Be Aware

[grooverider]

Barbra Streisand's version of "Be Aware" will be released on cd/vinyl on August 6 on Columbia/Legacy Recordings.

It will be titled, "Release Me 2", a follow up to her 2012 release, "Release Me" a collection of unreleased material.
Also included are duets with Willie Nelson, Kermit the Frog ("The Rainbow Connection") and Barry Gibb, a composition from the unreleased
collaboration with Michel Legrand, Alan & Marilyn Bergman.

"Be Aware" will have additional 2020 production, it is the opening cut.

[Martin Johnson]

Of course it's good news but I wonder why it has taken Streisand and Columbia fifty years to finally decide to release this track?

[pljms]

Here's the performance of 'Be Aware' on the Bacharach TV special from 1971, about four minutes into the video after her duet with Bacharach on 'Close To You':

[Blair N. Cummings]

I`m pretty sure that the studio recording was arranged and produced by whomever was assigned to Streisand at that time. I don`t believe that Bacharach had anything to do with it.
But my memory isn`t what it was, so we`ll see....

[pljms]

I`m pretty sure that the studio recording was arranged and produced by whomever was assigned to Streisand at that time. I don`t believe that Bacharach had anything to do with it.
But my memory isn`t what it was, so we`ll see....

Blair, according to the publicity I've read concerning the forthcoming release, 'Be Aware' was recorded in the studio by Bacharach to establish an arrangement for Streisand's appearance on his TV special. Apparently it was produced by both Bacharach and Streisand in 1971 and with some remastering in 2020.

[Sara D]

Apparently in the new album's liner notes Streisand states that not only did she commission the song from Bacharach and David for her to sing on Burt's TV special, she also made the specification that it be primarily about child poverty and homelessness.

[Blair N. Cummings]

That makes the song`s non-appearance on her subsequent album all the more puzzling. Has she addressed that?

[Sara D]

No, I've yet to see or hear her explain why the recording wasn't released at the time and why it's taken fifty years for it to finally see the light of day.

Here it is as it sounds on the new album released today.

[grooverider]

Miss Streisand discusses "Release Me 2" and specifically, "Be Aware" in an interview with Zane Lowe.

At the 16:01 mark, she talks specifically about "Be Aware":



At the 1:01 mark, Miss Streisand continues talking about "Be Aware" and "Alfie".

Now, I'm really confused as to who Bacharach & David wrote this for??

[Blair N. Cummings]

Although Streisand`s televised rendition of the song was aired in `71, Dionne`s recording was out of the gate at the start of `72. I wonder if the famously temperamental diva resented that and withheld her version out of spite.
Too bad BtoB isn`t still around. He might have some insight.

[blueonblue]

Although Streisand`s televised rendition of the song was aired in `71, Dionne`s recording was out of the gate at the start of `72. I wonder if the famously temperamental diva resented that and withheld her version out of spite.
Too bad BtoB isn`t still around. He might have some insight.

"blue'

[pljms]

Maybe the clue as to why 'Be Aware' wasn't included on the 'Barbra Joan Streisand' album released in August 1971 was that Richard Perry was the producer and as he had nothing to do with that track he wasn't about to find room for it, not even as a bonus track.

[Blair N. Cummings]

Given the release date of BJS, that`s a better guess than mine. Still, the fact that "Babs" could "commission" a song from Bacharach and David and even specify the subject of the lyric, suggests that she could have told Richard Perry to damn well make room for it on the album.
Where is BtoB these days? I hope he`s still with us (in both senses).

[albator]

Barbra segment was filmed on the first week of February 71, and this is coherent with the fact that during the show, Burt mention her top 10 hit "Stoney End". The song was #6 by January 16.

I wonder why some are surprise that she asks for a special song for what, was a rare occasion for her to appear on TV. This was a "coup" to have her for her first guest appearance in a show. (and the only one)
The fact that the song was "lost" was a puzzlement for her fans for the past 50 years. Maybe the song didn't' fit for "Barbra Joan", even if the medley "Home is not a home/One less bell" is on the album. But it's true that Perry was reluctant to include this one and Michel Legrand "Summer Knows".

Also it's not unusual that she forgot a song. She did this to Leonard Bernstein, and Michel LeGrand.

About the song, the booklet indicates that this was a studio take destined to "establish the arrangement".

credits are :
Produced by Barbra Streisand & Burt Bacharach
Arranged & conducted by Burt Bacharach
recorded at AM studios in 1971
Additional production&Mix Jochem Van Der Saag

To my ears, it the same exact arrangement from the show, except the ending.