Bette Midler - Bette Midler

a diva

well,this cd was worth waiting for.it's the first bette midler album and its music and its singer and the arrangements of barry manilo are one of a kind.it's a cd that is worth having in every house December 18, 2007

Her Crowning Achievement

I do not consider myself a Bette Midler fan. I usually find her musical work to be generic vocalist material: over done and over emotional. But I am consistently amazed at how nearly perfect this album is.

The album is very sharply divided into side A and side B, with the slower, more serious songs up first, followed by the more dance-happy material bringing up the rear. This works wonderfully for me.

"Skylark" is a beautiful song with simple, stunning lyrics. ("Sad as a gypsy serenading the moon," gives me shivers each time I hear it.)

"Drinking Again" makes me want to cry and sings out to every soul who has ever lost a loved one ("Drinking again, thinking of when you loved me," Bette cries out, and so does the heart.)

"I Shall be Released" is flat-out incredible. When she lets out her anguished shout toward the end, well, if you don't feel something there, then you've got no feelings at all.

Personally I could do without the song "Twisted." I feel it's a hint of where she would go musically -- into the realm of novelty songs where she becomes a sort of comic character prattling away for a few minutes. I always skip this track when I put "Bette Midler" on and I don't miss it.

"Higher and Higher" is simply divine.

I live in San Francisco and I find this album to be the perfect thing to play when it's late at night and the fog comes in. I get a glass of scotch, put on this album, and stare out at the City while Bette Midler serenades the San Francisco moon. July 12, 2006

DIVINE!

I don't think Bette Midler has ever recorded a bad album.
This, in my opinion, is her best. Every one of the songs on the disc - from Sinatra's classic "Drinkin' Again" (which Bette
actually outdoes "Ol Blue Eyes") to the great Jackie Wilson's
"Higher And Higher", is given a uniqe arrangemet by Barry Manilow.
Barry, Arif Mardin and Atlantic Records obviously spared no
expense assembling some of the greatest studio musicians ever
to form a terrific all-star orchestra.
"Lullabye of Broadway" is especially delightful with "The Wizard Of Oz's" "Optimistic Voices" as a lead-in to the song.
If you're a Bette Midler fan, I know you won't go out and buy it
because you probably already have it.
If you don't have it on CD, get it! It's madatory!
It was recorded in 1973. I bought the LP then. I just got the
CD. I'd forgotten what it sounded like before all the scratches, skips and pops that were added over the past 22 years. October 17, 2005

Not quite the Divine Miss M, but certainly in the ballpark

Bette Midler's self-titled 1973 second album is a notch below "The Divine Miss M," but that is hardly surprising since her debut effort so wonderfully defined her singing persona (although this album did chart slightly higher). "Bette Midler" is in the same vein, mixing Forties Boogie-Woogie with some R&B and straight out blues. Once again Barry Manilow, who played piano for Midler when she was starting out, provides some solid production values to the effort. The standout kitsch track is when she starts off "The Lullaby of Broadway" with "The Optimistic Voices" from "The Wizard of Oz." Her high octane version of "In the Mood" was the one single released from the album, but it only made it to #51 on Billboard. However, look over the play list and clearly Midler is trying to provide some substance with the style when she is recording songs by Kurt Weil and Bertolt Brecht, not to mention Johnny Mercer, Hoagy Carmichael, and Bob Dylan, although the latter's "I Shall Be Released" seems a tad out of place (check out the live version on "Divine Madness" where it comes out of the Stones' "You Can't Always Get What You Want"). This album is still worth having, but only after you get the ones that came before it and after it ("Songs for the New Depression"), which are the two best albums from the early years of Midler's career (i.e., anything before "The Rose"). Of course, if you have ever seen Midler perform live, it is pretty hard not to want to own everything she has ever recorded. October 3, 2003

That crazy red head! She's hilarious!

Throughout this album, Bette shows her sense of humor through song and song selection. She plays with songs, plays with her voice, plays with the listener.

Listen to these titles and tell me the woman isn't crazily wonderful: Drinking Again, Breaking Up Somebody's Home, Twisted.

She takes some of our past favorites and melds them into fun medleys that will get you singing along. She even takes Glenn Miller's IN THE MOOD and sings words to the song. If Grandma only knew what she was dancing to!!!!!!!!!

Some of my stand-out favorites: SKYLARK, IN THE MOOD, TWISTED (You've gotta hear this song!), HIGHER AND HIGHER. August 4, 2003

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