Bette Midler - Bette Midler Sings the Peggy Lee Songbook
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CD Details
Artist: Bette MidlerEdition: Music CD
Music CD: Region Code 0
Audio: English (Unknown)
Format: Dual Disc
CD Release Date: 2005-10-25
Audience Rating: Unrated
Music Label: Sony
Soundtracks:
- Fever
- Alright, Okay, You Win
- I Love Being Here With You
- Happiness Is A Thing Called Joe
- Is That All There Is?
- I'm A Woman
- He's A Tramp
- The Folks Who Live On The Hill
- Big Spender
- Mr. Wonderful
Music reviews of Bette Midler Sings the Peggy Lee Songbook
Music Review: IS THAT ALL THERE IS? Indeed!!
Rating: 2 Stars
Three things become abundantly clear upon your first listen of Bette Midler's new SINGS THE PEGGY LEE SONGBOOK release...1) The disc is waaay too short - at barely half an hour, it's almost an EP instead of a (full-priced!) CD....2) Most of these songs have NOT aged well, and consequently sound VERY dated...and 3) Midler seems almost embarressed, like this is a legal obligation, and she would actually give ANYTHING to be ANYWHERE else! She's just going through the motions here, camping it up, giving the record exec's what (she might think) they want, after the major success of 2003's similar (and far superior!) tribute to Rosemary Clooney. Things start off promisingly enough with a sassy, finger-popping version of "Fever." Midler's vocals are sexy, sultry and sly, while the arrangement is smooth as silk. In the past, this kind of cut would have fit on any Midler album as a nice/fun novelty, and it works here as well, mainly for one reason....you BELIEVE Bette; it's almost as if the famously bawdy chanteuse is confiding in you, albeit with a wink and a nudge. Things continue on a positive note with the upbeat, high energy "Alright, Okay, You Win." Punctuated by swinging horns and a throbbing bassline, the track rocks hard, while Midler's vocal wraps around the feisty lyrics. The only drawback? The kitchy organ....NOT a good musical choice! Things start falling apart with "I Love Being Here With You", a duet with producer Barry Manilow. While their pairing on the Clooney tribute ("Slow Boat To China") was hip and totally worked, this cut seems phony and forced. Midler's vocal is sweet and succinct, but Manilow's is flat and uninspired at best, while the arrangement has a vaudvillian, everything-but-the-kitchen-sink vibe to it. Things only get worse, starting with the dreadful "Happiness Is A Thing Named Joe." Where do I begin?!? The lyrics are woefully outdated and sexist, the arrangement is sappy beyond belief, and Midler's vocal is waaay over the top. Instead of sweeping - their intended groove - the whole thing just comes across as silly. However, the biggest disappointment has to be "Is That All There Is?" When I first heard the Divine Miss M was doing this disc, this was the one song I REALLY wanted to hear from her....if anyone could convey the resignation, the hurt, the disappointment, that is embodied in this classic song, it would be Bette Midler. Well, I'm sad to say, that's not what happened, folks....Midler's version is one of the worst recordings of her 30+ year career, all hollow and phoned-in. It's almost as if she's doing a parody of the song, like it's a joke or something. The song needs to be done with a tear in the eye, a lump in the throat and a fist raised to the sky; all we get here is a smirk and a shrug. A MAJOR letdown! (The big-top piano arrangement doesn't help, either!) "I'm A Woman" also sounds dated (ditch the Hammond organ, once and for all!), but Midler manages to infuse it with a sense of inner strength and vitality, making it seem more like a declaration of independence than a TV commercial jingle. Still, the song would seem silly nowadays out of the Lee tribute context. Almost as silly as "He's A Tramp." Trust me, this song has not aged well, nor has it proven itself to be anything other than what it was forty years ago.....a nice little ditty in a classic cartoon. It's inclusion here only strengthens the arguement that they were scrambling for material by session's end. The jazzy arrangement is wasted, while visions of Midler-as-Peg strutting around the piano are dancing thru the listener's head by song's end (Though, I gotta admit, I love her phrasing on the "You can never tell/When he'll show up/He gives you plenty of trouble" line!). There's a soaring grandeur to "The Folks Who Live On The Hill." Yeah, it's hokey and, yeah, no one could record it today on a regular album, but there's something about Midler's vocal honesty and conviction that captures the song's admiration of and for long-term committment. Cetainly not a timeless song, or even a particularly strong one, but definitely one of the strongest on BETTE MIDLER SINGS THE PEGGY LEE SONGBOOK. As with "Fever", you could hear Midler covering "Big Spender" on any of her albums as a sort of fun novelty number. Here, however, it seems too whacky and cliched, like she's auditioning for a Broadway review of CHICAGO or CABARET....or, worse yet, a network televion version! And that's sad, because there's something about the song that just fits her! Things wrap up with the understated "Mr. Wonderful." So what's next for the Divine One? I'm sure there's a third SONGBOOK in the works (Day? Garland? Fitzgerald?), but if she's done with new/contemporary material, I'd at least like to see her move things up a decade or two and do a trilogy of the, say, Carole King, Carly Simon and Joni Mitchell songbooks. Maybe after that she could do a compilation of today's younger female writers, such as Sheryl Crow, Aimee Mann, Melissa Etheridge and Alicia Keys. All I know is, Bette Midler brings her best game when she's challenged, and in no way, shape or form does SINGS THE PEGGY LEE SONGBOOK challenge her (Due to the high publishing costs of acquiring a full album's worth of covers, I won't dock the disc an additional half a star for not including the lyrics).
Description of Bette Midler Sings the Peggy Lee Songbook
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