Live at the Winter Garden is Liza's third live album and ninth album in total. In my opinion, it's somewhat of a travesty that this album was not released as a double-album to release the entire performance in full, as it does lose some of its flair and character in the translation, so to speak. Even to people who've not seen what the full setlist looked like, it's blatantly obvious that songs from the show were cut for the album version even right from the overture, which boasts "Ring Them Bells" in part of that intro. Yet, the song is nowhere on the album, conveniently missing. (One would think they would at *least* include all the songs from the overture if they were going for subtlety.) The songs that remain are out of order, and it feels like a mis-matched hodgepodge of a disc. Which is a pity, because vocally, Liza was still basically at the top of her game. Even so, the effect of drugs were already starting to take their toll, as is made very evident in the speed of her speech at most points throughout the album, and the frantic nature even of her singing. It's not to the point of unlistenable by a long shot, but it does leave one feeling a bit uncomfortable at points. A little bit of the charisma and charm that Liza With A 'Z' possessed seems to be lacking from this one, but that may also just be a side effect of the album being a so badly butchered version of the original show. It's hard to tell for sure. The particular songs they chose to include here are interesting though, to say the least. Especially such songs as "The Circle" (which is very haunting when the full message of what the song's about hits you) and "Exactly Like Me", which later had to be dropped from Liza's set-list for hurting fans' feelings, even though it wasn't intended to be cruel; rather, it was yet another form of Liza's signature self-deprecation. The version of "There Is A Time" heard on this album is phenomenal; out of all the versions I've ever heard Liza perform of this song, this one is by and large my personal favorite. And who could possibly forget the great rendition of "Natural Man" heard here? With the exception of the very brief snippet of it heard in the "Men's Medley" on the Live At Radio City Music Hall album, I believe this is the only version of the song that ever made it onto a Liza album, despite it having been a staple in her live acts for a good while. I'm very thankful that this song wasn't one of the tracks lost to the sands of time on the cutting room floor.
I wish with every ounce of my being that perhaps someday, a full version of the performance will surface, but until that day, I'm grateful for the re-release on CD that we just saw last year that many of us never expected would really happen. The album may not be perfect, but it's definitely still good, and out of 5 stars, I'd say it deserves at least a very generous 4.

-- Jennifer Abraham

BACK