Medicine Hat News
November 23, 1990
Bette Midler Some People’s Lives (Atlantic) Bette Midler may have been tempted to chum out an album ballads after the success of–her Grammy-winning single Wind Beneath My Wings, but fortunately she stays true to her more diverse nature on Some People’s Lives.
Fans of Wind Beneath My Wings need not cast dole fiil looks: Midler has some bittersweet songs to keep them happily melancholy – namely The Girl Is on to You, From a Distance, He Was Too Good to Me/Since You Stayed Here, and the title track. Plus there’s the extra-syrupy, but more grandiose Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most, a full orchestra ballad that Midler handles appropriately.
Yet the opening song. One More Rotmd, a minimalistic dance track, is a self-motivating pep rally for an album of mixed moods.
After dispatching the title track, Midler delivers a boisterous cover of Cole Porter’s Miss Otis Regrets. She Isn’t the greatest vocalist around, limited by nasality and an average range, but this track shows Midler is one of the most distinctive and charismatic singers out there.
