BetteBack December 14, 1973: Bette Midler Hits Sophomore Slump

Wheeling Herald
December 14, 1973

“Bette Midler” (Atlantic records). The Divine Miss M has come down to earth on this her second album. I found the first side mostly dull as she does slow versions of “ Skylark,” “Drinking Again” and “ Surabaya Johnny.” The way she does Bob Dylan’s “ I Shall Be Released” seemed in bad taste.

With fairly good versions of “Lullaby of Broadway” and “Uptown/Da Doo Run Run,” side two is better, but still not equal to the quality of her first album, “ The Divine Miss M.” Miss Midler tends to be a bit too theatrical at times and many of those unfortunate moments can be found in this album.

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