Thank you Darrell Redmond for this beautiful page. As always, you are the best! For Bette's rich early history, please visit Bette On The Boards

This is Bette's first ever Holiday album! Bette delivers the ultimate present - Cool Yule!

Experience the excellence of Bette's vocals with delightfully lush arrangements that will help you get into that Holiday spirit! If you are a fan of Bette's, this is a CD you MUST have! You will be moved by the new holiday version of "From A Distance" with orchestration by Robbie Buchanan and Noel-inspired lyrics. This album is sure to become a new holiday favorite!

Holly Jolly albums
The Divine Miss M's is all about swingin' and wailin'.
The OC Register

There are plenty of ballads to savor, sure, including a Noelicized rendition of "From a Distance" that I could do without and a sultry handling of "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?" But what sells it are the bouncy bits, including a nifty revival of Steve Allen's oft-neglected title track, zippy versions of "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm" and "Mele Kalikimaka" (a given from this Hawaiian native), plus a duet with Johnny Mathis on (what else?) "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!"

Sounds like it's time to roast chestnuts
Holiday CDs offer multiple takes on season's most traditional tunes
By Jim Harrington and Chad Jones
The Contra Costa Times

"Cool Yule," Bette Midler, Columbia, $11.99 -- Divinity and Christmas are, of course, related, so it's no wonder that the Divine Miss M. finally checks in with a Christmas album. The results are so good you have wonder, what took so long? Never mind that this nice Jewish lady from Hawaii has recorded a Christmas album (Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond have recorded four Christmas albums between them). Midler brings her customary sass and humor to "Merry Christmas" and "Cool Yule" but lends her dramatic heft to "I'll Be Home for Christmas" and "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel." Don't miss her "Mele Kalikimaka," and though it sounds cheesy, her rehash of "From a Distance (Christmas Version)" actually reveals that the heavy ballad was always meant to be a Christmas song.

Bette Midler, "Cool Yule" (Columbia)
THE DETROIT NEWS

In her new holiday collection, Midler lets her old retro-camp persona emerge for "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm" and "Cool Yule," the latter a jazzy Steve Allen composition, but her emotive, warm vocal style also lends itself well to poignant holiday fare like "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," and "I'll Be Home for Christmas," backed by pillowy-lush instrumentation. What makes the collection is Hawaii native Midler's "Mele Kalikimaka," complete with steel guitar, as well as a Christmas version of her hit "From a Distance." GRADE: A- (SW)

Rockin' -- and Swingin' and Swayin' -- Around the Christmas Tree: Best Holiday CDs
The Seattle Times

"Cool Yule," Bette Midler (Columbia). A surprisingly tame effort with few highlights save for a finger-snapping, jazzy "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm," a seasonal updating of "From A Distance" and a sunny, bouncy "Mele Kalikimaka," a Christmas favorite in Hawaii, where Midler used to live.

Kosher for the holidays
The Philadelphia Daily News

Speaking of which, please to note how that nice Jewish lady Bette Midler neatly segues out of "Oh Come All Ye Faithful" just before the zinger affirmation, "Christ our Lord," on her new album "Cool Yule" (Columbia, A-).

Midler's entertaining variety show mix of swinging seasonals ("I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm," "Mele Kalikimaka") and poignant ballads (including a slightly rewritten and heart-rending "From a Distance") is so ecumenical it could play on Shalom TV. Special guest Johnny Mathis joins on a classic counterpoint medley of "Winter Wonderland" and "Let It Snow!"

The New York Daily News

BETTE MIDLER, "Cool Yule" (Columbia). 3 bells. Mostly familiar songs like "I'll Be Home for Christmas" and "Mele Kalikimaka," cruising along on Midler's bouncy vocals and more-than-occasional winks.

Music to holiday ears
The Daily Bulletin

BETTE MIDLER: "Cool Yule" (Columbia)

Midler jazzes up the holidays with well-worn classics of intoxicating cheer, such as her swinging duet with Johnny Mathis in "Winter Wonderland/Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" The album is Miss M's foray into the holiday genre and is anything but typical. She wishes all a kitschy "Mele Kalikimaka." Elsewhere, she delights with "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?" and "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm" both of which are accompanied by sweeping orchestras led by Patrick Williams. Sappy as it sounds, her holiday remake of "From a Distance" will put a lump in your throat. The most sentimental of holidays can do that sometimes. - Sandra Barrera

Tinsel tracks
There's a holiday album to fit every ear
The Wichita Eagle

BETTE MIDLER

"Cool Yule"

***(BMG Music Entertainment)

What's on it: It's Bette Midler's first-ever Christmas album, and she offers up an eclectic collection of holiday tunes, from "I'll Be Home for Christmas" to "Mele Kalikimaka" to "White Christmas" -- all done up Divine Miss M. style with plenty of nifty orchestral and big-band arrangements.

Joyful noise: No doubt she was tempted, but Midler never gets too big or cutesy on the album. Her unique rendition of the classic "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" is nicely understated. And there's a nice Christmas-themed remake of "From a Distance."

Bah humbug: Was the wild feathery Christmas headdress you're wearing on the cover really necessary, Miss M.? We get it! You're ZANY!

Perfect for: Any gathering that needs an extra shot of FABulousness.

-- Denise Neil

Rockin' — and swingin' and swayin' — around the Christmas tree: Best holiday CDs
By Patrick MacDonald
The Seattle Times

"Cool Yule," Bette Midler (Columbia). A surprisingly tame effort with few highlights save for a finger-snapping, jazzy "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm," a seasonal updating of "From A Distance" and a sunny, bouncy "Mele Kalikimaka," a Christmas favorite in Hawaii, where Midler used to live.

Pop: Download this, Santa
By SEAN DALY
The St Petersburg Times

Bette Midler Cool Yule (Columbia) The Divine Miss M busts out the big-band swing on this 11-track zinger, which only falters during a "Christmas version" of From a Distance, one of the lousiest pieces of lousiness in the soft-pop canon. But forget about that errant slushball: This is Bette's first holiday album, and the bawdy belter sounds as if she's having a blast. She uncorks considerable oomph on the boogie-woogie title track. She flirts with a still-game Johnny Mathis on Winter Wonderland/Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! And she camps it up on Mele Kalikimaka, shaking her hips to the ukelele strum. Grade: B

Stars in various genres issue their Christmas discs
By Ron Wynn
The Nashville City Paper

Bette Midler
Cool Yule
(Columbia)

You would expect a bit of humor and spirit in any Midler project, even one devoted to the holidays, so her versions of “Cool Yule,” “Mele Kalikimaka” and “Cool Yule” are looser and less inhibited than her renditions of “Merry Christmas,” “White Christmas” and “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.” Midler even sounds just a little suggestive in her delivery of “What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve” and “I’ll Be Home For Christmas,” but never gets so edgy or provocative that she takes things too far. Still, she’s juggling emotions here, trying to be jolly and witty while retaining the seasonal mood, and is mostly successful in that effort.

From Monsters and Critics.com
Music Reviews
Album Review: Bette Midler – ‘Cool Yule’
By Jeff Swindoll

Bette Midler has always struck me as being a singer out of her time. She reminds me of a torch singer from the 1940s. I wouldn’t go as far to say that she puts me in a mind of Rosemary Clooney, but I can definitely see her in that time frame. She now turns her talent to a Christmas album.

She tackles a bevy of classic Christmas tunes, including “Merry Christmas,” “Cool Yule,” “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” “Mele Kalikimaka,” (a personal favorite but I still like Der Bingle’s better), and “White Christmas.” She also duets with Johnny “Mr. Christmas” Mathis on “Winter Wonderland/Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!” There’s also a newly arranged version of her hit “From a Distance” that’s been decorated with lyrics appropriate to the holiday season.

She contributes a New Year’s song called “What are you Doing New Year’s Eve?” (You were expecting Auld Lang Syne I bet). Of all the Christmas CDs that came across the old reviewing desk, Mrs. Midler’s was the only one that had a version of “White Christmas.” I was expecting them all to try their hands at it (it’s the most done Christmas song ever!) but only Bette attempted it (and wonderfully I might add).

She does add a new introduction in her own style. Her duet with Johnny Mathis is worth the purchase price alone (“Baby, It’s Cold Outside” was done on the other albums I guess). Not only is she an actress, she’s a fine songstress and you’ll enjoy getting this CD. It will put you in the holiday spirit, in a jazzy, 1940s torch singer sort’ve way.