Bette Midler - Bette Midler Sings The Rosemary Clooney Songbook

Size: 73,1 MB
Time: 30:57
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2003
Styles: Jazz/Pop Vocals
Art: Front

01. You'll Never Know (1:44)
02. This Ole House (3:02)
03. On A Slow Boat To China (Duet With Barry Manilow) (2:31)
04. Hey There (3:30)
05. Tenderly (3:11)
06. Come On-A My House (1:50)
07. Mambo Italiano (2:50)
08. Sisters (Duet With Linda Ronstadt) (2:53)
09. Memories Of You (3:20)
10. In The Cool, Cool, Cool Of The Evening (2:44)
11. White Christmas (3:16)

Cabaret icon Bette Midler reunites with her old piano partner Barry Manilow for the first time in over 30 years to toast one of their mutual idols on Sings the Rosemary Clooney Songbook. Clooney was one of the top jazz/pop vocalists of the '50s whose clear, bright tone, impeccable melodicism, and smiling, girl-next-door image came together to make classics out of tunes like "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening" and "Hey There" -- both covered here. In that tradition, Midler's plucky blonde persona and genre-crossing style and Manilow's modern day blend of Mercer and Porter make this album work -- most of the time. Mostly what you get is the Divine Miss M and "Mister Manila," as Midler affectionately refers to Manilow, returning to their '70s New York roots on "On a Slow Boat to China," a solid and classy version of "Sisters" with Linda Ronstadt taking the Betty Clooney role, and a very Dixie Chicks-esque contemporary bluegrass reworking of "This Ole House." Least of all, you get limp, hip-hop-lite arrangements of "Come On-A My House" and "Mambo Italiano," which only serve to drain the songs of any swing and makes the twee-period lyrics all the more cloying. Nonetheless, Midler -- who can carry a tune on personality alone -- sounds elegant and alive here and Manilow's classy orchestral arrangements frame the proceedings with the urbane glow of nostalgia for a time -- be it the '50s or the '70s -- when a big band, a great song, and blonde with a nice voice were all you needed for a good time. ~by Matt Collar

Sings The Rosemary Clooney Songbook

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Bette Midler - Broken Blossom

Styles: Vocal
Year: 1977
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 38:54
Size: 89,6 MB
Art: Front

(3:56)  1. Make Yourself Comfortable
(3:38)  2. You Don't Know Me
(3:00)  3. Say Goodbye To Hollywood
(3:36)  4. I Never Talk To Strangers
(3:21)  5. Storybook Children
(3:17)  6. Red
(3:16)  7. Empty Bed Blues
(3:06)  8. A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes
(4:14)  9. Paradise
(4:23) 10. Yellow Beach Umbrella
(3:00) 11. La Vie En Rose

After a string of over the top '70s albums with high-energy tunes that made Bette Midler a sensation worldwide, she settled down on Broken Blossom. The first song, "Make Yourself Comfortable," sets the pace with a relaxed doo wop style that's hard to resist. There are some remakes on Broken Blossom including a version of Billy Joel's "Say Goodbye to Hollywood" with about twice as much pizzazz as the original; the surprising choice of "A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes," from Disney's Cinderella; and "You Don't Know Me," which was previously sung by Elvis Presley, Rick Nelson, Van Morrison, and Ray Charles, and still sounds great. Broken Blossom seems to be a mixed message from Midler, whom listeners love for being so uncontrolled but she has toned down on antics. Broken Blossom served as a bridge between Midler's solely musical days and her career as actress. Shortly after its release, she performed in her classic live film Divine Madness and then was nominated for an Academy Award for The Rose. Broken Blossom is quirky, though not as spontaneous as we have come to expect. We are used to an outrageous choice in songs sung by an outrageous personality. If one can accept simply melodic songs sung by that same personality, then Broken Blossom is a fine listen. 

~ Peter Fawthrop http://www.allmusic.com/album/broken-blossom-mw0000104878

Personnel: Bette Midler (vocals, background vocals); Lee Ritenour , Fred Tackett (guitar, electric guitar); Howard Roberts (guitar, ukulele); Ira Newborn, Thom Rotella (guitar); David T. Walker (electric guitar); Jimmie Haskell (strings, horns); Don Menza, Steve Douglas , Marshall Royal, Plas Johnson (saxophone); Frank Vicari (tenor saxophone); Jim Horn (baritone saxophone); Don Rader, Bobby Shaw, Gene Goe (trumpet); Craig Doerge, Artie Butler (piano, keyboards); John Barnes, Tom Waits (piano); Don Randi (organ, keyboards); Mike Melvoin (keyboards); Steve Porcaro (synthesizer); Chuck Rainey, David Hungate, Jerry Scheff, Jim Hughart, Leland Sklar, Max Bennett (bass guitar); Jim Keltner, Russ Kunkel, Shelly Manne (drums); Alan Estes (congas, percussion); Jack Jennings, Bill Watrous, Lew McCreary (percussion); Chuck Higgins, Clydie King, Donny Gerrard, Ellie Greenwich, D. David Latman, Dianne Brooks, Brian Russell, Mike Harris , Brenda Russell (background vocals).

Broken Blossom

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Bette Midler - The Divine Miss M Disc 1 And Disc 2

Album: The Divine Miss M   Disc 1

Styles: Vocal
Year: 1972
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 41:00
Size: 94,6 MB
Art: Front

(2:44)  1. Do You Want To Dance?
(2:53)  2. Chapel Of Love
(5:10)  3. Superstar
(3:32)  4. Daytime Hustler
(5:25)  5. Am I Blue
(2:50)  6. Friends (Session 1)
(4:16)  7. Hello In There
(3:29)  8. Leader Of The Pack
(5:17)  9. Delta Dawn
(2:25) 10. Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy
(2:56) 11. Friends (Session 2)

Album: The Divine Miss M   Disc 2

Time: 27:38
Size: 63,8 MB

(2:44)  1. Chapel of Love (The Single Mix)
(2:17)  2. Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy (The Single Version)
(2:55)  3. Do You Want To Dance? (The Single Mix)
(2:58)  4. Friends (The Single Mix)
(2:52)  5. Old Cape Cod (Early Version)
(2:31)  6. Marahuana (Early Version)
(5:08)  7. Superstar (Alternate Version)
(3:09)  8. Saturday Night (Demo)
(3:01)  9. Mr. Freedom and I (Demo)

Bette Midler was one of the last major artists who emerged from the traditions of nightclub performing, after rock & roll changed the rules of the music business, though she was a singer capable of working both sides of the fence. Midler's approach bore more than a passing resemblance to the traditions of supper-club performers wearing their hearts on their sleeves for the audience, but she could balance sincerity and a deep respect for songcraft with a large dose of camp and broad humor, coupled with a love of R&B and girl group sounds that put her within a stone's throw of rock. (And if the nightspot where Midler first found her audience was a gay bathhouse in New York, that was just one more wrinkle that separated her from the major nightclub acts of the '50s and '60s.) Midler's 1972 debut album, The Divine Miss M, gave her an ideal introduction to the listening audience, a set that honored her brassy and introspective sides with equal care and skill. While Midler was and is best known for her outgoing stage persona, numbers like "Am I Blue" and "Do You Want to Dance?" demonstrate how much emotional heat she can bring to a torch song, and her interpretations of "Delta Dawn" and "Hello in There" are powerful, moving stuff, portraying their characters with a palpable compassion and nuance. Midler's loving renditions of "Chapel of Love" and "Leader of the Pack" show how much she learned from Brill Building pop, and "Friends," which opened and closed side two, made clear Midler could wrap some very complicated emotions in a catchy (but smart) pop tune. 

And the production (half by Joel Dorn, half by Geoffrey Haslam, Ahmet Ertegun, and Midler's then musical director, Barry Manilow) knows when to move in close to catch the sweet grain of her voice and when to step back and take in the whole show. If Midler matured as a performer with time, The Divine Miss M remains her best album, one that captured the many facets of her musical personality beautifully and showed her quirks were a rich part of what made her music so powerful. ~ Mark Deming http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-divine-miss-m-mw0000650495

Personnel: Bette Midler (vocals); David Spinozza (guitar); Gene Orloff, Emmanuel Green (violin); Selwart Clarke (viola); Kermit Moore (cello); Barry Manilow, Pat Rebillot, Dick Hyman (piano); Ron Carter, Milt Hinton (bass); Ralph MacDonald (drums, percussion); Cissy Houston, Melissa Manchester, Gail Kantor (background vocals).

The Divine Miss M Disc 1 And Disc 2

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Bette Midler - A Gift Of Love

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2015
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 75:28
Size: 173,3 MB
Art: Front

(2:46)  1. Favorite Waste Of Time
(4:12)  2. In This Life
(4:07)  3. The Gift Of Love
(4:13)  4. Bed Of Roses
(4:38)  5. From A Distance
(4:54)  6. Wind Beneath My Wings
(3:15)  7. Come Rain Or Come Shine
(3:34)  8. The Rose
(5:11)  9. As Dreams Go By
(4:42) 10. It's Too Late
(4:09) 11. All I Need To Know
(3:49) 12. Every Road Leads Back To You
(4:48) 13. Shining Star
(5:15) 14. To Deserve You
(5:31) 15. Night And Day
(3:01) 16. (Talk To Me Of) Mendocino
(3:36) 17. The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game
(3:40) 18. Let Me Just Follow Behind

2008's Rhino-issued Jackpot: The Best Bette was the Grammy-winning vocalist and Emmy-winning actress' first career-spanning compilation since 1993, and it served as an excellent window into her often eclectic career, touching on nearly all of her stylistic forays. 2015's Gift of Love is a more myopic take on the greatest-hits package, offering up an amorous 18-track set devoted entirely to Midler's love for balladry. As the humble love song has served as the legendary diva's bread and butter since the '70s, it should hardly come as a surprise that Gift of Love is well stocked with hits. Any proper Midler collection would be incomplete without the holy trinity of last-call karaoke balladry that is "The Rose," "Wind Beneath My Wings," and "From a Distance," and Gift of Love doesn't disappoint, delivering those modern standards early on in the proceedings. 

It also serves up some less ubiquitous gems, like her spirited 1983 cover of Marshall Crenshaw's "My Favorite Waste of Time" and her sultry, jazzy rendering of the Marvelettes' Smoky Robinson-penned "The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game." For the most part, Gift of Love sticks with the benchmarks, with the aforementioned triple threat, "Every Road Leads Back to You" (from For the Boys), and 1995's "It's Too Late" and "As Dreams Go By," the latter two of which appeared on the platinum-selling Bette of Roses leading the charge. Fans looking for a more diversified retrospective should probably check out Jackpot (also a Rhino release), but as the perfect soundtrack for a campy romantic evening or a boozy post-breakup meltdown, one would be hard-pressed to find anything better. ~ James Christopher Monger  http://www.allmusic.com/album/a-gift-of-love-mw0002896730

A Gift Of Love 

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Arif Mardin - All My Friends Are Here

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 62:16
Size: 142.6 MB
Styles: Contemporary jazz
Year: 2010
Art: Front

[4:39] 1. The Greatest Ears In Town (Feat. Bette Midler And Barry Gibb)
[4:57] 2. So Blue (Feat. Chaka Khan And David Sanborn)
[5:31] 3. No Way Out (Feat. Nicki Parrott)
[4:14] 4. Goodbye To Rio
[3:17] 5. No One (Feat. Dianne Reeves)
[4:11] 6. So Many Nights (Feat. Danny O'keefe)
[5:39] 7. Calls A Soft Voice (Feat. Carly Simon)
[6:47] 8. Longing For You (Feat. Norah Jones With Joe Lovano And John Faddis)
[5:29] 9. Dual Blues (Feat. Amy Kohn)
[5:39] 10. Chez Twang's (Feat. Dr. John)
[5:54] 11. Willie's After Hours (Lonestar Blues)
[4:29] 12. All My Friends Are Here
[1:24] 13. Wistful

Unintentionally of course, Arif Mardin crafted his own eulogy. Naturally, given Mardin’s stature as arguably the most accomplished arranger/producer of the past half-century — the genius responsible for everything from Dusty Springfield’s landmark Dusty In Memphis to Barry Gibb’s career-altering falsetto, the stratospheric launch of the Average White Band and the equally meteoritic blast-off of Norah Jones — it is shaped of music. Mardin aptly referred to what would ultimately become All My Friends Are Here (NuNoise Records) as his “life’s work.” Begun in 2005 and completed by his son and co-producer Joe after Mardin’s death, in June 2006 at age 74 of pancreatic cancer, it is an incomparably rich, atmospheric celebration of all aspects of the 12-time Grammy winner’s vibrant life and career.

Mardin wrote or co-wrote all but one of the album’s 13 tracks. Some, like the exquisitely romantic “Longing for You” (written when Mardin was 23 as a ode to his then fiancée Latife) date back decades. Others are brand new. To perform this heady potpourri of songs, father and son assembled more than a dozen of the artists whose careers Mardin launched and molded, including Bette Midler, Norah Jones, Raul Midón, Barry Gibb, Chaka Khan, Danny O’Keefe, the Average White Band, Daryl Hall and Felix Cavaliere. ~Christopher Loudon

All My Friends Are Here

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Bette Midler - It's The Girls!

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2014
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 47:31
Size: 109,2 MB
Art: Front

(3:08)  1. Be My Baby
(2:54)  2. One Fine Day
(2:23)  3. Bei Mir Bist du Schon
(3:18)  4. Baby It's You
(2:57)  5. Tell Him
(2:54)  6. He's Sure The Boy I Love (duet with Darlene Love)
(2:25)  7. Mr. Sandman
(4:14)  8. Come And Get These Memories
(3:05)  9. Too Many Fish In The Sea
(3:30) 10. Teach Me Tonight
(4:14) 11. Waterfalls
(3:07) 12. You Can't Hurry Love
(3:01) 13. Give Him A Great Big Kiss
(3:35) 14. Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow
(2:38) 15. It's The Girl

Bette Midler's 2014 effort, It's the Girls!, finds the legendary vocalist paying homage to female girl groups from the '40s, '50s, and '60s. Never one to be underestimated, however, Midler also brings the homage full circle with a reworking of TLC's 1995 R&B hit "Waterfalls." Midler's 14th studio album and 25th album overall, It's the Girls! follows up her successful compilation Memories of You. Though it represents an all-new effort in the studio, It's the Girls! nonetheless feels like a retrospective, a return to the cabaret and theatrical style of her early career. Working with veteran producers Marc Shaiman and Scott Riesett (both of whom previously helmed albums by Harry Connick, Jr., Mariah Carey, and others), Midler frames her resonant vocal chops with lush arrangements that, while reverential to the original recordings, certainly allow her to express her own personality on each song. 

Here, we get Midler's take on such classics of '60s girl group pop as the Ronettes' "Be My Baby," the Chiffons' "One Fine Day," and the Supremes' "You Can't Hurry Love." Elsewhere, she turns her attention to more golden-age vocal group standards like the Andrews Sisters' "Bei Mir Bist du Schön" and the Chordettes' "Mr. Sandman." These are brightly produced songs perfectly suited to Midler's vocal style, stage bravado, and cheeky sense of humor. ~ Matt Collar  http://www.allmusic.com/album/its-the-girls!-mw0002749613

It's The Girls!

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Bette Midler - Cool Yule

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 37:00
Size: 84.7 MB
Styles: Holiday
Year: 2006
Art: Front

[3:10] 1. Merry Christmas
[2:26] 2. Cool Yule
[3:54] 3. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
[2:44] 4. Winter Wonderland Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
[3:18] 5. I'll Be Home For Christmas
[3:56] 6. What Are You Doing New Year's Eve
[3:22] 7. I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm
[3:10] 8. O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
[2:33] 9. Mele Kalikimaka
[5:08] 10. From A Distance
[3:13] 11. White Christmas (White Christmas)

Forever the entertainer, Bette Midler pulls out all the stops for this swinging Christmas album, which has something old, something new, something revisited and absolutely nothing to be blue about.

Bette treats Christmas favorites with due respect while giving them her special touch, whether she's playfully bantering with Johnny Mathis on "Winter Wonderland/Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!" or going back to her Hawaiian roots with "Mele Kalikimaka". Another highlight of the album is the yuletide remix of her huge hit "From a Distance".

This is a great addition to any Christmas music collection, and a wonderful gift for anyone who enjoys traditional Christmas carols. ~Amanda Richards/Amazon

Cool Yule

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Bette Midler - Jackpot: The Best Bette

Time: 67:40
Size: 154.9 MB
Label: WEA/Rhino
Styles: Adult Contemporary, Soft rock
Year: 2008
Bitrate: 320K/s
Art: Front

[2:41] 1. In The Mood
[3:06] 2. This Ole House
[3:48] 3. Beast of Burden
[3:55] 4. Just My Imagination [Running Away With Me]
[3:35] 5. The Rose
[4:59] 6. When A Man Loves A Woman
[1:31] 7. I've Still Got My Health
[5:31] 8. Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most
[4:18] 9. Hello In There
[3:17] 10. The Glory Of Love
[3:12] 11. Tenderly
[4:55] 12. Wind Beneath My Wings
[2:44] 13. Do You Want To Dance
[2:27] 14. Baby Mine
[4:39] 15. From A Distance
[2:18] 16. Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy
[2:55] 17. Friends
[5:11] 18. Something Your Heart Has Been Telling Me [Demo Version]
[2:29] 19. Cool Yule

This 20-track collection is the second "Best of Bette" collection & is a good overview of Bette's career. Early hits like "Do You Want to Dance?," "In the Mood," & her signature song "Friends" are balanced with newer recordings like "Cool Yule," which went to #1 on my personal top ten last Christmas. Always, fans will have favorites songs like "In These Shoes," "Shining Star" or "Mambo Italiano" that were not included. However, this volume is well-engineered. The booklet is informative. Several tracks from films are included like the Carole King-David Foster-Carole Bayer Sager tune "My One True Friend" & "Baby Mine" from "Beaches." The previously unreleased demo from 1984, "Something Your Heart Has Been Telling Me," is a delightful track co-penned by Bette, "Last night I heard you calling, I heard you calling out a name I did not know." Two tracks shine here in replay, the Rolling Stones' "Beast of Burden" pops out of the speakers with some burning electric lead guitar; and the Temptations' #1 hit "Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)" shimmers delightfully. "Jackpot!" is an excellent overview from this consummate actress-singer. Bravo! ~Lee Armstrong

Jackpot: The Best Bette

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