Some Thoughts About Bette Midler

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I've been thinking about Bette Midler. Yes, I know I'm a mental case, you don't need to remind me. Mind you, I've been thinking about her, not listening to her; I don't own any Bette Midler records, although I heard her debut many years ago. But what I'm wondering is was her song selection there saying anything interesting about pop music that was not exactly conventional wisdom at the time of its release? Follow me here; wasn't it kind of old-school rock history thinking to gloss over the space in time between Elvis and the Beatles? So much stuff from that era looms large now; girl groups, Motown that might have been thought of as fluff, not to mention the Nuggets-type stuff that's kind of out of the spectrum of what I'm talking about here. But a big chunk of Midler's act at the time was this kind of stuff (her debut features "Leader of the Pack", "Chapel of Love"). I'm really interested in how this was percieved when it came out; was what seems like overdone nostalgia now something very different then? I really wish I could think more clearly about this, or even offer proof of why I think this is interesting, but am I crazy for getting a little, a little of the same vibe the Dolls were giving off at precisely the same time? (both were NY based acts, btw) And then throw into the mix her interpretations of contemporary material that could probably be described as maudlin, sung with almost vulgar overstatement, her thrift-shop chic (was this look popular then?), and her gay cabaret background... I dunno, if I were to hear this record now it might just sound like a corny mish-mash, but I guess what I'm wondering is what it expressing something about pop music that wasn't the norm back then.

― Sean (Sean), Tuesday, 18 March 2003 14:52 (twenty-three years ago)

And yes I know she's dreadful now, and may have been for most of her career. And I also know not to expect a lot of feedback on this; not only does no one discuss her critically, but she's pretty much beyond the pale even on a board like this. What's also funny is that while I've kind of been musing on this for a couple of weeks now, I'm not really compelled to go out and buy the record; I just find it intellectually satisfying to contemplate. Anyway, your thoughts, etc.

― Sean (Sean), Tuesday, 18 March 2003 14:55 (twenty-three years ago)

.........................................

the ringmaster.

― gygax! (gygax!), Tuesday, 18 March 2003 15:13 (twenty-three years ago)

Her duet with Tom Waits on "I Never Talk To Strangers" is fantastic- she's clearly a great interpreter, and bounces off Tom in a way that crystal Gayle never managed on One From The Heart. If there's a whole album somewhere of her singing with that amount of attitude and wit, I'd definitely listen to it.

― Nordicskillz (Nordicskillz), Tuesday, 18 March 2003 15:13 (twenty-three years ago)

I thought she looked really exciting from all the press she got back then. That retro 40s thing was really happening at the time, see all those old After Dark issues, the Pointer Sisters, etc. Then I got the album and was really let down. It was far too tasteful. I mean, compare her version of "Do You Want to Dance" with the Ramones version that came out three years later. And her version of "Superstar" is really schlocky compared to the Carpenters'. The girl group songs were done in this smarty-pants early seventies ironic cabaret style that hasn't aged well. I liked "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy", though.

BUT--she was fantastic on talk shows and award shows. I'll never forget the Grammies in '76 or something when she came out wearing the Del Viking's "Come Go with Me" as a hat--it was the most stylish thing I'd ever seen. She was really refreshing back then and I bet her shows were great. There are films of her earlier performances at the Baths that I saw on Behind the Music where she's really crazed and freakishly energetic. Pretty punk rock.

So, I'd continue to avoid the records, Sean. They weren't vulgar enough, really. Nordicskillz is right, though, "I Don't Talk to Strangers" is fantastic. "Bartender, I'll have a manhattan, please."

― Arthur (Arthur), Tuesday, 18 March 2003 15:25 (twenty-three years ago)

Um, I mean "I Never Talk to Strangers", sorry.

― Arthur (Arthur), Tuesday, 18 March 2003 15:26 (twenty-three years ago)

I agree with Arthur, although I quite like her straight reading of "Delta Dawn" on her first album. It brings out her personality in a way that makes the other songs' schlocky overstatement seem unnecessary. But yeah, I find her recorded work from this period intensely noncommital -- it's not the lack of NYC-trash-aesthetic in the production and instrumentation that bothers me, it's that Bette doesn't really rise to the occasion of what is there, namely passable-enough '70s MOR country-cabaret (which I guess you could say makes her the Norah Jones of her generation, if you're part of that anti-Norah faction [I'm not... I think Norah rises to that occasion just fine]).

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 18 March 2003 17:22 (twenty-three years ago)

Her most impressive feat was making out with Bob Dylan in public. Or was it in a car?

― Jazzbo (jmcgaw), Tuesday, 18 March 2003 19:53 (twenty-three years ago)

I think '72-'75 in general was when that pre-Beatles stuff started to come back a little, was less frowned upon overall. I think the Dolls connection makes sense, and I'd also add Springsteen to the equation (all culminating in the Ramones and Blondie?). I don't mind a few moments on the first Bette Midler album (I seem to remember "Leader of the Pack" being good...I think), and you've piqued my interest.

― s woods, Tuesday, 18 March 2003 20:03 (twenty-three years ago)

And actually, I do agree that "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" is a GREAT single, and better than the Andrews Sister version.

― s woods, Tuesday, 18 March 2003 20:10 (twenty-three years ago)

gygax, d'you mean: Ringmaster, starring Shelly Loooooooong?

― Paula G., Tuesday, 18 March 2003 20:27 (twenty-three years ago)

nine months pass...

Encore!

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Saturday, 20 December 2003 17:15 (twenty-two years ago)

I've always been curious how she went from being a flamboyant piano-bar chanteuse in Greenwich Village (catering to a very specific demographic) to becoming a mawkish, conservative harpee who churns out rah-rah yellow ribbon anthems like "Wind Beneath My Wings". Sort've an about-face, there, no? Correct me.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 20 December 2003 18:25 (twenty-two years ago)

Could I just say - Anyone who enjoys the Bette Midler after hours piano-bar "schtick" on "I Never Talk To Strangers" should leave this board NOW and go and download "The Meeting Place" by Wanda Robinson. Thank me later, now GO!

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Sunday, 21 December 2003 03:01 (twenty-two years ago)

six years pass...

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Saturday, 20 December 2003 19:01

i will go and do this right now!

― cherry blossom, Wednesday, 6 October 2010 15:33 (fifteen years ago)

re: wanda robinson: just realized thats on the record rza samples for criminology!

― cherry blossom, Wednesday, 6 October 2010 15:36 (fifteen years ago)

anyway, back to bette, i should get broken blossom, that seems to be the one to get (of the ones i've heard songs for the new depression is the best)

― cherry blossom, Wednesday, 6 October 2010 15:38 (fifteen years ago)

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