Live at the London Palladium was a Judy Garland/Liza Minnelli concert recording taken from shows in November 1964. Welcome as this may be, however, neither singer is heard at her best here. At 42, Garland was entering the last phase of her difficult life, and while she rouses herself now and then, her singing can be mannered and out-of-breath, her diction sometimes slurred. If she is noticeably past her peak, however, her 18-year-old daughter is nowhere near hers. Minnelli had recently released her debut LP,
Liza! Liza!, when she appeared with her mother. Though clearly talented, she was far from a mature performer, tending to get a little out of control in her excitement (and, perhaps, nervousness). Still, the best moments of the concert are the ones when the two sing together; the mother tends to calm the daughter down, while the daughter inspires the mother to more spirited takes on her old warhorses. This album is no Judy at Carnegie Hall (reportedly, Capitol held it back from release for a while in the hopes of getting Garland to redo more of her vocals in a recording studio after she did do some overdubs), but the mother-daughter chemistry is its strong suit. ~ William Ruhlmann