Liza Minnelli ~ The Complete A&M Recordings (Collector’s Choice)

Let’s face facts: In the four decades since the four LPs collected here were originally released, Liza Minnelli has done a fair amount of damage to her reputation as one of Broadway’s most formidable babies. Still, it’s a testament to her talent—not to mention her force of will—that despite tabloid headlines, Minnelli remains one of America’s most beloved entertainers.
With its many examples of her appealing sass and indomitable charm, The Complete A&M Recordings demonstrates why. As Scott Schechter writes in a thoughtful liner-notes essay, these records—1968’s Liza Minnelli, 1969’s Come Saturday Morning, 1970’s New Feelin’ and 1972’s Live at the Olympia in Paris, plus a handful of singles and outtakes—captured the singer in an in-between phase, after she’d made a splash on the Great White Way but before she’d conquered the rest of showbiz. The music is similarly transitional, with Beatles ballads and Randy Newman numbers rubbing up against show tunes and standards. In Minnelli’s hands, a song is a story no matter where it came from, and her bold performances milk the material for all it’s worth (and occasionally a bit more—see Gordon Lightfoot’s “Wherefore and Why”). Trouble was on the way, but here pure pizzazz held it at bay.
Liza Minnelli plays the Palace Theatre Wed 3–Dec 28.
Buy The Complete A&M Recordings now on BN.com
— Mikael Wood