It Amazes Me

{{Short description|1965 solo studio album by Liza Minnelli}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}}

{{Infobox album

| name = It Amazes Me

| type = studio

| artist = Liza Minnelli

| cover = ItAmazesMeLizaMinnelliAlbum.jpg

| alt =

| released = May 10, 1965

| recorded = December 1964–January 1965

| venue =

| studio = Capitol, New York City

| genre = Pop, vocal, traditional

| length =

| label = Capitol

| producer = Simon Rady

| prev_title = Liza! Liza!

| prev_year = 1964

| next_title = "Live" at the London Palladium

| next_year = 1965

}}

It Amazes Me is Liza Minnelli's second solo studio album, released on May 10, 1965, by Capitol Records. It contained her interpretations of eleven pop standards.{{cite web|title=Diskograpie|url=http://lizaminnelli.de/html/diskograpie.html|website=Liza May Minnelli - Official German Homepage|access-date=21 August 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060212130759/http://lizaminnelli.de/html/diskograpie.html|archive-date=12 February 2006|url-status=dead}}

After Liza Minnelli's first album for Capitol Records was released in September 1964, she kept busy with a tour (The Fantasticks with Elliott Gould), television appearances, and even co-starred alongside her mother Judy Garland in a series of concerts in London (Judy Garland and Liza Minnelli Live at the London Palladium).{{cite book|last1=Parish|first1=James Robert|last2=Pitts|first2=Michael R.|title=Hollywood Songsters: Garland to O'Connor|date=2003|pages=595–596|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p3HWDtBhLykC|access-date=21 August 2023|publisher=Taylor & Francis|language=en}} The record label wanted to capitalize on the exposure and record a new album that would achieve the success of its predecessor.

Recording sessions began in December 1964 and concluded in January 1965.{{cite book|last1=Wimmer|first1=Martin|title=Clockwork Liza: Star and Artist: The Career Achievement of Liza Minnelli|date=12 September 2021|page=159|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BJhCEAAAQBAJ|access-date=21 August 2023|publisher=BoD – Books on Demand|language=en}} The singer worked with the same team that helped her produce and create Liza! Liza! at Capitol Studios in New York, located at 151 West 46th Street.Friedwald, Will. (June 2009) "Finest - The Capitol Years." EMI. 2009. A bigger budget was also spent for a larger orchestra, with Peter Matz again responsible for the orchestral treatment given to the project.

On April 24, Billboard magazine published an advertisement from Capitol about Minnelli's second album to be released by the label. In the same announcement, it was revealed that its title would be It Amazes Me.{{cite magazine|title=Capitol star Liza Minnelli in Broadway debut|magazine=Billboard|date=24 April 1965|page=1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZCkEAAAAMBAJ|publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc.|language=en}} On May 15 of the same year, Billboard announced that the release would take place that month.{{cite magazine|magazine=Billboard|title=New Album Releases|date=15 May 1965|page=36|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fygEAAAAMBAJ|access-date=21 August 2023|publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc.|language=en}}

The album cover boasts that it "sounds better than stereo has ever sounded before!" thanks to the "New improved Full Dimensional Sound". Although it was never released individually in the CD format, the eleven tracks, in the original order, appeared on two compilations released by Capitol Records, namely, The Complete Capitol Collection in 2006, which adopts the original cover of "Liza! Liza!"; and in the compilation "Finest" in 2009.{{cite web|title=Liza Minnelli - Finest Album Reviews, Songs & More {{!}} AllMusic|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/finest-mw0001352332|website=AllMusic|access-date=8 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211125174544/https://www.allmusic.com/album/finest-mw0001352332|archive-date=25 November 2021|language=en|url-status=live}} The first mentioned compilation includes a song that was recorded during the "It Amazes Me" sessions but was excluded from the final tracklist: the medley "Walk Right In" / "How Come You Do Me Like You Do."Schechter, Scott. "Liza Minnelli: The Complete Capitol Collection." DRG Records. EMI. 2006.