Lori Lieberman Covers Lou, Scott, Traci, Robert, Ron, Alan and Lori— Releases a Live In The Studio All-Analog Record

yes, that "Perfect Day", "Secret Heart", "Big Louise" and more

Lori Lieberman has released albums aimed at the so-called audiophile market for almost 30 years, but this one is the first (since her days on Capitol) with full analog bonafides. That's no guarantee of great sounding results, anymore than her previous digitally recorded ones did not have superb sound, because they did—2022's American Songbook themed Truly for instance.

Here she's also gone "live in the studio", which adds considerable risk. The results can be either musical magic, or mayhem—though Lieberman is an accomplished live performer. Last fall she played L.A.'s El Rey theater accompanied by bassist David Pilch, violinist Aubrey Richmond and on piano Caelan Cardello (I helped that connection).

The major chance-taking here though, was the daring A&R work. The song choices ranged from the oft-covered title tune originally on Lou Reed's Transformer album and the "B" side of the "Walk on the Wild Side" 45rpm single, on which she's accompanied by English singer/songwriter/producer Fink (a/k/a Fin Greenall)

to The Cure's "Love Song" from the Disintegration

to Scott Walker's "Big Louise" from Scott Walker 3.

Those alone would be a stretch for Lieberman but she also covers country star Alan Jackson's song about aging wisely, "The Older I Get", Tracy Chapman's "Baby Can I Hold You" from her debut album (recently re-mastered and reissued)

and the thematically similar "Secret Heart" by the severely under-appreciated Canadian singer/songwriter Ron Sexsmith.

Rounding out the set are a pair of Lieberman-penned tunes, "Cup of Girl" and "Burden and Gift" co-written with the also underappreciated Wendy Waldman—an 8 song set shortened by another audiophile choice—releasing the album at 45rpm.

If you're looking for uptempo good cheer, this is not the album to pull from your record collection—though most express uplifting ideas. If you're looking for Lori Lieberman's best vocalizing on record—and that's a career filled with outstanding singing on a long string of albums—that would be this one. And if you're looking for a superbly natural sounding, "you are in the studio" recording, unadorned by studio gimmickry, this would be it.

While the album opens on an "up" note, with The Cure song (though it's in a hardly celebratory minor key), the themes are mostly downcast and/or confessional. A song about aging, though with a positive spin ("The Older I Get"), the Reed song, which though Lou said it's just what it appears to express—a perfect day in the park, the zoo and then a movie—casts a very dark shadow on that idea towards the end with "you make me forget myself, I thought I was someone else, someone good", not to mention the ominous refrain "You're going to reap just what you sow", and I'll not do a song play by play but get to the finale, Scott Walker's "Big Louise" which open with "She stands all alone/You can hear her hum softly/From her fire escape in the sky/She fills the bags 'neath her eyes/With the moonbeams/And cries 'cause the world's passed her by."

Nonetheless, when the side ends, you're not left feeling down. Instead you feel as if you've been opened up, ready for your own self-examination—like a superb sounding therapy session.

"Love Song" opens with a "sonic wow" bass drum hit and then Lieberman enters via a vintage Neumann U67 tube mic and you know you're in that studio and in for musical and sonic treat. Set the level correctly and off you go! This is definitely not one of those "great sound, mediocre music" audiophile records. The notes go into great detail about how the natural, pleasingly dry, transparent sound was produced and that adds value. Highly recommended!