Foursider LPs & Liza Minnelli
- Thread starter JOv2
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NO idea how I ended up here back here after many years, but....hello.
In 1973, Liza Minnelli was everywhere. She'd just won an Oscar and Emmy, truly at the peak of her popularity. A&M owned these masters - why wouldn't they give her a Foursider collection and try to sell some records? It's not the Peter Allen connection - his albums came later.....
In 1973, Liza Minnelli was everywhere. She'd just won an Oscar and Emmy, truly at the peak of her popularity. A&M owned these masters - why wouldn't they give her a Foursider collection and try to sell some records? It's not the Peter Allen connection - his albums came later.....
Hello yourself, stranger! 😁
True. They probably had high hopes that her records might become more popular as well, so were willing to take a gamble. Whereas other early acts like Chris Montez and Claudine Longet didn't get a Foursider--maybe by that point, the ship had sailed.
Another Son
Well-Known Member
I was only listening to 'Results' the day before yesterday. It's a very satisfying album. It has a great range of styles on it, from the late-80s dance style, to tracks that are a bit more arty and left-of-centre, to a couple of ballady, semi-music-hall songs. An interesting mix.
'Losing My Mind' is magnificent.
Liza Minnelli never went in for pop as such, (until 'Results'), which would explain the fact that she didn't have hits on Top 40 radio.
However, I thought that 'Results' might have had greater success in the USA. In Europe, apparently it sold nearly a million copies. It had a high number of sales in the UK. In the USA, it sold something like 200,000.
rockdoctor
Well-Known Member
Another possibility of why other artists did not get Foursider lp's is that maybe they did not want them. The people that did the compiling of the songs may have asked these 5 artists and they gave the okay but others did not.
rockdoctor
Well-Known Member
JOv2, I thought you might find this funny. A couple of months ago, I saw this in a thrift store in the bin. The cover was a bit raggedy. Yesterday I saw it at a used book and record store in good condition.I recently saw that episode! Carol's deadpan response was priceless.
So this means at least two sold here in Eastern Virginia.
Have a great week!
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I was buying Liza's records back then, I started with Come Saturday Morning. I know after her third album, she was suddenly hot. She still owed A&M one more album but they didn't know how she was going to find the time to complete it. Then A&M decided to release a live show she did as the four and final album. At least that's what I heard at the time. I remember watching Liza with a Z and I was hooked. Before A&M, she recorded for Capitol records. A few of those saw re-release at that time too. I have a collection called Her Finest from the Capitol era. Some of those songs are just outstanding. To my ear anyway.
Don't know why she got a foursider, but I bought it back then too.
Don't know why she got a foursider, but I bought it back then too.
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Clive Davis signed Vikki Carr to Columbia around 1970 so they were still making some easy listening until the mid 70's anyway. Around 1975, Vikki switched to recording in Spanish exclusively. She still had one English album for the label that went unreleased until recently.
rbisherw
Well-Known Member
A crime Allen's "Taught by Experts" album never received a CD issue.Who, with Liza, and much later both got 20th Century Millennium Collections on A&M:
rockdoctor
Well-Known Member
I hear Vikki Carr once in a while on a classic sounds station here in Eastern Va. It is always It Must Be Him. I remember hearing a lot by here back in the day but once she switched to Columbia, I heard very little of those year's songs.
Vikki Carr's Columbia album LOVE STORY had three songs that I remember hearing on the radio. I always guessed that they were singles. They were played on the soft-pop station I listened to:
If I Were Your Woman
I Keep It Hid
Six Weeks Every Summer
Then she had an album on Columbia called SUPERSTAR that had another couple of well-played radio songs called
I Can't Give Back The Love I Feel For You
I'd Do It All Again
I really liked Vikki's recording of "I Can't Give Back The Love" and still do.
Both of those albums were combined onto one CD from Collectables.
If I Were Your Woman
I Keep It Hid
Six Weeks Every Summer
Then she had an album on Columbia called SUPERSTAR that had another couple of well-played radio songs called
I Can't Give Back The Love I Feel For You
I'd Do It All Again
I really liked Vikki's recording of "I Can't Give Back The Love" and still do.
Both of those albums were combined onto one CD from Collectables.
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I think Love Story and Nashville by Carr are my favorite albums. (Nashville was on Liberty). But I still listen to a lot of them.
(How'd I miss this thread?)
Liza not only continued to grow in overall popularity, she started charting when she left A&M. The CABARET! soundtrack peaked at #25 in Billboard. The soundtrack to her TV special "Liza with a "Z"" made #19. Both of those went Gold.
And, six months before the FOURSIDER series launched, Liza charted with a studio album for Columbia---THE SINGER, which managed to peak at #38.
Those three albums, released in succession, suggested there was a market for Liza on vinyl. And, in the time-honored tradition of an artist's previous label trying to cash in after that artist gets hot for someone else, Jerry probably saw FOURSIDER as a way to recoup some of the label's investment in Liza.
It didn't work, but Liza also arguably didn't do any worse than Herb did:
Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass FOURSIDER: #193
Liza Minelli FOURSIDER: #208 (Billboard had an LP "bubbling under" chart) #207
(Yeah, the TJB ranked 14 slots higher, but the difference in units moved between a peak at 207 and a peak at 193 is negligible).
I can't find any evidence the Brasil '66, Sandpipers or BMB FOURSIDERS charted...even on the "bubbling under" chart.
rockdoctor
Well-Known Member
In thinking about the Foursider series, I seem to remember seeing an ad in Billboard Magazine for these albums and that was how I knew about them.
From looking at Amazon, it seems that the only one left in print is Sergio Mendes as it states that it is not discontinued and prices are very reasonable. The Herb Alpert is listed with prices of $30 and up so that gives me the impression it has been discontinued.
From looking at Amazon, it seems that the only one left in print is Sergio Mendes as it states that it is not discontinued and prices are very reasonable. The Herb Alpert is listed with prices of $30 and up so that gives me the impression it has been discontinued.
The only Herb title that Universal was allowed to keep in print is Definitive Hits.
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