Bette Midler: Bette : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

On her new album, Bette Midler has gone into the studio with a master of makeovers, producer Don Was, and ended up sounding pretty much the same. That's a good thing. With the exception of the diva dance-club number "Bless You Child," Bette finds Midler backed by her touring band, working ballads and vamps with a distinctive style perfected over decades of performing. Midler's secret weapon has always been her ability to pick material, and Bette is no exception. Supported by phenomenal work from keyboardist Bobby Lyle, Midler delivers Burt Bacharach and Elvis Costello's "God Give Me Strength" with dramatic understatement and then follows it with a gently nostalgic reading of "Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)." The highlight, however, is the cover of Patty Griffin's "Moses," on which Midler stretches into Sheryl Crow territory and comes out with a winning pop tune that manages to have a gospel flourish. More than anything else, as the title suggests, Bette is Midler just being herself. (RS 854)

RICHARD ABOWITZ