DUETS  -  FRANK SINATRA

YEAR:  1993
LABEL:  Capitol Records
TRACK LISTING:  The Lady Is A Tramp,  What Now My Love,  I've Got A Crush On You,  Summer Wind,  Come Rain or Come Shine,  New York New York,  They Can't Take That Away From Me,  You Make Me Feel So Young,  Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out To Dry/In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning,  I've Got the World On A String,  Witchcraft,  I've Got You Under My Skin,  All the Way/One For My Baby (And One More For the Road
IMPRESSIONS:  The other duets album of 1993.  The genesis for this album may well have been the similar duet between Frank Sinatra and Cyndi Lauper of "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" which appeared on the benefit cd "A VERY SPECIAL CHRISTMAS VOLUME 2" in 1992.  Regardless, old blue eyes got some flak for not actually being in the room with his duet partners but having them sing to pre-recorded Sinatra vocals.  This frankly never bothered me.  The man was up there in age and only had another 5 years to live so I think a good deal of slack can be cut here.  And despite this fact, Frankie's vocals are surprisingly OK which leads to a rather enjoyable group of songs; the only downside is pairing Sinatra with execrable performers like Anita Baker and Kenny G (kryptonite to my ears).  Ah, the ignominy!  How could they do that to Frankie?!?!?!!!!  Again, this kind of album is bound to be something of a mixed bag.  Some of the performers seem to stiffen up a little when confronted with dueting with Sinatra but some manage to conjure a genuine warmth (Streisand, Minnelli) or good-natured humour (Bono).
MY FAVOURITE TRACKS:  What Now My Love,  I've Got A Crush On You,  Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out To Dry/In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning,  I've Got the World On A String,  I've Got You Under My Skin
GUEST ARTISTS:  Luther Vandross (vocals on "The Lady is a Tramp"),  Aretha Franklin (vocals on "What Now My Love"),  Barbra Streisand (vocals on "I've Got A Crush On You"),  Julio Iglesias (vocals on "Summer Wind"),  Gloria Estefan (vocals on "Come Rain or Come Shine"),  Tony Bennett (vocals on "New York New York),  Natalie Cole (vocals on "They Can't Take That Away From Me"),  Charles Aznavour (vocals on "You Make Me Feel So Young"),  Carly Simon (vocals on "Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out To Dry/In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning"),  Liza Minnelli (vocals on "I've Got the World On A String"),  Anita Baker (vocals on "Witchcraft"),  Bono (vocals on "I've Got You Under My Skin"),  Kenny G (cacophony on "All the Way/One For My Baby (And One More For the Road)")
FACT SHEET:  There's no way I'm gonna try and figure out what number Sinatra album this is!  The album features duets with performers from all different musical genres personally selected by Sinatra himself.  DUETS sold over 3 million copies in the U.S. and is the only Frank Sinatra album to date that has gone triple platinum.  The album was produced by Phil Ramone.  Sinatra's duet partners did not record in the same room with him but instead sang along to pre-recorded Sinatra vocals.  The album cover painting is by LeRoy Neiman specially commissioned by Frank Sinatra. 

RESULTS - Liza Minnelli

YEAR: 1989

LABEL: Epic

TRACK LISTING: I Want You To Know, Losing My Mind, If There Was Love, So Sorry I Said, Don't Drop Bombs, Twist In My Sobriety, Rent, Love Pains, Tonight Is Forever, I Can't Say Goodnight

IMPRESSIONS: I should get a toaster oven for this album! Not so much a Liza Minnelli album as a Pet Shop Boys album featuring vocals by Liza. I originally got this album on cassette tape back in 1989. I don't remember why. I assume they must've played a video from it on MTV since this album was a monster hit in Britain. Either that or it was because of that marathon car ride to Atlantic City described in the entry for the "LIZA WITH A 'Z'" album. No matter how it happened, I actually like the album a lot more now than I did then; I suppose the oddity had to age like port wine cheese before I could truly appreciate it. It also rockets me back to that time.

GUEST ARTISTS: Angelo Badalamenti (orchestral arrangements), Anne Dudley (orchestra arrangement, orchestra conductor), Chris Lowe (songwriting, keyboards, programming), Courtney Pine (saxophone), Neil Tennant (songwriting, keyboards, backing vocals, vocoder)

MY FAVOURITE TRACKS: I Want To Know, Losing My Mind, If There Was Love, So Sorry I Said, Don't Drop Bombs, Twist In My Sobriety, Rent

FACT SHEET: RESULTS is Liza Minnelli's ninth album. It was produced by the Pet Shop Boys and Julian Mendelsohn. All the songs were written by Chris Lowe and Neil Tennant except for Stephen Sondheim's "Losing My Mind", the Tanita Tikaram cover of "Twist In My Sobriety" and the Yvonne Elliman cover of "Love Pains" written by Steve Barri, Michael Price and Dan Walsh. "Losing My Mind" is from the 1971 musical "FOLLIES". The outro to "If There Was Love" features Liza reciting William Shakespeare's "Sonnet 94". The album reached #6 on the UK album charts and the single "Losing My Mind" reached #6 on the UK singles charts; unfortunately the album only reached #128 on the US album charts. The title of the album derives from an incident in a bar when Minnelli complemented a woman's dress; the woman thanked Liza and explained it was her "results" dress by quipping "When I wear this dress, I get results!"

LIZA WITH A 'Z' - Liza Minnelli

YEAR: 1972

LABEL: Columbia

TRACK LISTING: Yes, God Bless the Child, Say Liza (Liza With A 'Z'), It Was A Good Time, I Gotcha, Ring Them Bells, Son of a Preacher Man, Bye Bye Blackbird, You've Let Yourself Go, My Mammy, Medley of Tunes from "Cabaret": Willkommen/Married/Money, Money/Maybe This Time/Cabaret

IMPRESSIONS: I certainly wouldn't call myself a Liza Minnelli fan. I only own one album by her and I've never even seen the film CABARET. However, this is the album to own and this is the album I love. Once again, this goes to the legendary road trip to Atlantic City with my friend Paul talked about in the Neil Diamond "THE JAZZ SINGER" entry when we had to take his father's car and we only had one tape in the car with these two albums on it. Listening to both albums over and over both to and from A.C. would probably drive most people nuts but something about these two albums leant themselves to repetition. And I've been listening ever since. LIZA WITH A Z is so "of its time" with it's choice of early 70's "hip" instruments and musical arrangement that it becomes charming. And there's no doubt Liza was at the peak of her career providing a vocal performance designed to knock the audience's socks off (and we can't even see the constant choreography here). Liza attempted to bring old-fashioned show biz razzmatazz to early 70's grooviness and somehow she succeeded.

MY FAVOURITE TRACKS: Yes, God Bless the Child, Say Liza (Liza With A 'Z'), It Was A Good Time, Ring Them Bells, Son of a Preacher Man, My Mammy, Medley of Tunes from "Cabaret"

FACT SHEET: LIZA WITH A 'Z': A CONCERT FOR TELEVISION was broadcast September 10, 1972 on NBC. The concert was, according to Minnelli, the first filmed concert on television; it was shot using eight 16mm cameras instead of the usual videotape. The film was produced by Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse (who also directed and choreographed) with Ebb writing and arranging the music with his songwriting partner John Kander. All three had worked with Minnelli earlier that year on the film "CABARET". The show was filmed at the Lyceum Theatre in New York on May 31, 1972. Costumes were designed by Halston and the music coordinator was Marvin Hamlisch. Not shown on television since 1973, the original negative was thought lost until it was re-discovered in 1999; Minnelli discovered she owned the rites and restored the film for re-release in 2006 on DVD with a new stereo remix of the soundtrack included. LIZA WITH A 'Z' won four Emmy Awards, a Peabody Award and a Directors Guild of America award while the soundtrack album was certified gold and has never been out of print to this day.