Cool Ass Gif: Tom Miro
The Courier-Mail –
10 January 2004
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Bam
by Brian Crisp
Bette Midler Sings The Rosemary Clooney Songbook
(Sony/Columbia) ***1/2
THE phone rings and it’s Barry Manilow with an offer that, thankfully,
Bette Midler couldn’t refuse. The offer was to record a CD of Rosemary
Clooney classics. At the time, Manilow and Midler weren’t talking. They’d
had a spat.
The lure of Clooney, one of the greats of the 1950s, however, healed the
wounds.
Manilow produced the Songbook (he also produced Midler’s first two
breakthrough albums) and the divine Miss M beautifully brings the Clooney
style back to life.
Clooney died in 2002 but her songbook rivals anything that belongs to the
classic singers of the 20th century. With tunes like You’ll Never Know,
This Ole House, On a Slow Boat to China, Tenderly and White Christmas, you
really can’t go wrong.
Manilow takes the Bing Crosby role on On a Slow Boat to China and Linda
Ronstadt fills in for Clooney’s sister Betty on a sassy version of Sisters.
Midler captures Clooney’s tremendous interpretive skills and wicked sense
of humour with her delivery. In fact she pretty much stays true to the
Clooney style throughout. The only time we get a taste of the real Miss M
is on Mambo Italiano — and boy does she make that song fly!
