![]() Marrying Liza’s torchy, theatrical style with a layers of contemporary Fairlight synths, throbbing dance beats and topped off with Courtney Pine‘s classy sax interludes and darkly rich, John Barry-esque orchestration (courtesy of Twin Peaks composer Angelo Badalamenti and the Art Of Noise’s Anne Dudley), Results was – and is – unlike anything else in her six-decade catalogue. To paraphrase Shirley Bassey, it’s all just a little bit of history repeating, With typical chutzpah, Liza had effectively demonstrated a knack for falling for friends of Dorothy - just like her mother before her, who’d married two of them. These were trifling matters though, as the Cabaret star of stage and screen was already an admirer of the duo, and they of her, so it was a felicitous teaming from the very start. Though she’d begun her recording career back in 1963, she hadn’t released a record for over a decade. In keeping with the one word nomenclature customary for PSB releases, at one stage a mooted title for the album was the not unsubtle Pink, suggesting the boys had already conceded exactly what kind of icon she was, and who her target audience were. So the Pet Shop Boys producing Liza Minnelli’s “first pop record”, ably assisted by Julian Mendelsohn, must have seemed like a natural fit. And after years in the doldrums, recording with the boys just cemented her LGBT following. In fact, it makes her now legendary status as Britain’s greatest ever blue-eyed soul singer even more remarkable. In recent years, Tennant, in particular, has expressed belated niggles about the ‘gay icon’ label, but Dusty was a lesbian and gay icon, and acknowledging that fact doesn’t detract from her musical achievements in the slightest. Only this time the vocalist wasn’t Tennant but Liza Minnelli, celebrated singer of showbiz and showtunes who also happened to be the daughter of Judy Garland, one of the world’s most beloved gay icons. Before the seminal synth duo jetted off to peddle their stagecraft - because they “quite like proving that we can’t cut it live” - Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe spent most of March and April recording an album after all. Having released an album a year since their dazzling debut - 1986’s Please - enjoyed five* transatlantic No.1 singles, gave Patsy Kensit her only decent record and brought back Dusty Springfield from utter obscurity, by 1989 they took a breather, opting to prepare for their first tour in lieu of a new album. There was a time when, to get Bondian for a minute, the Pet Shop Boys were the men with the Midas touch. Well, she was until the Ruby Wax show.” - Neil Tennant ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |