Bathhouse Betty [Import, CD]

In truth, Midler really does such over-arranged material as "Song of Bernadette" and "My One True Friend" as well and often quite a bit better than most current recording artists--but what she does best, really, is simply be Bette Midler. And BATHHOUSE BETTE gives her a solid opportunity to do that in a host of songs that range from vintage to recent. The 1920s "Ukulele Lady" has tremendous period charm, and when she launches into the delicate "I Sold My Heart to the Junkman" or the wild and woolly "One Monkey Don't Stop No Show," you know you're getting Midler at her unfiltered best.

Along the way Midler also finds room for several of the eccentric numbers that she inevitably performs with such style--a wickedly funny reworking of the danceclub favorite "I'm Beautiful" drops into the mix like an alien from outer space, and the super-sly "Big Socks" finds her doing a narrow-eyed take off on the lyrically-weak, production-heavy likes of Mariah Carey and Janet Jackson.

While this isn't really Bette at her flaming jets best, it's all a lot of fun, beautifully performed, lightly enjoyable, and just scrambled enough in content to occasionally throw you an amusing curve.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

It opens with Leonard Cohen's "Song of Bernadette", a really nice ballad that is very inspiring. Next is the #1 club smash, "I'm Beautiful", a really fun campy song full of attitude and it sounds like it was written for Bette! She puts her stamp on it, and it's a classic. I really like the ballad "Lullaby In Blue", a really reflective piece about a woman who had to give up her daughter when she was on 17, and how she thinks of her all the time and remembers. "Ukelele Lady" is a nice nod to her Hawaiian heritage, another fun song.

She tears it up on the jazzy "I'm Hip". I really enjoy her version of Labelle's "I Sold My Heart To The Junkman", its bluesy and smoltering. "One Monkey Don't Stop No Show" is a nice jazzy uptempo song. "Boxing" is an interesting ballad. "Boxing" is a very interesting R&B/dance type song, very tongue in cheek, VERY Bette. "That's How Love Moves" is another beautiful ballad, but the winner to me is "My One True Friend", produced by David Foster. This song just gives me a lump in my throat every time I hear it, it's so beautiful and sad at the same time. She ends the album with the sardonic "Laughing Matters", but it's an interesting take on society.

Usually, when an album has a number of producers, it tends to sound uneven. Not the case with this album. There was a number of producers including David Foster, Arif Mardin, Chuckii Booker, Marc Shaiman, Ted Templeman, and Brock Walsh. This is a really good Bette album, I highly recommend it.