"Gently" by Liza Minelli (1996)

For all her stardom, Liza Minelli never really seriously took to neither music or movies - like some great entertainers of previous generation, who thrived on Las Vegas and dabbled in recordings and movies almost like afterthought, Minelli was always famous for being Minelli and her one shining moment with 1972. "Cabaret" seems to eclipse everything else she later did. Perhaps she was simply born too late: apparently her sensitivities and inclinations were always those of some 1940s Big band singers rather than those of Woodstock generation and even in recording studio she always came along more as campy throwback to earlier times than current artist. When in late 1980s Pet Shop Boys created surprisingly effective pop album around her powerful voice, it was a glorious exception from show tunes Minelli authoritatively sang at her concerts for decades - nothing wrong with show tunes, but one would expect that now at last singer would stretch out of her comfort zone. 

Instead of following new, cutting edge direction, Minelli released two live albums of her trademark belting trough show tunes and it took almost a decade before she finally entered the recording studio for "Gently" which was build around American songbook classics like "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning" and "Embraceable You". Perhaps the time was right for this, as record buyers showed great interest in new recordings of such material - Natalie Cole and Linda Ronstadt paved the way - besides Minelli is definitely at home here. What makes a huge difference this time is idea to place Minelli in a lonely, after hour cocktail bar and let her act saloon singer instead of belting for all she is worth: subdued and serious, singer sounds genuinely sincere and the whole album might as well have been recorded sometime in 1950s along with some classic ballad albums as Sinatra's "Only the Lonely" or anything by Johnny Mathis who pops by for a duet. The only wrong note is a duet with Donna Summer - it probably seemed as a surefire hit that would carry the album, but frankly it is out of place when surrounded with songs by Irving Berlin and Gershwin brothers, besides ladies just can't resist showbiz theatrics that stand uneasily with lovely simplicity of the collection.