When Liza Met the Pet Shop Boys

It's been 25 years. IT'S BEEN 25 YEARS!
I love you, you pay my rent

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I love that album. Still have it on cd.

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This and the half album they did for Dusty Springfield around the same time (Reputation,) are amazing records. I was heartbroken to read a recent interview with Harold Faltermeyer (who produced Behaviour for the Boys when Moroder turned them down--because, you know, he was busy producing masterpieces such as "Like a Yo-Yo" at the time,) where he said they were about to approach Donna Summer to do an album but then were worried they would build their reputation only as producer/writers for aging divas. http://www.daeida.com/DAEIDA_ISSUU_2012_10.html is the interview (it's mostly about Harold's time co-producing for Donna and the interviewer is a hysterical queen, but it's worth a read.)

Anyway, back to Liza--the Don't Drop Bombs and Losing My Mind drag queen videos are camp classics, but the entire album is wonderful--I don't think any other producer has managed to make Liza sound as good, at least not in that era (or since.) In the two disc remastered edition Neil says that So Sorry, I Said was their attempt at a loving Sondheim pastiche. Not sure if I hear it, but it's still one of my favorite slow songs they've done.

Updated On: 8/6/14 at 03:45 PM

It was a bitter pill for us Sondheimists-who-also-loved-Liza to swallow, back then in 1989. As you say, she seemed to miss the point of the song entirely, which is the musical question "...OR am I losing my mind" and not the musical statement "...and, YES! I am losing my mind" or even "I've already lost my mind" or whatever it is she's playing.

I didn't see it so much as an attempt to commercialize Sondheim as an attempt to make him relevant, which, as a Sondheimist, I thought was unnecessary.

But the Pet Shop Boys were undeniably cool, and the beat was infectious, and once it took off, well, what was the point in preferring Dorothy Collins?

By the time she performed it live on the Arsenio Hall show, I kinda liked it.

http://youtu.be/jbF7LODCIGQ

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Updated On: 8/6/14 at 04:42 PM

Seeing Liza perform "Losing My Mind" on Top of the Pops was my first exposure to her. I guess that was also my first exposure to Sondheim, though I certainly didn't realize it at the time. Even at that age I remember thinking the song and the beat were at odds. It feels like the song is just fighting the beat the whole way. Such a bizarre choice and such a surprising top 10 single. As I recall, it was much more successful in the UK than in the US.

Much preferred "Don't Drop Bombs" and the rather lovely "So Sorry I Said".

I know that her Losing My Mind is hated amongst the gay showtunes community, but I love it. Of course it will never replace Dorothy Collins' version, and it's forced into a 4/4 beat, but I still love it. I sorta thought the point of the version was that the beat and song lyrics were at odds.

Thank you FindingNamo for the reminder. 25 years old, wow.

I still love this CD. Love the intro to Losing My Mind. Rent and Tonight is Forever are my two favorite tracks.

"Tonight is forever, tell me now you don't disagree
Tonight is forever, open the door, you hold the key"

Eric - I shall read the link you posted about Donna Summer, what a missed opportunity though, I would have loved for that to have happened. I think I read that they were hoping to work with Petula Clark too but maybe I am just talking rubbish! I would have liked for that to happen too.

Maybe it was all of the older female artists being suggested to them that scared them away in general (that's the tone Harold's comment implies.) It is too bad.

Good point. Still, I think her teaming up with the PSBs was very much seen as a younger/older pairing.