to a T, and those who may not care for the song have to admit that Barbra indeed sounds like she is having a ball singing this one (maybe she should have left out the scat-jazz adlib that Paul did on his version, though). The same method is employed on "With A Little Help From My Friends", which in the end, does not merit much of the trouble Barbra took in recording it, even if she did add some middlebrow humor to it. After it finishes, you are left wondering, "Is that all there is?"

However, Barbra closes out the album with a straighter version of a Fab Four tune on "Goodnight". She gives one of her tenderest vocals to a song that was definitely one of the best lullabies ever composed since "Rock-A-Bye Baby", and perhaps Barbra might have sung this song to her son Jason at the time to get him to fall asleep. Hopefully, more mothers will take that tack.

Barbra Streisand's recording career may have been going sideways while her film schedule was beginning to fill up, but with 1969's WHAT ABOUT TODAY?, Barbra could not be accused of sounding like she is stagnating because even on the slightly bum moments of the album, she comes as across as truly professional. Her bid to appeal to modernity may have been rather ill-advised, but considering the rejuvenation of her next album, maybe Barbra intended WHAT ABOUT TODAY? to be a litmus test prior to her official creative comeback. In that case, it was a good question to ask, even if it wouldn't be properly answered just yet.

I bought this CD just a few months back, & I have to say that there are some incredible cuts on there. Although this is Barbra's poorest selling studio album, go ahead & give it a chance. My favorite tracks are "The Morning After," & "Ask Yourself Why."

This is somewhat of a forgotten gem. The front and back cover shots are gorgeous, and sooo 60's! I really like this album. The title track is pure Barbra. Many memorable Streisand moments on this one. "What about Today" is certainly one of those first few intregal albums that defined Streisand as the most gifted singer of the 20th century. This one is of the era when Barbra seemed to effortlessly crank out classics one after the other. Hitting that final note in "Goodnight" then talking the ending was the perfect way to end this beautiful collection.

Barbra Streisand's 1969 album "What About Today?" is fun, entertaining, never boring but slightly underrated for what reasons, maybe because her role in "Hello, Dolly!" didn't really suit her and so kind of lowered her stardom down, but still why kick her down for this album?. It has the same music like her previous well rated albums. Barbra brings her "Funny Girl" humour to this whole album, like she brought humor to the songs "The Minute Waltz", "Second Hand Rose" and alot of others from the 1960's. The album features "What About Today" a song that is high tempo throughout, with Barbra singing high vocals you can't beat this song, because of that incredible voice!. "Ask Yourself Why" is a very playful song that has Barbra hitting the high notes!. "Honey Pie" the title alone saids funny and entertaining, Barbra being the "Funny Girl" she is, makes this really good. "Punky's Dilemma" is a easy going song that has humour in it, also Barbra is very playful on this song and she shows off some high vocals too. "Until It's Time For You To Go" is soft, smooth & sweet, really lovely song that should have a listen. "That's A Fine Kind O' Freedom" is totally in high tempo, very fun song that is 100% entertaining, Barbra is on high was this song!. "Little Tin Soldier" seems sad, until the middle/end gets really high in tempo with great high vocals from Barbra. "With A Little Help From My Friends" Barbra is playful & funny on this song, it's very "Funny Girl" and I love it. I've heard alot of artists and their renditions of "Alfie" but Barbra's is by far the best because she has the sining range for a song like this. "The Morning After" is the most fun on this album, it's very danceable, and just plain great!. "Goodnight" is the last song on the album, it's perfect to close a album with. The song is very light and smooth, perfect to fall a sleep to.