The Heights
Record Review: Bette Midler, Bette Midler 1973
By Chris Mehane
Sept. 30, 2026
Bette Midler’s second album, like her first, has two intentions: to entertain listeners with a mix of camp and rock.
Additionally, it aims to prove Miss M is the most versatile performer to come along since the one-man band.
The album, called Bette Midler, lives up to both. It does so, though not with as much force. Its predecessor, The Divine Miss M, was stronger.
Here, Bette the singer is given greater command of the proceedings. The orchestrations and gimmickry were half the fun of The Divine Miss M. They take a back seat to her remarkable voice in Bette Midler.
The results are generally good. Sometimes great.
Bette Midler is still a concert performer first. To enjoy her on record, one must imagine flopping arms, bouncing breasts, and frantic racing across the stage.
These are still inseparable features of her act.
Although she still uses them in concert, she has confessed in recent interviews. Two years of onstage musical orgasm have begun to wear her down.
The burlesque-like ‘Divine Miss M’ image is starting to yield to Bette Midler, the person. The singer, the serious entertainer, remains.
Bette Midler has one of everything.
Skylark, a moving Hoagy Carmichael ballad, and Drinking Again, a Judy Garland tribute, appear prominently. Bette Midler seems to have rapidly picked up a cult following. Moreover, Breaking Up Somebody’s Home is a mock-acid Janis Joplin parody. Surabaya Johnny, a Weill-Brecht piece, follows. If you dislike that genre, the set remains versatile and well done. The side ends with F Shall Be Released, Dylan’s song in a personal arrangement. It underlines her drive to show personality beyond the show-biz exterior. Side Two returns to the schmaltz that made her famous. Optimistic Voices from The Wizard of Oz leads into Lullaby of Broadway.
Sisters-style singing that Bette brought back to life appears in ‘In the Mood’.
The immortal ‘low-rent retro rock’n’roll’ also shines in a medley of ‘Uptown’ and ‘Da Doo Run Run’.
The album ends with an off-beat put-down of psychoanalysis, ‘Twisted’.
It includes a sensual, well-orchestrated version of ‘Your Love Keeps Lifting Me Higher’.
Bette Midler still has a bit to learn about recording.
She occasionally inserts her physical and musical stage tricks into a song.
She should concentrate on singing and let her large personality come through.
It’s fun for the moment on stage.
Albums are forever, and she might not like her former self in a year or two.
Nevertheless, the current Miss M is a bundle of talent whose legions are growing quickly.
