Customer Reviews

Confessions

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"Confessions" is Liza Minnelli's first non cast album in over 15 years and fans will be thrilled when they hear it. Here in this superb collection Liza's voice is what carries the project along with the piano arrangements by her longtime collaborator Billy Stritch. Gone are the songs that use to feature Liza screaming, and instead you get a beautiful collection of tracks that would be suitable if you were having a dinner party and wanted background music.

When Liza was a child her parents would often have intimate dinner parties where her mother and her friends would sit around the piano and sing. Once Liza became older that tradition was carried on and it wasn't uncommon for Liza to have people like Tony Bennett and Janet Jackson at her house where they would sing for hours in a relaxed atmosphere.

About ten years ago Liza showed up at Billy Stritch's Beverly Hills house one night and wanted to sing and from that very session came the idea for this album. Billy had recorded many of the songs from that night and found them about a year ago on various tapes. He went to Liza and told her he had the idea for her next album: recording songs that were simple, hearfelt, and most of all, easy to listen to for the fan. They went to Decca Records and a contract was signed and the result is one of Liza's best albums.

I have to say there isn't one song on this CD that I do not like: they range from many popular well-known tracks to some that have been pretty much forgotten. Still, Liza puts her undeniable trademark on every one of these gems. Highlights include "I Got Lost In His Arms", "If I Had You", "Close Your Eyes", and "You Fascinate Me So". However, the two tracks that outshine all others are Liza's extraordinary rendition of the Frank Sinatra classic "All The Way" and the final track on the album "At Last".

The perfect Liza Minnelli Album: a record with just her voice and wonderful piano arrangements by Stritch with Liza making her mark on songs that really become her own. An A+ record.

Have been a LIZA fan forever and need to report that this new collection is voice and age appropriate at last. Song choices are wonderful and re-demonstrate that Liza knows how to master phrasing and the essence of telling a story. No need to strain or screech beyond her current range, this album is a definite pleasure. Can't get the tunes out of my head and even caught myself singing them in an elevator today! Thank God Liza has returned from "being back"!

A New York reviewer once said of Liza Minelli on stage that she 'does everything but eat the audience'. That overpowering persona onstage has at times flowed over into her albums, making them uneven and difficult to absorb with a mixture of studio and loud, live recordings. For this album Confessions, her first full studio recording in almost fifteen years, in her wisdom, she has taken it down a few notches and has delivered a wonderful, understated collection of American standards. Backed by small group, her voice takes center stage along with great songbook writers such as Cy Coleman, Jerome Kern, and others. Some songs well known, others less so, the overall pallette is a breezy, jazzy, and understated recording, including beautiful renditions of All The Way, I Got Lost In His Arms, He's A Tramp and This Heart Of Mine. Much like Barbra Streisand's excellent Love Is The Answer which was produced by Diana Krall and ultimately nominated for a grammy, Liza has taken the less is more approach, pulled it back a bit, and the result is something close to astonishing.

Liza Minnelli's "Confessions," her first studio effort in more than a decade, is like Swiss Miss hot cocoa - warm and soothing on a cold winter's morning, but lacking excitement or nuance.

Granted, the mood and atmosphere are deliberately restrained and downbeat, with the wonderful Billy Stritch often providing Liza's sole accompaniment. This is a lo-fi, acoustic recording that breathes and is virtually noiseless, with no song standing out from the crowd. For some listeners, this would make the perfect sleep sedative.

The production techniques could have been generated in 1980 in a suburban recording studio. Many albums achieve "intimacy" but do not sound recorded on the cheap, as this one does. Ultimately, of course, Liza's presence injects the proceedings with a world-class aura.

Liza does a good job of being "Liza" here - playing into the expectations of her audience. She is one of the few living performers who should be permitted to get away with doing that. This self-awareness, however, does not always lend itself so well to an album of brooding romantic odes.

Her "You Fascinate Me So," for instance, sounds more fun-loving and cutely awkward than cozy or sincere. The same goes for "Close Your Eyes," a Tin Pan Alley chestnut which Queen Latifah sang more passionately in 2004 on her "The Dana Owens Album."

Even Irving Berlin's lovely, evergreen "I Got Lost In His Arms" from "Annie Get Your Gun" does not strike any particular nerve. These tracks simply glide in and out of each other in one mildly pleasing wash of sound.

There are a few moments where Liza's voice sounds abysmal, with her trying to push it beyond its present capabilities. The final "life is like a song" of the perennial "At Last," for example, sees her going for a high note with grating results. A handful of such moments pepper the album. One can guess that Liza is surrounded by a fair share of sycophants. No slip-ups like these could be found anywhere during her 2008 tenure at the Palace in New York, nor on its accompanying recording.

When Kennedy and Nixon famously debated the television audience declared Kennedy the clear winner, yet for the radio audience it was Nixon. It is likely that, seeing Liza perform these songs this way in person - especially in their living rooms - listeners would swoon with applause. When popping the CD in, however, they might feel like they had one too many helpings of Thanksgiving turkey.

Liza is such an important - and immortal - performer that she can get away with releasing a rather underwhelming collection like "Confessions" and still have fans and critics praise her for simply showing up and mustering some emotion. She has been endearing and enjoyable for decades, and "Confessions" works as a quiet, cool-as-cucumber affirmation of that, even if it is hard not to wish for something more scintillating and less sedate.

Side note: The album was originally intended to be a 10-track CD and a 15-track deluxe edition. At the last minute that idea was nixed, and so was the 15th track, "Breathing."

Liza is simply a wonderful singing actress.
From her mom and her mom's mentor, vocal coach Kay Thompson,
she learned the value of interpreting a lyric, which she does here
with great sensitivity and force.
You will understand every emotion and nuance in these
wonderful songs from the classic era of show music.
Coupled with the essence of her warmth and vulnerability,
this CD is a dynamite package.

John Meyer, NYC

Never away - and always at her BEST - I don't know how she will ever top it ! The CONFESSIONS performance by Liza is the best ever ! This is a traditional ALBUM that flows and goes ! The selections and arrangements are perfectly charming and as best they can be at this time and place in Liza's beautiful career. Unfortunately, the voice of a "tinky" electronic piano takes away from this otherwise perfect album. From introductions and through bridges, the piano is frequently sounding badly. Congratulations to Liza, the arrangers and to this wonderful piano musician. This Liza performance includes many HITS upon notes that can often fool one or remind one of Judy Garland as well as exhibit the wonderful breaths of the most dynamic Liza. Too bad that an accoustic instrument could not have been employed in this wonderful Liza performance. The electronic piano is not appropriate for most of these selections and this electronic piano does not sound healthy or well. I have read other comments of "done on the cheap". ( as a hired player, I would refuse to perform on this instrument ) I only feel that release of this beautiful work should have been postponed. This fine work deserves some review, by producers, to notice that a quality accoustic piano should have been incorporated. kvmare@yahoo.com

The highest level of artistry and intimacy. No showtunes, no loud performance. Just pure talent. This album is simply extraordinary. Kennedy Center Honor is long overdue.

I've never been a big fan, Sure I liked her in Arthur (the first one) and I remember seeing a TV special when I was a kid with her and Goldie Hawn, but besides those, never really gave her a thought, but this album, picked up on a whim, is a delight! It has the emotion and class of some of the best singers of all time, You feel like your witnessing the likes of Peggy Lee, Ella, or Rosemary in a singularly magic and intimate moment, alone in a jazz club after closing time,with just the singer and the piano player. Liza does it so effortlessly.. This is what legendary talent looks like close up.
My only criticism with this collection is the sound of the piano, some of the songs are cheapened with a cheesy hotel lounge sound of an electric piano, oh don't get me wrong, I'll still enjoy this for years to come, but it would have been a true masterpiece if a more classic and grand instrument had accompanied Ms.Minnelli and Mr.Stritch, or a really great George Shearing style quartet.

Being a Liza Minnelli fan... yes... but I have to admit one thing:

As a live performer she was and is the Queen of ShowBusiness. Period!

However as a recording artist she has never found "home". Her voice is not what I would say - always great or beautiful...

But the 1989 pop album "Results" presents a Liza to pure perfection:-)

In 2010 she relased her "Confessions" album and for the VERY first time I LISTEN to her VOICE! Like her Mama and Sinatra at old age, she feeds us with emotions, depth, sentiments, but above all - A VOICE!

Yes my girl... here you have THE VOICE:-) The ballads chosen suits your voice perfectly, although I would have loved an orchestra for some of the tracks....

With "Results" - the best album she had made:-)

Liza still has the voice. She belts her songs with her soul. This can be played when enjoying a group of people in your home.
Easy to buy from Amazon.