Customer Reviews

Ultimate Collection

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This disc spans twenty-five years in Minnelli's recording career.
I would have paid the cd's price just for the MACARTHUR PARK/DIDN'T WE medley. Total goosebumps. The country infuence for the MAYBE THIS TIME orchestration kicks. COME SATURDAY MORNING and SIMON I hadn't heard since the mid-seventies. Felt like I found lost gold. Treat yourself to this stellar collection!!!

I have to admit that this is probably the collection by Liza Minnelli that you would get if you were a moderate fan. It includes all of her most popular tunes in spite of poor chart success. There is Cabaret, Maybe This Time, New York New York and the original LP version of the dance hit Losing My Mind with help from The Pet Shop Boys. There are also great remakes like Try To Remember (interesting to hear Liza at an early age!), The Look Of Love, Love For Sale and God Bless The Child. It is also great to hear her popular duet with her mom Together Wherever We Go. Included is Liza's versions of moms Come Rain Or Come Shine, The Man I Love and Stormy Weather.

What is missing that would make this a complete compilation for me is her version of You're So Vain that was released as a single for Liza back in 1974. Her CD Results was very popular for her, they might have included other popular tracks like Love Pains, Rent or Twist In My Soberiety. There is nothing from her movie hit Steppin' Out or her popular Live From Radio City Music Hall CD. There is nothing from her more recent gem Gently released in 1996. It included duets with Johnny Mathis on Chances Are, with Donna Summer on Does He Love You? or You Stepped Out Of A Dream with help from Melissa Manchester and Brenda Russell.

I know this was only one disc and there is large time span here. Everyone may have a different version of this collection to call it an Ultimate. Perhaps there should be a Volume II? I know there could easy be a Volume II. But I hope that if there is another volume, that they don't exclude the most important song that is so hard to get and was released in 1993 called The Day After That from Kiss Of The Spiderwoman. I have the CD single in which has 3 different language versions. It was one of her more recent powerful performances, not to be missed.Truely Ultimate!

.....even though it excludes tracks from "Tropical Nights" (which will FINALLY be released on CD by DRG Records on Feb. 12, 2002), "Gently," the Radio City concert, both Carnegie Hall concerts, and "Minnelli On Minnelli." Still, even a casual fan can appreciate the generous 21-track songlist, especially the socko 1-2-3-4 punch of "The Singer," the film version of "NY, NY," "City Lights" and "Losing My Mind" that closes this set.
Plus, you get "Come Saturday Morning," which has long been unavailable on CD.

This is the best album since her 1972 release ~ "Liza with a "Z", which was a one-of-a-kind with "Super-Star" written all over it, from the Lycemum theatre in New York...not to mention she won an Emmy for her television special that same year.

Universal/Hip-O has done something for me with this CD...put all my favorite Liza songs on one album ~ "MAYBE THIS TIME"..."GOD BLESS THE CHILD"..."THEME FROM NEW YORK, NEW YORK"..."SAY LIZA(LIZA WITH A "Z")..."CABARET", enjoy each selection, as Minnelli pours her heart out, all twenty-one tracks are a must have...so get ready for the wonderful performances of Liza, they are the "ULTIMATE"!

Total Time: 75:26 on 21 Tracks ~ Universal/Hip-O 314-556-504-2 ~ (2001)

This is possable the finest compilation cd ever available for Liza. It includes the song "SIMON", available on cd for the first time! As a pleasant bonus, inside there is a great write up with photos. This one is definately worth the money. GO LIZA!!!

I've been a fan of Liza's since the early 70's.I've seen her in concert twice,talked to her,and have picture's of Liza coming out afterwards.(You can see them on my web-site.Write to me and I'll send you the page.)I have most of her albums and CD,s,but there's still a couple of songs on this collection that I've never heard of,"Try To Remember," is beutifull.It almost reminds me of what were all going through after the tragic events that took place on 9-11.Liza's voice is so different from the way it sounds today.She sounds alot like her Mother,and we get to hear them together on the second number,"Together"(Wherever we go)from the London Palladium.I just wish they included "Gypsy in my Soul." Liza's vocals were fantastic.Equal to Barbra Streisand,maybe better.I never did hear "Simon," by Liza's husband at the time,Peter Allen.I really enjoyed this cut,along with Randy Newman's,"Love Story." I can't believe Randy,(ShortPeople)wrote this song.It has alot of his humor on the song.I just can't understand why there's 7 cuts from Liza's 1970 album,"New Feelin'"and there's nothing from Liza's top 40 album,"Liza,Live at the Winter Garden."Exactly Like me," is my all time favorite Liza number,and her 1977 L.P."Tropical Nights," is another great record.She worked with this one band,and it was the hardest rock and roll album from her career.I think all of Liza's fans would want to have a box set from the greatest entertainer of our generation.There's so much music from this talent.Liza in Concert,Liza on Broadway and films,and Liza in the Studio,would be just 3 of the CD's from that collection.I hope the next release is a Box Set,not another sample of records we all ready have.

This is the ONLY Liza CD that spans nearly her entire recording career : a full 25 years, from her first solo album in 1964, to one of her more recent studio efforts ("Results" in 1989). A must-have for anyone who Loves Liza, or who is new to the scene.

I didn't have Liza on cd ! I had her on several 33 LP records and this was the album I chose after careful consideration to be the one. It has a full list of Liza at her best - and 21 first rate songs on one CD is great value in anyone's language.
Since the above purchase I've added Liza with A Z and two memorable DVD performances, plus I have several Liza movies. And I can't wait to hear her sing with Aznavour.
Miss Minnelli represents all that is great about American musicals, American theatre and dance. She is an integral part of that culture which has provided both Broadway and the American people with so much unsurpassed thrilling entertainment for so long.
From a live performance of of her signature songs Cabaret,and Liza With a Z,to old standards such as Can't help Lovin' That Man,Come Rain Or Come Shine,Stormy Weather,and Billie's God Bless the Child, to the show stopping New York, New York,(sorry Mr Sinatra, but nobody sings it like Liza), to the beautiful rendition of McArthur Park, it's all here.
"Ultimate" is a five star classic and a fine overview of the career of a warm, caring human being, who also just happens to be a great interpreter of song.

A great concept. Cull Liza Minnelli's best recordings from her over thirty years worth of albums, and you'll have a superb CD. Well, a great concept requires a talented and knowledgable producer to put together the compilation, and the extraordinarily talented Liza is done a huge dis-service here.

Her trademark Kander & Ebb classics such as "But the World Goes Round" and "A Quiet Thing" are not here. Neither is "You are For Loving" the first recording (I think...) that she made, and a performance that put her on the map. The superb "Steppin' Out" which yielded a great concert tour and soundtrack album, also is "M.I.A.". Instead we're forced to sit through tripe like "THE LOOK OF LOVE". Oh yeah, a song synonymous with Minnelli. Liza's definitive performance of CABARET from the film soundtrack ain't here, even though this record company OWNS IT!

What was Hip-O thinking??? I guess they weren't thinking. The accompanying liner notes read like a review from a junior high school girl's newspaper article. Shameful.

Miss Minnelli is a superb talent. Stay away from this trash and
pick up the key Minnelli albums (which are all low-priced by the way) and make your own CD and see for yourself what a great opportunity Hip-O blew big time.

Any Liza collection omitting things like A Quiet Thing,Liza's Medley from Judy/Liza at the Palladium,A Matter of Time,Stepping Out,You Are for Loving, etc and including Love Story and Simon really isn't deserving of calling itself Ultimate