Mister D: Notice at the bottom Broadway World’s review, they mention Bootleg Betty…yay!!! If you don’t believe me, click on the link below to verify. I’m really honored. Who knew????
As Bette Midler continues to charm Sin City with her ongoing concert show at Caesars Palace, The Showgirl Must Go On, Rhino pays tribute to the Divine Miss M with a career-spanning collection of her biggest hits and an unreleased demo. JACKPOT — THE BEST BETTE will be available on September 23 from Rhino Records at all physical and digital outlets.
Midler also has posted a new video to YouTube, in response to Madonna’s vacuuming video message to her fans on YouTube.
JACKPOT — THE BEST BETTE is a 19-song retrospective that paints a vibrant portrait of Midler’s uncanny ability to inhabit any style of music and make it her own. Taken from nine studio albums, this eclectic selection touches on girl group (“Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy”), Top 40 (“Friends”), soul (“When A Man Loves A Woman”), standards (“This Ole House”), holiday (“Cool Yule”) and rock (“Beast Of Burden”).
JACKPOT also spotlights two of Midler’s most important musical milestones. The first is “Wind Beneath My Wings,” her first #1 hit and winner of the 1989 Grammy Award for Record of the Year. The second is “From A Distance,” winner of the 1990 Grammy for Song of the Year and a #2 hit for Midler from her platinum-certified album Some People’s Lives.
Alongside the familiar melodies on JACKPOT is “Something Your Heart Has Been Telling Me,” an unreleased demo Midler recorded in the summer of
1984 with renowned songwriters Robert Kraft and Barry Reynolds. Kraft recalls cutting the track at Atlantic Studios: “I always thought there was some magic in those sessions, because the songs seemed to acquire a haunting, almost bittersweet quality as we laid down the tracks. Roberta Flack recorded this song several years later, but I have always been a fan of Bette’s original vocal on this version.”
JACKPOT: The Best Bette
Reviewed by BroadwayWorld.com’s Naomi Plume
BETTE MIDER
Rhino
4 discs (out of 5)
Bette Midler and her new stage extravaganza, THE SHOWGIRL MUST GO ON, are sharing the next two calendar years with CHER and Elton John, at the The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Currently only available in the gift shop, at the venue, is this new compilation, with art from the advertising campaign and some nice liner notes by Jay Landers. I have only ONE complaint (and the reason for a one-disc demerit) …. Why didn’t they just wait and record this show … or KISS MY BRASS!, one of the best tour concerts she ever gave? We want NEW Bette … not just more “vintage” Bette. In some cases … she sings some of the songs she’s known for – even better today…..LIVE! Okay, enough about that. With a generous 19 cuts, the stuff that’s here is all good – particularly happy about “The Glory of Love” and the previously unreleased “Something Your Heart Has Been.” However … in a compilation of HITS … I doubt that anyone was clamoring for “This Ole House” or that she’s performing it in the show in Vegas (from the Rosemary Clooney tribute album). We LOVE Bette Midler! Can we have a new LIVE album, please ???? Just asking.
For more information on Bette Midler, click here.
For more information on Bette Midler: The Showgirl Must Go On in Las Vegas, click here.
To purchase JACKPOT — THE BEST BETTE, click here.
Also, visit BootLeg Betty, Midler’s #1 Fan Site, click here.
(Many thanks to Broadway World for adding my site…what an honor that is. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.)
All Music Guide
Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
9-23-08
As the first Bette Midler compilation since 1993’s Experience the Divine, Rhino’s 2008 Jackpot: The Best Bette is a bit of a long time coming, but as Midler’s time as a Top 40 hit-maker essentially ended around ’93 – she had a few hits in the years that followed, none of them beg enough to warrant inclusion here – there wasn’t necessarily a great call for a new collection of her hits.
The strange thing is, Experience the Divine was the first US compilation of Midler’s career and it was skewed ever so slightly to her big adult contemporary hits from the late ’80s and early ’90s, downplaying the career-making vaudeville of the ’70s.
Jackpot strikes a bit of a better balance between all eras of her career, including the years since ’93, winding up as a better overall portrait of Midler’s recordings. Not all of her hits are here but all the big ones are, from “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” to “Wind Beneath My Wings,” rounded out by some sharp selections from albums ranging from 1972’s The Divine Miss M and 2003’s Sings the Rosemary Clooney Songbook.
As this covers a lot of ground – including “Cool Yule” – it doesn’t quite gel as well as it seems like it should, but the showy, often campy, eclecticism winds up as being a fitting testament to Midler’s career.
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=A8ckvud2jan1k&emc=lm&m=638758&l=41&v=980376
Broadway World and Music Guide seem to share my (and I can only assume others) opinion. I’m buying “Jackpot” to give as gifts but I used iTunes today to buy the unreleased track that I didn’t have.
Yeah, that’s what I did, too…. D
I picked the CD up at Best Buy today. Even though I had all the songs (excpet the unreleased one) I’m a sucker for recycled stuff in new packages.
I’ve done the same as Brandon and for the same reason. I bought the whole album from Amazon (even though I already have every thing Bette has ever released on CD anyway) because I love the cover art.
Usually I only buy “Greatest Hits” type albums if there is newly recorded or previously unreleased material on there.
Cheers, Michael
Mr. D is famous, Mr. D is famous! 🙂 Will you remember me when you get rich? 😛
No I’m not, no I’m not, but at least you were sweet enough to say something about it. I was really excited about it…