''Come Saturday Morning'' is the fifth studio album by American

singer Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

and

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

Liza Minnelli, released in 1969 by

A&M Records A&M Records was an American record label founded as an independent company by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962. Due to the success of the discography A&M released, the label garnered interest and was acquired by PolyGram in 1989 and began distr ...

, her second with the label. In the UK it was released as ''Introducing Liza Minnelli''. Around 1969, the music industry began to focus on popular songs like

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

and artists such as

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

, and

Bacharach Bacharach (, also known as ''Bacharach am Rhein'') is a town in the Mainz-Bingen district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Rhein-Nahe, whose seat is in Bingen am Rhein, although that town is not withi ...

, affecting artists who had obscure

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

songs in their repertoire. Her previous album had not achieved commercial success, causing A&M to hesitate in releasing more albums by her. The 1969 film ''

The Sterile Cuckoo ''The Sterile Cuckoo'' (released in the UK as ''Pookie'') is a 1969 American comedy-drama film by producer-director Alan J. Pakula that tells the story of an eccentric young couple whose relationship deepens despite their differences and inadeq ...

'', in which Minnelli played the lead role, and the song "Come Saturday Morning" brought recognition and

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology) ...

nominations. This motivated the record label, which had planned to release another album by the singer with more contemporary sounds. Musically, it resembles its predecessor, combining popular music genres of the time, such as soft rock. The tracklist includes songs that were popular at that moment, such as "

MacArthur Park MacArthur Park (originally Westlake Park) is a park dating back to the late 19th century in the Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles. In the early 1940s, it was renamed after General Douglas MacArthur, and later designated City of Los Angeles H ...

" by

Richard Harris Richard St John Francis Harris (1 October 1930 – 25 October 2002) was an Irish actor and singer. He appeared on stage and in many films, notably as Corrado Zeller in Michelangelo Antonioni's '' Red Desert'', Frank Machin in '' This Sporting ...

, "Didn't We" by

Jimmy Webb Jimmy Layne Webb (born August 15, 1946) is an American songwriter, composer, and singer. He has written numerous platinum-selling songs, including " Up, Up and Away", " By the Time I Get to Phoenix", " MacArthur Park", " Wichita Lineman", " Wo ...

, the recent hit by

Peter, Paul & Mary Peter, Paul and Mary was an American folk group formed in New York City in 1961 during the American folk music revival phenomenon. The trio consisted of tenor Peter Yarrow, baritone Paul Stookey, and contralto Mary Travers. The group's reperto ...

, "Leavin' on a Jet Plane," and songs by Newman,

Gordon Lightfoot Gordon Meredith Lightfoot Jr. (born November 17, 1938) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist who achieved international success in folk, folk-rock, and country music. He is credited with helping to define the folk-pop sound of the 1960 ...

, Aretha Franklin, and

Harry Nilsson Harry Edward Nilsson III (June 15, 1941 – January 15, 1994), sometimes credited as Nilsson, was an American singer-songwriter who reached the peak of his commercial success in the early 1970s. His work is characterized by pioneering vocal ov ...

. The rest of the compositions are the same mix of mainly then-current pop/rock and singer/songwriters songs with a couple of

Vaudevillian Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

songs that made up the previous album. The critical reception of the music was mostly favorable, but commercially, it performed poorly, becoming her third album not to chart on '' Billboard'' magazine's success charts. Similar to her previous albums released by

, this album was never issued alone on CD, but all tracks in their original order are included in the 2008 compilation album ''The Complete A&M Recordings''. The cover photo was used in the 2001 compilation ''20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection: Best of Liza Minnelli''.

Background and context

Around 1969, the music industry was undergoing changes in public taste regarding music. The Broadway songs for which Liza Minnelli was known were usually overshadowed by popular artists' productions by record labels, prioritizing music genres like

and artists like

, Burt Bacharach, and

Hal David Harold Lane David (May 25, 1921 – September 1, 2012) was an American lyricist. He grew up in New York City. He was best known for his collaborations with composer Burt Bacharach and his association with Dionne Warwick. Early life David ...

. In this changing context, Liza Minnelli began to change her repertoire. In her self-titled previous release, she recorded songs by artists like Randy Newman and

Sonny Bono Salvatore Phillip "Sonny" Bono (; February 16, 1935 – January 5, 1998) was an American singer, actor, and politician who came to fame in partnership with his second wife Cher as the popular singing duo Sonny & Cher. A member of the Republica ...

. Despite this, ''Liza Minnelli'' album did not achieve commercial success, making the record label hesitant to release albums by the singer. With the success of songs from the rock musical '' Hair'' in 1969 (such as " Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In" by 5th Dimension), A&M decided to have Minnelli record the song "Frank Mills" from the soundtrack and released it as a standalone single, but it also did not achieve success. Subsequently, Minnelli landed the lead role in the film ''

'', which premiered in October 1969. The theme song, "Come Saturday Morning," was performed on the soundtrack by the group Sandpipers. When the nominations for the 1970 Oscars were announced in early 1970, Minnelli received a nomination for

Best Actress Best Actress is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organisations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actresses in a film, television series, television film or play. The first Best Actress aw ...

, and "Come Saturday Morning" was nominated for

Best Original Song This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

, leading the record label to believe that it was finally the right time to release an album by the singer.

Production and release

The recordings took place during three sessions in August 1969 (on the 8th, 29th, and 30th), with the first at Western Records and the last two at Columbia Records Studios.Schechter, Scott (2008) ''The Complete A&M Recordings''. Collectors' Choice Music – CCM-976, Universal Music Special Markets. November 25, 2008. There was also a session at A&R, in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. The album was produced by Larry Marks and arranged by Dick Hazard, Michael Colombier, Bob Thompson, and Peter Matz. Ray Gerhardt handled the audio engineering. The album's design is by Corporate Head, art direction by Tom Wilkes, and photography by Guy Webster. As part of the promotion, Minnelli performed songs from the album on television shows such as ''

The Ed Sullivan Show ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the '' CBS Sunday Night M ...

''. On January 31, 1970, the '' Billboard'' magazine included an advertisement for the album in its issue, which would be released the following month.

Critical reception

Reviews from music critics were favorable. '' Cashbox'' magazine considered the album excellent and highlighted tracks "Leavin' On a Jet Plane" and "On a Slow Boat to China." The magazine's critic concluded by saying, "an excellent showcase for this talented young vocalist. Could be a substantial item." Morgan Ames from ''High Fidelity'' magazine wrote that she initially considered Minnelli a singer without previous technique, but her opinion changed over the years. She noted that the album's producer, Larry Marks, "made the artist express herself in the most perfect way possible." Ames stated that 'Come Saturday Morning' is elegant, current, suitable for the singer, featuring superb arrangements and a vocalist who "found out who she is as a singer" and whose vocals are more restrained, beautiful, and powerful than before. She selected the songs "Don't Let Me Lose This Dream," "Simon," and "Slow Boat to China" as the album's highlights. William Ruhlmann, from the website ''

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

'', rated the album three and a half out of five stars and wrote that "Minnelli handles the newer songs bravely (...), but typically comes to life only when singing the old song 'Nevertheless (I'm in Love with You),' which is more her style."

Commercial performance

Commercially, the album failed to chart on the

Billboard 200 The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine and is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of ar ...

Track listing

# " Come Saturday Morning" (

Fred Karlin Frederick James Karlin (June 16, 1936 – March 26, 2004) was an American composer of more than 130 scores for feature films and television movies. He also was an accomplished trumpeter adept at playing jazz, blues, classical, rock, and mediev ...

Dory Previn Dorothy "Dory" Veronica Previn ( Langan; October 22, 1925 – February 14, 2012) was an American lyricist, singer-songwriter and poet. During the late 1950s and 1960s, Previn was a lyricist on songs intended for motion pictures and, with her t ...

) # " Raggedy Ann & Raggedy Andy" (Larry Marks, Marilyn & Alan Bergman) # " Leavin' on a Jet Plane" ( John Denver) # "Wailing of the Willow" (

) # " Nevertheless" (

Bert Kalmar Bert Kalmar (February 10, 1884 – September 18, 1947) was an American songwriter, who was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970. He was also a screenwriter. Biography Kalmar, a native of New York City, left school at an early ag ...

Harry Ruby Harry Rubenstein (January 27, 1895 – February 23, 1974), known professionally as Harry Ruby, was an American actor, pianist, composer, songwriter and screenwriter, who was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970.Gordon Lightfoot Gordon Meredith Lightfoot Jr. (born November 17, 1938) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist who achieved international success in folk, folk-rock, and country music. He is credited with helping to define the folk-pop sound of the 1960 ...

) # "Love Story" ( Randy Newman) # " On a Slow Boat to China" (

Frank Loesser Frank Henry Loesser (; June 29, 1910 – July 28, 1969) was an American songwriter who wrote the music and lyrics for the Broadway musicals ''Guys and Dolls'' and ''How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying'', among others. He won a Tony ...

) # " Don't Let Me Lose This Dream" ( Aretha Franklin, Ted White) # "Simon" ( Peter Allen) # "

/ Didn't We?" (

)

Personnel

* Produced by Larry Marks * Engineered by Ray Gerhardt * Arranged by Dick Hazard,

Michel Colombier Michel Colombier (23 May 1939 – 14 November 2004) was a French composer, arranger, and conductor. Career Colombier wrote the scores of several motion pictures and TV productions. He also wrote chamber music and ballets. With composer Pierre H ...

, Bob Thompson,

Peter Matz Peter Matz (November 6, 1928 – August 9, 2002) was an American musician, composer, arranger and conductor. His musical career in film, theater, television and studio recording spanned fifty years, and he worked with a number of prominent ...

, * Original album engineers: Ray Gerhardt * Piano on "MacArthur Park": Peter Allen * Album design: Corporate Head * Art director:

Tom Wilkes Thomas Edward Wilkes (July 30, 1939 – June 28, 2009) was an American art director, designer, photographer, illustrator, writer and producer-director. Life Wilkes was born in Long Beach, California and raised in southern California. Wilkes atte ...

* Photography: Guy Webster * Special thanks to Donald Hahn, A&R Studios

References

* Liza Minnelli: ''When It Comes Down to It.......1968–1977'' liner notes by Glenn A. Baker, 2003 * Liza Minnelli: ''The Complete A&M Recordings'' liner notes by Scott Schechter, 2008 * Liza Minnelli: ''The Complete Capitol Collection'' liner notes by Scott Schechter, 2006 {{Authority control Liza Minnelli albums 1969 albums Albums arranged by Richard Hazard Albums arranged by Bob Thompson (musician) Albums arranged by Peter Matz A&M Records albums