by John Zenoni
1976 is the year that the 3rd remake of the Hollywood film ‘A Star is Born’ was released and in my opinion it's still the best. It was nominated for 4 Oscars later that year. I mean, Barbra Streisand was probably at her peak as Esther Hoffman and Kris Kristofferson gave a surprisingly good performance as John Norman Howard, an aging rock star whose popularity is beginning to diminish due to his abuse of drugs and alcohol. He just happens to meet Esther in a club one evening, begins an affair with her and helps her get her career started, which takes off, and she soars while he sees his slowly decline. The movie is older but in my opinion still holds up well even today.
With that being said, the soundtrack to this version is amazing and is one I remember hearing played on the record player player consistently when it was released. I can recall every song on this album and that's because Barbra and Kris actually SING! No electronics or voice overs or covers to help with their voices. The songs have meaning and are performed so well. There is rhythm that you can appreciate and lyrics that have meaning. Barbra’s voice is amazing - especially during that classic ending when she brings down the house while performing ‘Watch Closely Now.’ Kris has that raw, smokers voice quality that works so well during his performances.
The theme song - ‘Evergreen’ - is so beautiful and it's no surprise that it won the Academy Award that year. But my favorite song has to be one performed by Kris Kristofferson, ‘Crippled Crow.’ Man, this is an amazing song written by Donna Weiss. But the entire soundtrack is great. It's an album I grew up with and still love as it has ballads, R&B influences and rock and roll. Great listen!
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