Lincoln Evening Journal
February 11, 1976
If we hadn’t seen Bette Midler in her Carmen Miranda garb doing the tunes of years gone by, we wouldn’t expect so much of her. That is why her latest album, Songs For The New Depression, disappoints.
That is not to say this collection is ill-chosen, although for the most part, I think that it is. I had come to enjoy her manner with the oldies but on some of these new ballads she sounded like a million other singers.
“Old Cape Cod” is fun and “Buckets Of Rain” with Dylan is well done, but her own, “Mr. Rockefeller” is insipid. “No Jestering” is a bore and “Tragedy” shows nothing new.
Miss Midler does come across well on the Latin tune, “Samedi Et Vendredi” and “Marihuana,” an enjoyable spoof on marijuana.
