309 FRIDAY 1 MAY 2015
Hello, Hello – Liza Minnelli
God bless Liza! The woman has had her ups and downs for most of her career. The press well documented her struggles with drug addiction and alcohol dependency. However, no doubt La Minnelli got her mother’s performing genes. Just like Judy Garland did in her day, Liza has always managed to leave her demons behind every now and then just to give her audience some amazing live performances. Case in point, “Liza’s At the Palace”.
253 FRIDAY 6 MARCH 2015
Candy – Johnny Mercer, Jo Stafford & The Pied Pipers
Candy belongs to a group of songs that I discovered in the early 1990s, mostly through Time’s “Your Hit Parade Series, The War Years”. The song was also featured in the movie “Bugsy” which it is perhaps where I listened to it for the first time.
I’ve always been intrigued with the melancholy that varnishes this song. I guess that by trying to make it a romantic ballad, the arranger ended up with a sad tune. However, the reason could be that most likely this is a song about lovers separated by war. Whichever the case may be, I think it is one of the prettiest songs from that era.
106 FRIDAY 10 OCTOBER 2014
Stepping Out (Reprise) – Liza Minnelli
This is a song I’ve picked for the way it was staged on a Liza Minnelli’s concert rather than for the song itself, and this one features Liza at her best. No one can take the stage and make it their own the way Liza does.
Stepping Out was written by Kander and Ebb for the 1991 movie of the same name. The film, based on the play of the same name, starred Liza, along with Julie Waters, Jane Krakowski, Bill Irwin, Andrea Martin, and Shelley Winters, among others. The film wasn’t successful, and it found its way onto VHS very soon. A year later, Minnelli used it as the centrepiece for her Radio Music City Hall Concerts.
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