Butterfly

ButterFly ranks among the oddest of Barbra Streisand’s albums. Released on the heels of The Way We Were, this 1974 effort blends material from pop, rock, R&B and reggae sources. Though Barbra’s then-beau Jon Peters is credited as producer, the guiding musical force appears to be saxophonist/arranger Tom Scott, who shifts his stylistic approach from track to track. Streisand ranges far and wide as well, getting knee-deep into Memphis funk on “Grandma’s Hands” and slipping into a countrypolitan mood for “Crying Time.” Some ideas fizzle, such as an attempt to dilute Bob Marley’s “Guava Jelly” into ‘70s mainstream pop. The biggest surprise is Streisand’s reading of David Bowie’s “Life On Mars” — it somehow catches the song’s weirdly theatrical mood. Barbra’s performances range from intimate (“Simple Man”) to languid (“Let The Good Times Roll”) to rafters-shaking (“Jubilation”). Her personality dominates the proceedings, though she doesn’t fully connect with all of the tunes. ButterFly is a curious and sporadically rewarding effort.