Without half trying, Bette Midler can be as catty as a Joan Rivers, as randy as a Redd Foxx and as funny as just about any comedy act working today.
On her new album, Mud Will Be Flung Tonight (Atlantic), she spends a lot of time being catty, about as much time being randy, and in the midst of all this, excess, only the funny is given short shrill.
Recorded live at a Los Angeles improv club, Midler’s smutty little presentation is lewd, rude and crude, and it wears thin early. It may give you a’ laugh or two, but you’ll probably feel guilty afterward for having been taken in.
Much of the material, from the jokes about bodily functions to the jokes about her sizable bust, is rehashed from Midler’s variety stage show, but Mud Will Be Flung doesn’t afford the listener the diversion of her beautiful vocal talents which highlight a typical performance.
The album’s two spngs, with only piano accompaniment, arc cheesy little items, one about a has-been recording artist, the other about the inventor of the brassiere.
At this point, even a tune or two by one-time collaborator Barry Mnnilow would have been a welcome respite.
