Liza! Liza!

When Liza Minnelli recorded this album she was just a teenager. At seventeen she had starred in the Off-Broadway revival of Best Foot Forward in 1963. The publicity surrounding her abilities led to television appearances and a single on the Cadence Records label. This single, "You Are for Loving", a song she performed in the show, reportedly sold half a million copies{{Citation needed|date=October 2020}}. On the strength of this, Capitol signed the singer and slowly began issuing several singles targeted to Minnelli's age group and later committed to a whole album. These singles were recorded over the summer of 1963 in New York and by reviewing this output it is clear the artistry displayed by Minnelli was not that of a regular teenager.

For the creation of her debut album, she turned to her friend and classmate Marvin Hamlisch, who could help her in choosing the tunes. At the time he was working in the Broadway production of Funny Girl. Two of the songs featured on the album, "It's Just a Matter of Time" and "The Travelin' Life", were cut by Minnelli with Hamlisch on piano 2 years earlier as a gift to her mother. Another one of the tracks featured here, "If I Were in Your Shoes", was written by the young writers Fred Ebb and John Kander, who had yet to make a big impact on the stage. It was the start of a decade-long collaboration during which the trio delivered several unforgettable hits.

Peter Matz, who was also working with Barbra Streisand at the time, and would keep on collaborating with Minnelli up until his death, was mainly responsible for the rich and lush orchestral treatment given to the whole project.

{{Music ratings

|rev1 = AllMusic

|rev1score = {{Rating|3.5|5}}[{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r25990|pure_url=yes}} Allmusic review - Liza! Liza!] AllMusic.com. Retrieved 31 October 2016.

| rev2 = Record Mirror

| rev2Score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{Cite magazine |last=Jones |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Jones (journalist)|date=2 January 1965 |title=Liza Minelli: Liza Liza |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Record-Mirror/60s/65/Record-Mirror-1965-01-02-S-OCR.pdf |magazine=Record Mirror |issue=199 |page=8 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220401225320/https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Record-Mirror/60s/65/Record-Mirror-1965-01-02-S-OCR.pdf |archive-date=1 April 2022|access-date=17 August 2022}}

}}

Liza! Liza! peaked on the Billboard 200 chart at number 115.{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/liza-minnelli-p3130/charts-awards |title=Liza Minnelli |publisher=AllMusic |date=1946-03-12 |accessdate=2012-02-29|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20151223212739/http://www.allmusic.com/artist/liza-minnelli-mn0000273531/awards|archivedate=23 December 2015}} It debuted there on November 21, 1964 and remained in the chart for 8 weeks. Over a period of 3 years it reportedly sold over half a million copies.{{cite book |last1=Sutherland |first1=Susan |title=About Musicals |date=1998 |publisher=NTC Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-8442-0276-1 |page=226 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=89hgY7-9kBsC |language=en}} It received several glowing reviews, with Cashbox feeling it was "an auspicious debut" showcasing "fine new talent",{{cite web |title=Album Reviews |url=https://archive.org/details/cashbox26unse_4/page/34/mode/2up |work=Cash Box |publisher=Cash Box Pub. Co. |access-date=8 April 2023 |date=17 October 1964|page=34}} while Record World said it was an "impressive [, ...] beguiling [,... and] beautifully varied" album from a "major singing talent". Billboard called it "simply great [... with] clarity of tone, genuine feeling, emotion".{{cite magazine |title=Album Reviews |date=24 October 1964 |publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc. |page=28 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TyAEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA28 |access-date=8 April 2023 |language=en|magazine=Billboard}}

1. "It's Just a Matter of Time" (Richard Everitt, Laurence Stith)
2. "If I Were in Your Shoes" (John Kander, Fred Ebb)
3. "Meantime" (Al Stillman, Robert Allen)
4. "Try to Remember" (Harvey Schmidt, Tom Jones)
5. "I'm All I've Got" (Milton Schafer, Ronny Graham)
6. "Maybe Soon" (Richard Everitt, Laurence Stith)

1. "Maybe This Time" (John Kander, Fred Ebb)
2. "Don't Ever Leave Me" (Jerome Kern, Oscar Hammerstein II)
3. "The Travelin' Life" (Howard Liebling, Marvin Hamlisch)
4. "Together (Wherever We Go)" (Stephen Sondheim, Jule Styne)
5. "Blue Moon" (Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart)
6. "I Knew Him When" (Harold Arlen, E.Y. "Yip" Harburg, Ira Gershwin)

• Producer: Si Rady
• Orchestra arranged and conducted by Peter Matz
• Sherman Weisburd - front cover photography

{{Reflist}}

• Liza Minnelli: When It Comes Down to It.......1968–1977 liner notes by Glenn A. Baker, 2003
• Liza Minnelli: The Complete A&M Recordings liner notes by Scott Schechter, 2008
• Liza Minnelli: The Complete Capitol Collection liner notes by Scott Schechter, 2006

{{Liza Minnelli}}

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Category:Liza Minnelli albums

Category:1964 debut albums

Category:Capitol Records albums

Category:Albums arranged by Peter Matz

Category:Albums conducted by Peter Matz