Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Results (1989)

"I Can't Say Goodnight" Like a lot of great songwriters in their prime or approaching it, Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe bristled with so much energy and so many ideas in the late '80s that they could give material away. Give them credit for the wit to go to Liza Minnelli -- who, like her ma, has an athlete's voice built for barns of Broadway and an identity crisis with no bottom. If she ever gets deeper than an inch or two into her reading of these songs, there's not much evidence. But that's not so unusual for her then, and it certainly doesn't mean you won't find gems by the handful here. You have to wonder, if it's an issue at all, who is using whom with a song like "Twist in My Sobriety," which sardonically plumbs depths of spectacularly D-U-M boomer type narcissism. Minnelli plays it straight, no doubt her best bet. Still, Pet Shop Boys songs performed by Liza Minnelli with the Pet Shop Boys producing is all of itself high concept and reason enough for listening. Pet Shop Boys fans, I suspect, get the best of this deal. But, hey, ain't that celebrity?

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