Bette Midler Beast Of Burden/ Come Back Jimmy Dean (Atlantic, 7-89712, 1983)
Why I have two Bette Midler singles in my collection is a mystery to me, but, have them I do. No disrespect meant to Bette - she's not very rock'n'roll though, is she? The Rose fools no one - it's a movie role!
She's got that brassy-with-a-heart-of-gold image down. A real softy. The real Bette Midler? Who knows who she was.
Mother's Eyes is the kind of thing Bette gravitates towards from time to time - she was born to sing Tom Waits songs (yes I'm aware he didn't write this one but it's very much his territory). This one walks the sentimental tightrope and mostly stays on its feet. There's zero edge to it though (unlike a Tom Waits' song).
Beast is a different, um, animal. As Stones covers go its pretty straightforward and anodyne in its approach-clearly lacking the Stones raunch. Good album track but not really a single. The presence of Jagger in the video doesn't help. His 'acting' is atrocious.
Hidden gems: She usually picks her material very carefully. Sometimes she gets it right (Shiver Me Timbers) but sometimes she strays into over sentimentality (Come Back..) and sometimes she gets into sugary schmaltz (Chapel). Chapel links to my last post as it's the classic Greenwich/Barry writing combo who created it.
Again - why I have these two singles is a mystery. But, have them I do.
No comments:
Post a Comment