Friday Music
Live At Last (Original Recording Remastered)
[Deluxe 2 CD Set]
August 20, 2012
After a string of successful albums and several pop smash singles in a very short time, Bette Midler released her first live album, the mammoth two LP set Live At Last. Recorded in 1976, this concert truly showcases her talent, energy and resonance with her legions of fans, which she has now enjoyed for many years.
For Live At Last, Bette Midler sings exceptionally, tells bawdy jokes, gets crazy with the crowd, and performs tirelessly as only she could. Her arsenal of material ranges from revisiting WWII standards, Sophie Tucker jokes, a fine reading Neil Young‘s Birds, plus her championing some of the newer singer/songwriters of the era, well before their exposure to a big national audience. For instance, you get her signature tune Friends by the mod hipster Buzzy Linhart and Moogy Klingman (Todd Rundgren’s Utopia), plus her pal Tom Waits‘ sea chanty Shiver Me Timbers and the stellar Hello In There by John Prine. She always had a knack of finding and interpreting great songs in her own unique style and in the end helping a lot of songwriters along the way. This exposure of newer talent to her massive audience has always been partof her success, a formula which obviously still works to this day.
The album even culled a top forty hit single of the closing medley Up To The Ladder To The Roof/ Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy/Friends, again proving her currency at attracting pop singles buyers and highly coveted radio airplay during her historic run at Atlantic Records. Live At Last was another homerun for the artist. It rode the charts for months during its initial release, but it has been unavailable in the compact disc format for quite some time now, making it a highly sought after and collectable item in the Bette Midler catalog.
Friday Music is very honored to announce the wonderful Bette Midler Original Recording Classics Series and the first installment with the great Live At Last album. This newly mastered limited edition compact disc achieves stunning sound of the historic concert while giving you a complete performance without the LP side breaks that were originally
on sides 3 and 4.
Bette Midler’s Live At Last is a purely hip performance, filled with great songs and top notch musicianship and shows the beginnings of a star career which have produced one of the world’s most enduring entertainers of all time. Enjoy!
Disc One
Backstage
Friends/ Oh My My
Bang You’re Dead
Birds
Comic Relief
In The Mood
Hurry On Down
Shiver Me Timbers
The Vickie Eydie Show:
A) Around The World
B) Istanbul
C) Fiesta In Rio
D) South Seas
E) Lullaby Of Broadway
Intermission: You’re Moving Out Today
Disc Two
Delta Dawn
Long John Blues
Those Wonderful Sophie Tucker Jokes
The Story Of Nanette:
A) Nanette
B) Alabama Song/Drinking Again
C) Mr. Rockefeller
D) Ready To Begin Again/Do You Wanna Dance
Fried Eggs
Hello In There
Finale: Up The Ladder To The Roof/Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy/Friends
Like.
How is the remastered sound on this release?
I haven’t bought it yet…I still have the first edition of the CD….they seemed to like it in this review though….