A&M Records Highlights: Liza Minnelli

Revisiting A&M Records No. 32
‘Liza Minnelli’ (February ’68)

Despite its self-titling, this is far from the debut of Judy’s daughter. By the time she was about to turn 22 and relaunch her recording career via the auspices of Mr. A & Mr. M, Minnelli had already issued three LPs for Capitol Records, starting with ‘Liza! Liza!’ in ’64, the same year she embarked on her first national theatrical run as Luisa in the touring production of ‘The Fantasticks.’

But the reality remained that after four years of working her young tail off — including landing the lead in ‘Flora the Red Menace,’ her Broadway debut — Liza was still struggling to step out from her mother’s formidable shadow.

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Soundtrack Sunday: The Rutles

The way I alphabetically see it, this toppermost Beatles parody falls not under R for the Rutles but A for ‘All You Need Is Cash,’ as that’s the actual title of the mockumentary that premiered on NBC and then BBC2 five days apart in March ’78. Just as easily could file under B, however — for bloody brilliant.

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Soundtrack Sunday: All This and World War II

Thought you’d encountered the worst movie musical ever when Peter Frampton and the Bee Gees starred as ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ in ’78? You ain’t seen nothin’, Billy Shears — a pronouncement applicable to this misbegotten mishmash in myriad ways, considering it was pulled from theaters after two weeks in late ’76, rarely to be witnessed since.

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A&M Records Highlights: Sérgio Mendes & Brasil ‘66

We’re still inching our way toward the ‘70s, a stylistically packed decade that will see A&M Records (the focus of this #TuesdaysWithJerry offshoot of #VinylTwosDays) swing from soft pop to hard rock to new wave by the time that era’s glittering New Year’s Eve ball dropped into 1980.

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LCKDWN20: Emergency on Planet Earth

Future bleach guzzlers: here comes another mondo playlist. “Seriously,” I imagine some of you mocking, “ANOTHER 100 SONGS?!?” Serious as covid on asthma, yes. But I’ll keep this one’s introduction brief. 

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